La Crosse airport, MTU go mask optional after federal judge cancels national mandate

LA CROSSE (WKBT) — The La Crosse Regional Airport and the Municipal Transit Utility no longer will require masks in the wake of a federal judge’s ruling Monday that nixed the national mask mandate on airplanes and mass transit.

“Wear one or not, it’s cool with us,” says a message on the La Crosse airport’s Facebook page.

Also jumping on the no-mask bandwagon is the Chippewa Valley Regional Airport in Eau Claire.

The Florida judge’s decision allows airlines, airports and mass transit systems to make their own decisions about mask requirements, spurring a flurry of mixed responses.

Major airlines quickly switched to mask optional policies, which took effect mid-flight in some instances. For example, sleepy passengers on a Delta Air Lines flight between Atlanta, Ga., and Barcelona, Spain, cheered and applauded when a flight attendant announced the news over the ocean.

The La Crosse Regional Airport’s Facebook message says, in part, that the facility “will no longer require customers or employees to wear a face mask, though anyone may choose to wear one voluntarily.”

The airport, like Chippewa Valley’s, urged patrons to check with airlines and their destinations on the status of rules elsewhere. American and Delta, the two airlines that service La Crosse, have made masks optional on their planes.

The MTU’s Facebook message gravitating toward mask optional cites the court ruling that rejected the rules, but notes that the “CDC continues to recommend that people wear masks in indoor public transportation settings at this time.”

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