Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich expressed his opposition to Monday’s transportation mask mandate reversal and said the county will monitor legal options regarding masking.
“I’m not pleased that we were forced to make this change,” Elrich said during a media briefing Wednesday.
As of Tuesday afternoon, passengers on Montgomery County Ride On buses are no longer required to wear face coverings. The announcement came after the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on Monday suspended the nationwide face mask requirement on public transportation, which followed a federal judge’s ruling striking down the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) mandate. Also as a result of the ruling, Metro announced that masks are not required on Metrorail, Metrobus and MetroAccess.
Elrich said the county made the change for Ride On to provide consistency throughout regional systems.
“But, let’s be blunt, this was a bad ruling by a Trump-appointed judge who has absolutely zero expertise in public health, is imposing their ideology on public health, which is absolutely inappropriate, and they’re doing this to overrule our nation’s public health expert,” he said.
“In short, this ruling is nuts.”
“Hopefully people will find a way to reverse this,” Elrich said. He said the county will continue to monitor transmission rates and legal options regarding masking.
