The Biden administration may extend the federal mask mandate for public transportation yet again, White House Covid-19 response coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said on NBC’s The Today Show on Monday.
Host Savannah Guthrie asked Jha whether the mandate, set to expire next week, should be extended because of a rise in Covid cases in some parts of the U.S. due to an Omicron sub-variant.
“This is a decision that the CDC director Dr. [Rochelle] Walensky is going to make. I know the CDC is working on developing a scientific framework for how to answer that,” Jha responded. “We’re going to see that framework come out in the next few days.”
Guthrie then asked whether an extension of the mandate is “on the table.”
“This is a CDC decision, and I think it is absolutely on the table,” Jha said. “And Dr. Walensky is going to make her decision based on the framework that the CDC scientists create.”
.@SavannahGuthrie spoke with White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Dr. @ashishkjha about the rising COVID cases and mask mandates. pic.twitter.com/OZX62EaN3o
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) April 11, 2022
The current mask mandate applies to public transportation including buses and trains, as well as on airplanes. The mandate was previously extended in mid-March.
Jha’s comments come almost three weeks after ten U.S. airline CEOs, including the heads of United, Delta, and Southwest Airlines, called on the administration to lift the mask mandate for air travel.
“It makes no sense that people are still required to wear masks on airplanes, yet are allowed to congregate in crowded restaurants, schools and at sporting events without masks, despite none of these venues having the protective air filtration system that aircraft do,” the ten CEOs wrote in a joint open letter to President Biden.
“We are requesting this action not only for the benefit the of the traveling public, but also for the thousands of airline employees charged with enforcing a patchwork of now-outdated regulations implemented in response to COVID-19,” the letter adds.