Mask Mandate Could Be Extended Past April 18
The federal transportation mask mandate is facing several lawsuits, and it is slated to end April 18. But the end date could be extended again, although nothing has been decided just yet.
“This is a CDC decision and I think it is absolutely on the table,” White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha said on NBC’s “Today.” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky is expected to make a decision as early as this week.
The Transportation Security Administration’s mask mandate for travel on airplanes, in airports, on buses and on rail systems initially went into effect almost a year ago. It has has been extended several times times since then. In March, it was extended by one month, through April 18.
Jha’s remarks come as several states have seen a rise in COVID-19 cases as a highly transmissible subvariant of omicron, BA.2, has spread, The Hill reports. Philadelphia today became the first major city to reinstate indoor mask mandate due to a spike in COVID-19 cases.
But Jha said on Monday that he’snot overly worried about another surge due to the BA.2 variant. He stressed that there are still very low inflection numbers and low hospitalization numbers. “I don’t think this is a moment where we have to be excessively concerned,” he said.
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What I really want to know is when the requirement to test negative before returning to the USA will be lifted.
Performative theater. The number of people who think these masks on HEPA filtered airplanes are meaningful are starting to cross from willfully ignorant to actively stupid.
The same virtue signalters who brought us zero COVID fantasies that set back the development of children by years and increased the rates of undiagnosed cancers and serious ailments by 50%.
Let’s hope so rjb – with the democrats continuing to double down on completely idiotic policies constant extension of these absurd rules will just be another nail in their November coffin. Regardless of what anyone thinks of the other side it’s hard to deny the utter failure of this administration on every front and failures that are far harder to correct than those of their counterpart. I’ve never seen so many hard line dems that I know switch party so fast.
The COVID theatre will continue until the mid term elections are over.