For a few days, the Americans have been able to remove the mask in transport. But until when? The US government announced on Wednesday that it is appealing the court decision that lifted the mandatory wearing of masks on public transport in the United States at the start of the week.
The Justice Department said it wanted to wait for the opinion of the country’s main federal health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), before making a decision. The CDC finally asked him on Wednesday to appeal, considering that wearing a mandatory mask in transport remained “necessary for public health” against Covid-19. “In light of the CDC’s assessment (…), the Department of Justice has launched an appeal process,” said US Department spokesman Anthony Coley.
Tensions for travelers
This appeal comes two days after a federal judge considered that the health authorities exceeded their prerogatives by requiring the wearing of a mask in transport, for example in planes, trains or even buses. In the process, the country’s major airlines abandoned the mask constraint, followed by the rail company Amtrak or VTC companies like Uber.
Some officials later worried that the move by a Florida-based magistrate would, if left unaddressed, result in curtailing the CDC’s authority in the future. But the call from the US government could complicate the situation, and possibly create tension for travelers if the obligation to wear a mask was finally reinstated, when it was already difficult to respect.
Wearing a mask is a very sensitive subject, especially for stewards and flight attendants, who have had to deal with the reluctance of many passengers for two years, some becoming violent. The agency responsible for air transport safety in the United States, the FAA, has still been reported to 744 incidents linked to the mask since the beginning of the year.
Rise in cases
“The CDC is of the opinion that at this time, an order requiring the wearing of masks indoors on transportation remains necessary for public health, they wrote in a press release. As we have already said, wearing a mask is especially beneficial in very crowded and poorly ventilated places”.
The health agency said it would continue to continuously assess the health situation to determine whether such an obligation remains necessary in the future. She had decided last week to extend the obligation to wear a mask on public transport at least until May 3. The United States is now again seeing an increase in the number of daily cases of Covid-19, linked to the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron.