Mask mandate to be extended on US planes and trains until 18 April

The mask mandate on US airplanes and other transportation will last at least another month, officials say.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to extend the rule through 18 April, exactly one month after it was set to expire. The federal mandate applies to trains, buses, ships, subways, transit hubs, and planes, where violent conflicts over masks have skyrocketed in recent years.

Over the next month, an unnamed US official told CNN, the CDC plans to review the policy, and may decide to reduce the number of places where masks are required. But for now, the current mandate remains in effect.

“During that time, CDC will work with government agencies to help inform a revised policy framework for when, and under what circumstances, masks should be required in the public transportation corridor,” the official told the network. “This revised framework will be based on the Covid-19 community levels, risk of new variants, national data, and the latest science. We will communicate any updates publicly if and/or when they change.”

The CDC is expected to officially announce the extension later on Thursday.

Covid numbers in much of the US have plummeted in recent weeks. After a brief, enormous spike in cases due to the Omicron variant, infections are now so low that, according to one CDC estimate, more than 90 per cent of Americans could safely do without masks, even indoors.

The federal mask mandate has been a major source of conflict on US airplanes, including assaults on flight attendants and other airline staff. In 2021, there were 5,981 reports of unruly passengers, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Of those, 4,290 were mask-related.

The situation has gotten so desperate that airline executives have begged federal authorities to intervene.

“We are requesting you support our efforts with respect to the much-needed step of putting any person convicted of an on-board disruption on a national, comprehensive, unruly passenger ‘no-fly’ list that would bar that person from traveling on any commercial air carrier,” Ed Bastian, the CEO of Delta Air Lines, wrote to US Attorney General Merrick Garland last month.

According to CNN, federal officials have informed members of the airline industry of the CDC’s upcoming announcement.

But not everyone in the industry is relieved. Some worry that if Covid cases tick back up, it may be too soon to drop the mask requirement.

“What we really don’t want is to lift the mandate and have to reimpose it,” one airline employee told CNN.

The Independent has reached out to the CDC for comment.