TSA extends mask mandate on public transportation for a month

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The TSA is extending its mask mandate for public transportation like airplanes and trains until April 18. The extra time is, in part, to enable the agency to work with the CDC to develop a framework to determine when masks will be required in the future, based on case metrics and the emergence of new variants. On social media, public health experts shared their approval of this move: for example, Bob Wachter, chief of medicine at University of California San Francisco tweeted “this was the right call” citing upticks in cases in the UK as well as the particular risks of public transportation, such as being “shoulder to should” with strangers for hours.

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