Though COVID-19 cases remain low and face mask requirements have vanished from most public settings, U.S. health officials Wednesday extended for two more weeks the mask mandate for airlines and public transportation that was set to expire Monday, citing concerns about an upturn in cases in the Northeast.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the order, which applies to planes, trains, buses, boats, stations, airports, marinas and other transit hubs, will remain in effect until at least May 3 while it monitors the BA.2 omicron subvariant now responsible for 86% of U.S. cases and a similar share worldwide.
“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,” the agency said in a statement.
The extension was welcomed by some Bay Area commuters on Wednesday but questioned by some health experts who wondered what difference two more weeks would make.
“Thank god, because CDC thinks the pandemic will be over in just 2 more weeks?” tweeted epidemiologist and health economist Eric Feigl-Ding.
Johns Hopkins University professor Dr. Marty Makary said on Twitter that the “CDC is painting themselves into a corner, extending travel mask mandates,” and should instead advise on individual risk and “stop futile Zero-Covid policies for an inevitable virus.”
But Dr. Bob Wachter, who chairs the University of California San Francisco medical department, said that “given the recent uptick in cases, I think the May 3 delay is reasonable,” in part because unlike a local restaurant, “a packed plane is an unknown gumbo of people from lots of different places.” He added however that “if we don’t see a big surge soon, I favor ending the mandate in early May.”
Face mask requirements have been among the most visible and controversial measures imposed to check the virus’ spread throughout the pandemic.
California ended its statewide mask mandate for indoor public places on Feb. 15, and ended the statewide requirement in schools March 12.
Most county health and public school districts have followed the state and dropped their requirements as well.
Under the CDC’s COVID-19 community level metrics revised in February to shift focus from new cases to hospitalizations and health care system capacity, 96% of counties across the U.S. are at the green “low” level. According to CDC data, the 7-day moving average of daily COVID-19 cases nationally fell to 24,815 on March 29, a level not seen since early July — before last year’s delta surge.
But the CDC noted Wednesday that since early April that 7-day average increased to 30,496 cases on April 11, the most recent figure reported. Cases have risen more sharply in the Northeast, in states such as New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. But California also has seen its 7-day average rise to 2,823 on April 11 from 1,989 April 4.
The BA.2 omicron subvariant helped drive significant case increases across Europe and Asia last month, though that also often coincided with relaxation of public health measures. On Monday, Philadelphia became the first major U.S. city to reinstate its indoor mask mandate after reporting a sharp rise in COVID-19 infections.
This isn’t the first time the transportation mask mandate has been extended. It had been set to expire March 18, but the CDC extended it for another month, saying it needed more time to develop a more flexible requirement.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency said compliance has been high, though many unmasked passengers boarded cars after Tuesday’s Giants game.
At the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, spokeswoman Stacey Hendler Ross said Wednesday that passengers have abided by the rule on its trains and buses, where operators keep extra masks to hand out to passengers who board without them.
“People are using them for most part,” Ross said. “It’s not really been too much of a problem. It’s almost become a way of life.”
The mask rule has led to clashes aboard aircraft. The union representing Southwest Airlines’ flight attendants urged the Biden administration to drop the requirement, saying “physical and verbal assaults” on planes have “increased dramatically, many of which are related to mask compliance.” The Federal Aviation Administration has reported 744 unruly passenger incidents so far this year and 4,290 in 2021 over masks.
Many foreign airlines no longer require face coverings, and U.S. carriers want to follow suit. In a March 23 letter to President Biden, they argued “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.”
The extension drew mixed responses from Bay Area travelers.
“We should keep them on because there’s another wave coming and it would be nice if it’s not so intense,” said Eve Vanderschmidt, who rode BART to the MacArthur station after gardening in San Francisco.
At Mineta San Jose International Airport, Jennifer Miller of Scotts Valley said “I want to err on the side of more masks, more vaccinations and more boosts.”
While Willow Glen resident Kristen Rossi said masks make sense at “airports because there are so many people and they’re traveling from anywhere,” she reflected on how many people are ready to move on. “I don’t like wearing them . . . We can’t keep living our lives like this. I don’t want to live my life in fear.”
