The US Department of Justice is going to file an appeal to overturn the order of a judge that eliminated the federal mandate to wear masks on airplanes and trains and in travel centers, authorities said Wednesday.
The notification came minutes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) asked the Department of Justice to appeal a Florida federal judge's decision earlier this week. A notice of appeal was filed in federal court in Tampa.
The CDC said in a statement Wednesday that its “ongoing assessment is that an order requiring masking in the inland transport corridor remains necessary for public health at this time.”
A federal judge in Florida had on Monday overturned the national mask mandate for mass transportation, prompting airlines and airports to quickly repeal their requirements for passengers to wear face coverings. The Transportation Security Administration said Monday it would stop enforcing the mask requirement.
CDC had recently extended the mask requirement, which expired on Monday, until May 3 to allow more time to study the BA.2 omicron subvariant, which is now responsible for the vast majority of cases in the United States. But Monday's court ruling had put that decision on hold.
CDC said it will continue to monitor public health conditions to determine if the mandate is still needed. He said he believes the mandate is “a legal order, well within CDC's legal authority to protect public health.”
Department of Justice spokesman Anthony Coley said Wednesday night that the department was filing the appeal “in light of today's CDC assessment that an order requiring masking in the transportation corridor is still necessary to protect public health.”
After a winter wave fueled by the omicron variant that led to record hospitalizations, the United States has seen a significant decline in the spread of the virus in recent months, prompting most states and cities to withdraw masking mandates.
However, several cities in the Northeast have seen an increase in hospitalizations in recent weeks, prompting Philadelphia to reinstate its obligation to wear masks.
(With information from AP)
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