司法部周二晚上宣布，如果疾病控制和预防中心认为有必要，它将对最近的裁决提起上诉，该裁决使联邦公共交通口罩授权无效。
现在的问题是，疾病预防控制中心是否仍然认为公共交通的授权是一项重要的公共卫生工具，就在上周，当它将授权延长至5月3日，以监测BA.2变种病例的上升时，它支持这一决定，ba . 2变种是一种更具传染性的omicron菌株。如果疾病预防控制中心真的采取行动重新实施这一命令，目前还不清楚司法部的行动是否会在该命令到期前带来变化。
“司法部和疾病控制和预防中心(CDC)不同意地区法院的决定，并将上诉，但取决于CDC的结论，即该命令对公共健康仍然是必要的，”司法部周二在一份声明中说。
“如果疾病预防控制中心在评估后得出结论，为了公众的健康，强制令仍然是必要的，司法部将对地区法院的决定提出上诉。”
美国疾病控制和预防中心周二晚些时候做出回应，称仍在评估是否需要佩戴口罩。
“CDC继续建议人们在所有室内公共交通环境中戴口罩。我们将继续评估在这些情况下是否需要口罩，基于几个因素，包括美国新冠肺炎社区水平，循环和新型变异的风险，以及病例和疾病严重程度的趋势，”CDC说。
前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)任命的佛罗里达州法官周一做出的决定，推翻了适用于公共交通的联邦口罩规定，实际上取消了对飞机、火车和公共汽车以及美国各地机场的要求。
斯科特艾森/盖蒂图片社
2022年4月19日，乔·拜登总统就两党基础设施法发表讲话.
在裁决中，美国地方法院法官凯瑟琳·米泽尔表示，由疾病预防控制中心制定的授权超越了“法定权限，违反了[行政程序法]规定的机构规则制定所需的程序。”
法官的判决立即生效。虽然预计联邦政府将对该决定提起上诉，但在周二晚上宣布之前，总统乔·拜登(Joe Biden)和白宫新闻秘书珍·帕萨基(Jen Psaki)都没有表明DOJ倾向于哪一方。
面具问题是中期选举前的一个政治避雷针，也是政府没有寻求积极应对的一个问题，因为在美国大部分地区，面具授权已经被取消。
周一晚些时候，一名政府官员仅表示，运输安全管理局将不再强制要求在公共交通工具上佩戴口罩，但疾病预防控制中心继续推荐佩戴口罩。
法院判决的结果给美国人留下了一堆杂乱无章的规定:比如，在纽约的拉瓜迪亚机场和肯尼迪机场进出时不戴口罩，但在穿过机场时戴上口罩。
与此同时，美国国家铁路客运公司以及优步和Lyft等拼车服务公司已经取消了他们的口罩规定，但包括纽约、芝加哥、洛杉矶和旧金山在内的几个主要城市仍然要求他们在一些公共交通工具上佩戴口罩。
上个月，美国所有主要航空公司的首席执行官写信给拜登政府，要求结束飞机上的口罩要求。
“人们仍然被要求在飞机上戴口罩，但却被允许在拥挤的餐馆、学校和体育赛事中不戴口罩聚集，这是毫无道理的，尽管这些场所都没有飞机那样的保护性空气过滤系统，”企业高管写道。
该组织表示，强制执行口罩规定的负担落在了员工身上。“他们没有接受过履行这一职能的培训，这让他们每天都面临沮丧的客户的挑战。这反过来又会损害他们自己的幸福。”
根据联邦航空管理局的数据，今年已经有1150起不守规矩乘客的报告，其中744起涉及面部遮盖物。
DOJ says it will appeal mask mandate decision if CDC calls for it
The Department of Justice announced Tuesday night it would appeal the recent ruling that voided the federal mask mandate on public transit if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention deems it necessary.
The question now is whether the CDC still thinks the mandate on public transit is an important public health tool, a decision it stood behind just last week when it extended the mandate until May 3 to monitor an uptick in cases from the BA.2 variant, a more transmissible strain of omicron. And if the CDC does move to reimpose the mandate, it's unclear whether action from the Justice Department will lead to change before the mandate was set to expire anyway.
"The Department of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) disagree with the district court's decision and will appeal, subject to CDC's conclusion that the order remains necessary for public health," the Justice Department said in a statement Tuesday.
"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 CDC, for its part, responded later Tuesday night and said that it was still assessing the need for a mask requirement.
"CDC continues to recommend that people wear masks in all indoor public transportation settings. We will continue to assess the need for a mask requirement in those settings, based on several factors, including the U.S. COVID-19 community levels, risk of circulating and novel variants, and trends in cases and disease severity," the CDC said.
The decision on Monday made by a Florida judge appointed by former President Donald Trump struck down a federal mask mandate that applied to public transportation, effectively lifting the requirement on planes, trains and buses, as well as inside airports across the United States.
In the ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Kathryn Mizelle said the mandate, established by the CDC, exceeds "statutory authority and violates the procedures required for agency rulemaking under the [Administrative Procedure Act]."
The judge's decision was effective immediately. Though the federal government was expected to appeal the decision, neither President Joe Biden nor White House press secretary Jen Psaki indicated which way the DOJ was leaning until the announcement on Tuesday evening.
The issue of masking is a political lightning rod ahead of the midterm elections and one the administration has not sought to aggressively fight since mask mandates have already been lifted in much of the country.
Late Monday night, an administration official said only that the Transportation Security Administration would no longer enforce the requirement to wear masks on public transportation but that the CDC continued to recommend them.
The fallout of the court decision left Americans with a patchwork of rules: fly without a mask in and out of New York's LaGuardia and Kennedy airports but put one on while walking through the airports, for example.
Meanwhile, Amtrak and ride-share services like Uber and Lyft have dropped their mask rules, but several major cities, including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco still require them on some public transportation.
Last month, CEOs of all the major U.S. airlines wrote to the Biden administration asking for an end to the mask requirements on planes.
"It makes no sense that people are still required to wear masks on airplanes, yet are allowed to congregate in crowded restaurants, schools and at sporting events without masks, despite none of these venues having the protective air filtration system that aircraft do," the business executives wrote.
The group said the burden of enforcing the mask mandate has fallen on their employees. "This is not a function they are trained to perform and subjects them to daily challenges by frustrated customers. This in turn takes a toll on their own well-being."
There have been 1,150 reports of unruly passengers on flights this year -- 744 of which involved face coverings, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
