Masks stay on: CDC keeps the mandate on planes
Despite great pressure from airlines, the hospitality industry and Republican lawmakers to lift the rule requiring masks on planes and other public transportation, the CDC extended the federal transportation mask requirement for two weeks on Wednesday, five days before it was set to expire. The mask mandate now expires May 3, if it is not extended yet again. Dr. Ashish K. Jha, the new White House Covid response coordinator, said that the additional time will allow the CDC to assess whether BA.2, a subvariant of the coronavirus, is going to become a “ripple or a wave” in the United States. The CDC will use that information to determine whether the mandate should be extended further, he said. “If the infection numbers are relatively low, as they are right now, then I think it’s reasonable to remove mask mandates,” he said, emphasizing that it’s a CDC decision. The CDC said BA.2 now makes up more than 85% of new US virus cases. “Since early April, there have been increases in the 7-day moving average of cases in the US,” the agency said. “In order to assess the potential impact the rise of cases has on severe disease, including hospitalizations and deaths, and health care system capacity, the CDC order will remain in place at this time.” In recent days, new US cases have started ticking up again. As of Tuesday, the nation was reporting more than 31,000 new cases a day on average, 8% more than two weeks earlier, according to a New York Times database, though the case counts have not approached the peak seen in the winter Omicron surge. Reported cases may be an undercount of the virus’s true spread to some degree, since access to at-home tests has increased and the results of such tests are often not officially reported. It’s not yet clear how severe the impact of these cases will be, Dr. Jha said, noting that BA.2 has caused far more hospitalizations and deaths in the United Kingdom than it has in Israel, two countries where it appeared earlier than in the United States and where it spread widely.<br/>
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Masks stay on: CDC keeps the mandate on planes
Despite great pressure from airlines, the hospitality industry and Republican lawmakers to lift the rule requiring masks on planes and other public transportation, the CDC extended the federal transportation mask requirement for two weeks on Wednesday, five days before it was set to expire. The mask mandate now expires May 3, if it is not extended yet again. Dr. Ashish K. Jha, the new White House Covid response coordinator, said that the additional time will allow the CDC to assess whether BA.2, a subvariant of the coronavirus, is going to become a “ripple or a wave” in the United States. The CDC will use that information to determine whether the mandate should be extended further, he said. “If the infection numbers are relatively low, as they are right now, then I think it’s reasonable to remove mask mandates,” he said, emphasizing that it’s a CDC decision. The CDC said BA.2 now makes up more than 85% of new US virus cases. “Since early April, there have been increases in the 7-day moving average of cases in the US,” the agency said. “In order to assess the potential impact the rise of cases has on severe disease, including hospitalizations and deaths, and health care system capacity, the CDC order will remain in place at this time.” In recent days, new US cases have started ticking up again. As of Tuesday, the nation was reporting more than 31,000 new cases a day on average, 8% more than two weeks earlier, according to a New York Times database, though the case counts have not approached the peak seen in the winter Omicron surge. Reported cases may be an undercount of the virus’s true spread to some degree, since access to at-home tests has increased and the results of such tests are often not officially reported. It’s not yet clear how severe the impact of these cases will be, Dr. Jha said, noting that BA.2 has caused far more hospitalizations and deaths in the United Kingdom than it has in Israel, two countries where it appeared earlier than in the United States and where it spread widely.<br/>
