President Joe Biden is facing criticism of his administration’s decision to extend a mask mandate for public transportation.
CNN reported on Thursday that the administration will extend the public transportation mandate, which applies to air travel, trains, and buses, for 30 days.
The mandate was set to expire on March 18.
An administration official told the network that during the extension of the mandate, “CDC will work with government agencies to help inform a revised policy framework for when, and under what circumstances, masks should be required in the public transportation corridor.”
“This revised framework will be based on the Covid-19 community levels, risk of new variants, national data, and the latest science. We will communicate any updates publicly if and/or when they change,” the official added.
CNN noted, “The CDC may ultimately allow the mandate to lift before the 30-day period is up if transmission rates of the virus nationwide drop to low enough levels.”
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) reacted to the news by tweeting a picture of Biden, maskless, standing near Democrats after his State of the Union address and wrote, “Biden is requiring masks for two-year-old kids on planes, but no masks for high-risk Democratic politicians.”
And Nathan Brand, a deputy communication director for the Republican National Committee, tweeted, “Well this is stupid.”
Check out some of the reactions below:
During a Senate hearing in Dec. 2021, American Airlines CEO Doug Parker and Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly testified that masks do not limit exposure to COVID-19.
“I think the case is very strong that masks don’t add much, if anything, in the air cabin environment. It is very safe and very high quality compared to any other indoor setting,” Kelly said.
Meanwhile, Parker added, “An aircraft is the safest place you can be. It’s true of all of our aircraft — they all have the same HEPA filters and air flow.”