A US judge's ruling to end mask mandates on aeroplanes will be appealed if health officials say the mandates are necessary to slow Covid-19, the US president Joe Biden's administration says.
People entering John F Kennedy Airport on Tuesday in New York City. Photo: AFP/ Getty
The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, to whom the administration was deferring, said that it would continue to study whether the mandates are still needed.
The mandates apply to planes, trains and other public transportation and, prior to Monday's ruling, had been due to expire on 3 May.
"We will continue to assess the need for a mask requirement in those settings based on several factors, including the US Covid-19 community levels, risk of circulating and novel variants, and trends in cases and disease severity," a CDC spokesperson said.
The Justice Department said it would appeal Monday's ruling by US District judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle that the 14-month-old directive was unlawful, if the CDC determined the mandate was needed.
The ruling overturned a key presidential effort to reduce the spread of Covid-19.
"If CDC concludes that a mandatory order remains necessary for the public's health after that assessment, the Department of Justice will appeal the district court's decision," the Justice Department said in a statement.
The CDC reiterated that it recommends that people wear masks on public transportation while indoors.
That came hours after Biden answered a question about whether people should continue to wear masks on planes, with: "It's up to them."
Monday's court decision, made in response to a lawsuit filed last year in Tampa, Florida, means the CDC's public transportation masking order is no longer in effect, a US official said.
It comes as Covid-19 infections rise in the US, with death rates of more than 400 people a day from the airborne disease, based on the latest seven-day average.
The ruling followed a string of judgements against Biden administration directives to fight the infectious disease that has killed nearly 1 million Americans, including vaccination and Covid-19 testing mandates for employers.
"Public health decisions shouldn't be made by the courts. They should be made by public health experts," White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said.
-Reuters