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Biden administration considers appeal against end of federal mask mandate
The Biden administration is awaiting the guidance of public health officials on whether or not to appeal a federal judge’s ruling to overturn the national mask mandate for travel.
The Associated Press is reporting that the justice department said it would appeal Monday’s ruling by US district hudge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined the mandate was needed to protect public health.
“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.
Before Monday’s ruling that overturned the mandate requiring mask coverings on planes, trains and other public transportation, the mandate was 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 in a statement on Tuesday.
The CDC reiterated its recommendation that people wear masks on public transportation while indoors. The court’s order had caught the administration by surprise and left it struggling to grasp its impact both on the requirement’s end and on CDC’s authorities going forward.
24 hours ago, a federal judge vacated @CDCgov mask mandate on airplanes
This was deeply disappointing
CDC scientists had asked for 15 days to make a more data-driven durable decision
We should have given it to them
But I’ll continue to follow CDC guidance & mask up on planes
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@AshishKJha46) April 19, 2022
Report: Biden considering delaying Title 42 repeal
Axios is reporting that Joe Biden is considering delaying the repeal of Title 42 , after some moderate Democrats have broken with his administration over the decision to end the use of this policy to deny asylum claims at the US-Mexico border.
Title 42 is a law enacted by Donald Trump in March 2020 at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. It’s a World War II-era public health law that authorizes border officials to deport migrants and grants the government the “power to prohibit, in whole or in part, the introduction of persons and property” to stop a contagious disease from spreading in the US.
Since March 2020, the US has carried out more than 1.7 million migrant expulsions under Title 42. Most have been expelled by land to Mexico, with the Mexican government agreeing to accept expelled migrants if they are from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador.
Punchbowl News reported yesterday that nine senate Democrats have publicly expressed opposition to Biden’s decision to repeal Title 42.
“In the region where I’m from, we’re seeing infections rise. I think Philadelphia, for example, just returned to a mask mandate. So my hope is that that will be reconsidered appropriately,” Chris Coons, the Democratic senator from Delaware, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
With the war in Ukraine still raging on, Joe Biden today will meet with defense secretary Lloyd Austin, deputy defense secretary Kathleen Hicks, the joint chiefs of staff and the combatant commanders at the White House.
Following this meeting, Biden and first lady Jill Biden will host a dinner for this same group and their spouses, also at the White House.
Biden administration considers appeal against end of federal mask mandate
The Biden administration is awaiting the guidance of public health officials on whether or not to appeal a federal judge’s ruling to overturn the national mask mandate for travel.
The Associated Press is reporting that the justice department said it would appeal Monday’s ruling by US district hudge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined the mandate was needed to protect public health.
“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.
Before Monday’s ruling that overturned the mandate requiring mask coverings on planes, trains and other public transportation, the mandate was 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 in a statement on Tuesday.
The CDC reiterated its recommendation that people wear masks on public transportation while indoors. The court’s order had caught the administration by surprise and left it struggling to grasp its impact both on the requirement’s end and on CDC’s authorities going forward.
24 hours ago, a federal judge vacated @CDCgov mask mandate on airplanes
This was deeply disappointing
CDC scientists had asked for 15 days to make a more data-driven durable decision
We should have given it to them
But I’ll continue to follow CDC guidance & mask up on planes
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@AshishKJha46) April 19, 2022
The Associated Press-Norc Center for Public Affairs Research conducted its own separate poll on the federal mask mandate and found that 56% of Americans were in favor of requiring people on planes, trains and public transportation to wear masks. Meanwhile, 24% opposed this requirement and 20% say they’re neither in favor nor opposed.
Unsurprisingly, the poll uncovered a wide partisan divide on the mask mandate. Among Democrats, 80% were in favor of the mandate while just 5% opposed the requirement. Among Republicans, 45% were opposed compared with 33% in favor, with 22% saying neither.
Here’s a bit more on Florida district court judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, the 35-year-old conservative federal court judge appointed by Donald Trump who on Monday overturned Joe Biden’s federal mask mandate for transit.
Mizelle is the youngest Trump appointee to the federal bench, just 33 in September 2020 when she was received the nomination to the lifetime appointment. The American Bar Association rated her “not qualified”, in part because she had only eight years experience in practicing law.
Since Monday’s ruling, however, she has become a hero among Republicans.
Read more here:
Confusion spreads as Biden weighs appeal against end of federal mask mandate
Greetings, live blog readers. Here’s what we got ahead of us today:
Two days after the overturning of Joe Biden’s national mask mandate covering airplanes, airports and other public transportation, a Politico/Morning Consult poll is showing that most American voters are against the decision made by the conservative federal judge appointed by Donald Trump.
WIth coronavirus cases surging by 29% in the past two weeks, 49% of voters polled by Politico/Morning Consult before the overturning of the mask mandate said they thought it was too early to end the federal mask mandate for travel. Just 16% said it was the right time to end the mandate, with 11% saying it never should have been in place to begin with.
The poll found that 59% supported the original extension of the travel mask mandate issued the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while 32% opposed it.
Yesterday, when asked if Americans should continue to wear masks on planes, Biden answered, “That’s up to them.” His press secretary, Jen Psaki, however, had much harsher words for the ruling.
“Public health decisions shouldn’t be made by the courts,” she said. “They should be made by public health experts. We’ve said from the start that our Covid response should be guided by the science and data and by experts.”
The Biden administration is now considering appealing the decision made by Florida district court judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle.
More to come.
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