Is The Air Travel Mask Mandate About To Get Extended Again?

Dr. Fauci wanted masks on planes forever. Since last January I’ve said the mask mandate would end before the November 2022 midterms, because control of both the House and Senate hang in the balance. Amidst high inflation and Russian’s invasion of Ukraine driving up food and energy prices, the Administration needs to declare victory over Covid-19.

There is a transportation mask mandate through April 18. The mandate is expected to expire. Their lobbying group. The lifting of the mask requirement will coincide with the return of alcohol sales in coach.

I wrote a month ago that an expected increase in cases by the B.A.2 variant could derail this plan. Europe was already seeing case growth, although experience suggests it tops out at a lower level than the recent wave. If cases are growing right as the Administration decides whether to lift the mandate, that makes it harder for them to do so.

Most of the cases are confined to the Northeast. Even Eric Topol isn't worried.

There are counties in upstate NY, Colorado, Texas and Alaska with 70-130 new cases/100K —very high levels that reflect this variant's hyper-infectious potential /2 pic.twitter.com/XFeAnhmrha

— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) April 10, 2022

The transportation mask mandate is set to expire a week from now, and masks are only required on planes, trains, buses and automobiles in certain parts of the country.

We are not in a place where public mandates are needed. The reported positives are still low despite the tick up.

In the summer of 2021, hospitalizations and ICU admittances were much higher than they are today.

We are better able to address the current virus than at any other time.

• Vaccines and boosters are available, and hold up against bad outcomes from Covid-19
• B.A.2, like B.A.1, presents as less severe
• And it spreads more quickly, masks that meet the regulatory requirement (like cloth masks) probably don’t do much anyway. Masking was important in 2020 both to delay infection (until we had vaccines and treatments) and delay hospitalizations (to preserve capacity) – not so much right now
• Treatments are available from Paxlovid to Fluvoxamine to Peginterferon Lambda (TOGETHER 3 TRIAL)

If you're concerned about your health, you should wear a good mask. It is not the time to impose broad public mandates. We have tools that we didn't have earlier in the Pandemic, and we have enough immunity from the Omicron wave that we aren't likely to put pressure on hospitals.

It is possible that we could see a new variant of consequence that is fast-spreading, more virulent, and that escapes prior immunity. That would be a huge concern and reason to re-address public health policy from good-quality masks to more aggressive treatments.

The federal transportation mask mandate is going to be extended by President Biden. The mask mandate for air travel which is generally considered safer than most other indoor congregant settings remained even after the CDC lifted its guidance that Americans wear masks indoors. When the CDC was founded.

In airlines.

The Biden administration was worried that they would look stupid if Covid-19 cases increased again. The mandate is on its last legs. The indoor mask mandates are being eliminated by every state. Even if

In airlines.

The Biden administration was considering severe air travel restrictions out of concern for the Omicron variant of the virus, but they couldn't make the logistics of legality of some of them work. The new restrictions were expected to be announced on Thursday.

In airlines.