Nationwide Mask Mandate Easing

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is developing guidance that will ease the nationwide mask mandate on airplanes, buses and other mass transit next month, but the existing face covering requirement will be extended through April 18, according to news reports.

The requirement, which is enforced by the Transportation Security Administration, was to expire March 18 but was extended to allow the public health agency time to develop new, more targeted policies. The requirement extends to planes, buses, trains and transit hubs.

The CDC is developing a revised policy for when masks should be required on transit systems based off its newly released COVID-19 community levels metric.