New rule by CDC ramps up on masks
Coverings a must to travel, it says
ATLANTA — Masks must be worn at train and subway stations, bus terminals and airports nationwide, as well as on planes, trains and other types of public transportation in the United States, according to a federal public health order starting Monday to curb the spread of covid-19.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a mask-wearing rule late Friday that builds on an order announced Jan. 21 by President Joe Biden.
The rule “will protect Americans and provide confidence that we can once again travel safely even during this pandemic,” said Dr. Marty Cetron, director of the CDC’s division of migration and quarantine, who signed the order.
The 11-page CDC order takes effect just before midnight Monday. It makes refusal to wear a mask a violation of federal law, enforced by the Transportation Security Administration and other federal, state and local authorities.
The order goes beyond the “masking for interstate travel” previously announced by the White House.
A key objective, it said, is “preservation of human life.”
“Requiring masks will help us control this pan
demic and aid in reopening America’s economy,” the CDC order said.
The rule applies to passengers on airplanes, trains, subways, buses, taxis and rideshares. It says travelers must wear masks that cover their noses and mouths while riding, and while getting on and off rides. The order extends to waiting areas such as airports, train platforms and subway stations.
Airlines already require masks and have banned more than 2,000 passengers for refusing to wear them. Flight attendant unions have said a federal rule will make it easier for crews to enforce the requirement.
The order exempts children under 2 years of age and people with disabilities that make it unsafe to wear masks. Airlines struggled with an exemption for safety and stopped allowing it. The CDC said transportation operators can require medical documentation to prove that someone can’t safely wear a mask.
The order says masks can be removed briefly while eating, drinking, taking medication, going through security screenings and other circumstances.
The order said operators “must use best efforts” to ensure masks are worn, including “at the earliest opportunity, disembarking any person who refuses to comply.” It said enforcement will be handled by the Transportation Security Administration and “by other federal authorities and may be enforced by cooperating state and local authorities.”
The CDC said some face coverings aren’t good enough to comply with the rule. The don’t-travel list includes face shields, bandannas, masks with exhalation valves and masks that are too big or otherwise don’t fit properly.
The rule came just over a week after Biden’s executive order, which already mandated masks on certain modes of public transportation, including planes and trains, and it mandated masks on federal property.
The CDC prepared a transportation mask requirement last year, but was blocked by former President Donald Trump’s administration. Biden on Jan. 21 instructed the departments of Transportation, Labor, Homeland Security and other agencies to take immediate action “to require masks to be worn in compliance with CDC guidelines” covering transportation.
Hours after his inauguration, Biden also issued an order requiring masks on federal property, though many details of how it will be implemented remain unclear. Together, the moves were seen as the closest Biden could come to a national mask mandate.
Scientists say masks are among the most effective tools for slowing the uncontrolled spread of the coronavirus, which has killed more than 438,000 people in the United States.
Airlines have been a particularly fraught venue for mask conflicts, with a small but unrelenting stream of passengers refusing to wear masks, despite long periods in close quarters. Safety reports filed with the federal government show flight attendants being taunted, cursed at and ignored by passengers, some of whom called the virus a hoax.
Although airlines have banned hundreds of people from flying during the pandemic because they refuse to abide by company mask requirements, flight attendants and other aviation workers have long called for more government action to ensure safe travel during the pandemic.
A key piece of Biden’s mask effort will fall to the nation’s airline regulator.
The Federal Aviation Administration has previously deferred to airlines on masks, and administrator Stephen Dickson told senators at a June hearing “we do not plan to provide an enforcement specifically on that issue.”
He said at the time that “our space is in aviation safety, and their space is in public health,” referring to the CDC and other health officials. On Dec. 18, the FAA issued a statement declaring that “failure to wear a face covering is not itself a federal violation.”
But on Friday the agency said it is “committed to ensuring commercial airline passengers comply with President Biden’s face mask mandate throughout their journey from curb-to-curb.”
In a statement, the FAA said it is coordinating with other federal agencies, airlines, unions and airports, and is “strictly enforcing a zero-tolerance policy toward passengers who cause disturbances on flights or fail to obey flight crew instructions.”
It is unclear to what extent the FAA will rely on its existing framework for punishing unruly passengers. There have been 100 to 200 such cases annually in most recent years, according to agency data.
The Department of Transportation said in a statement that it has been coordinating with ground transportation officials and others around the country, describing CDC and Transportation Security Administration plans regarding masks, and working through its own potential regulatory issues.
The CDC said transportation operators may require a negative covid-19 test from passengers. Cetron said last week that the health agency is considering requiring testing of passengers on flights within the United States, but the airline industry is fighting a testing requirement out of fear that fewer people will fly. U.S. air travel is already down more than 60% from a year ago.