Originally Posted by
progapanda
I remain optimistic the end of pre-departure testing is coming. It's not like the WH would have signaled the end of this requirement weeks in advance and thus created even more confusion for travelers and airline staff. And Zients, who as you note has left his role, certainly would have been the person empowered to communicate such a change in policy on his last day. Let's see what his replacement, Jha, has to say in the next week or so leading to the April 18 date for reconsideration of the federal mask mandate on transportation.
Although it's not likely they would have signaled the end of the policy weeks in advance, I would have expected a different answer than the one given in the briefing. Something more along the lines of "We are continuing to evaluate this and other travel-related policies in light of recent covid trends" rather than "there are no plans to change this policy". I am still keeping my trip at the end of the month until we hear something before the Aptil 18th date (especially given the change in leadership of the covid committee), but I guess I'm not holding my breath haha.