CDC Extends Face Mask Rule Through May 3, 2022
Joe Cortez April 13, 2022
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced they would extend the national transportation face mask mandate for another 15 days, now set through May 3, 2022.
Extension Based on COVID-19 BA.2 Subvariant Spread in U.S.
The extension is based on the upward-trending cases of COVID-19 in the United States caused by the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron. According to the CDC, 85% of cases currently in the U.S. are BA.2 infections. As a result, the agency says the extension is essential for preserving the health of travelers and stopping the spread of the virus. The Transportation Security Administration will be responsible for enforcing the rule.
“Since early April, there have been increases in the 7-day moving average of cases in the U.S.,” the CDC statement reads. “The CDC Mask Order remains in effect while CDC assesses the potential impact of the rise of cases on severe disease, including hospitalizations and deaths, and healthcare system capacity.”
In addition, the CDC will also change their approach to the international Travel Health Notice system. Level 4 will now be reserved for “special circumstances” related to COVID-19, including “rapidly escalating case trajectory or extremely high case counts, emergence of a new variant of concern, or healthcare infrastructure collapse.” Levels 1 through 3 will be based on the rolling 28-day incidence or case count, with Tier 3 being the highest.
The national face mask mandate was put into place in February 2021, requiring all publicly-available transportation riders – including commercial airline passengers – to wear a face covering while in terminal buildings and aboard aircraft. The rule will continue through 15 months, despite many states reducing or dropping their face covering requirements.
Extension Continues Rules Against Travel Stakeholders Requests
The CDC extension is against the wishes of several travel stakeholders, who have all asked officials to allow the mandate to end to help the sector recover. Airlines for America along with the major U.S. passenger airlines, the Southwest Airlines flight attendants union and the U.S. Travel Association have all called for the face mask rule to end without further extensions.
Boom, gone as it should be! Bravo Big three!
Let's hope that the lawlessness that we have seen in Washington obeys the court order and that this charade is over! What will we see starting tomorrow from the airlines?
TSA just said it is done with enforcement. But United and American earlier announced they are continuing it. Curious to see if the TSA announcement changes that decision.
Actually UA just came out with a statement saying that they would NOT be continuing it.
Hopefully the Supreme Court steps in and ends this. CDC once again "overstepped its boundaries"...
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/18/florida-judge-overturns-cdc-mask-mandate-for-public-transit-planes.html
The transportation mask mandate is never going away, and if you think it is, you're just fooling yourself.
Well, this comment certainly didn't age well.
It will go away if clowns like DeSantis win the Presidency.
An absolutely great choice for POTUS.
We sure wouldn't be in this destroyed economy from dems if he were now.
Pretty juvenile comment . Desantis is a great Governor, especially when compared to those in NY, CT, PA, MI, NJ, etc.
Truly? Is this the world you want to live in? The government irrationally imposes itself on your life and you "just obey" because you are living in fear?
When you think of states that had more success navigating the pandemic, do you think of blue or red states? Utah was #1. Which states fared worst?
Take a guess...