CDC extends travel mask mandate for 15 days over recent COVID-19 uptick

The Biden administration announced on Wednesday that it is extending the countrywide mask requirement for public transportation for an additional 15 days as it observes a rise in COVID-19 cases across the United States.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that it was continuing the order, which was scheduled to expire on April 18, till May 3 in order to take some time to deeply examine and study the new BA.2 omicron subvariant that has been the cause of the majority of COVID-19 cases in the country.

“In order to assess the potential impact the rise of cases has on severe disease, including hospitalizations and deaths, and health care system capacity, the CDC order will remain in place at this time,” CDC said in a statement.

When the Transportation Security Administration, a government agency that administers the rules for buses, trains, planes and transit hubs, extended the mandate last month, it stated that the CDC had been thinking of introducing a more flexible masking approach to replace the countrywide requirement.

The mask mandate is the most apparent remnant of restrictions imposed by the government to contain the pandemic, and perhaps the most debated. Since the pandemic, there have been several intense and violent incidents on flights about wearing masks. 

Naysayers have clutched to the fact that even though states have withdrawn rules of wearing masks at stores, restaurants or other indoor places, COVID-19 cases in the country have significantly dropped compared to omicron’s peak in mid-January.

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However, in the past few weeks, the United States has observed a slight uptick in cases caused by the BA.2 subvariant, with daily cases spiking from 25,000 per day to over 30,000. 

What is worrisome is the fact that the high figures are under-enumerated as many people have started testing themselves at home without reporting their infection to public health agencies.