美国司法部(Justice Department)周三表示，将对佛罗里达州一名法官做出的一项法院裁决提起上诉，该裁决推翻了联邦政府在旅行时佩戴口罩的命令，此前美国政府最高公共卫生官员坚称，“在这个时候”这项命令仍然是必要的。

这一举措不太可能迫使旅行者重新戴上口罩。这场法律斗争可能需要几周甚至几个月的时间来解决，联邦政府表示，它目前没有执行这项将于5月3日到期的授权。

但拜登政府的声明明确表示，它希望反对保留在飞机上、机场和其他交通枢纽强制佩戴口罩以防止疾病传播的权力的裁决。

疾控中心在一份声明中写道:“这是疾控中心的持续评估，在这个时候，要求室内交通走廊屏蔽的命令对于公共健康仍然是必要的……疾控中心认为这是一项合法的命令，完全符合疾控中心保护公共健康的法律授权。”

乔·雷德尔/盖蒂图片社，档案

当旅客准备在机场办理登机手续时，可以看到一个写着“此区域需要口罩”的标志..

本月早些时候，美国疾病预防控制中心将口罩授权延长了两周，称需要更多时间来评估最近病例的上升，并引用了旅行带来的独特风险。但在特朗普任命的一名法官宣布最近一次授权延期不合法，并表示该机构没有通过适当的行政程序后，该计划于周一被否决。

虽然许多旅行者为此举欢呼，但这一决定给美国人的旅行计划注入了不确定性，并造成了混乱。一些人甚至说他们正在飞行中，这时他们的飞行员突然宣布口罩是可选的。据估计，3%的美国人免疫功能低下，即使接种了疫苗，也更容易受到病毒并发症的影响。此外，5岁以下的儿童仍然没有资格接种疫苗。

佛罗里达州温特海文市的优步司机约翰·谢泼德说:“如果取消口罩的命令是来自医学方面的，我也不会感到太大的困扰，他可能有医学学位，或者从事研究病毒、病因和治疗的职业。”

“但对我来说，这只是特朗普任命的法官的政治举动，他想获得政治分数，这让数百万人处于危险之中，”他补充道。

公共卫生专家表示，如果住院人数保持不变，CDC可能会在5月3日之后让该授权失效，但它希望未来有权恢复该授权。

“政策上的这一变化为这个国家的公共卫生工作开创了一个真正具有挑战性的先例。波士顿儿童医院(Boston Children's Hospital)首席创新官约翰·布朗斯坦(John Brownstein)是美国广播公司的撰稿人，他说:“一名法官推翻了公共卫生专业人士推动的一项命令，这意味着我们将许多人置于不必要的风险之中。

这个案子对政府来说并不是板上钉钉的事。下一步是司法部向第十一巡回法院提起上诉，法律专家表示，这一决定很可能最终会由最高法院做出，最高法院过去一直对与疫情有关的联邦权力持怀疑态度。

DOJ appealing ruling that struck down travel mask mandate

The Justice Department said Wednesday it will appeal a court ruling by a Florida judge that struck down the federal government's order to wear masks while traveling, after the administration's top public health officials insisted the mandate was still necessary "at this time."

The move is unlikely to force masks back on travelers just yet. The legal fight could take weeks or even months to resolve, and the federal government has said it's not currently enforcing the mandate, which was set to expire on May 3.

But the Biden administration's announcement makes clear that it wants to fight the ruling to retain the power to mandate masks aboard planes, inside airports and other transportation hubs to prevent the spread of disease.

"It is CDC's continuing assessment that at this time an order requiring masking in the indoor transportation corridor remains necessary for the public health… CDC believes this is a lawful order, well within CDC's legal authority to protect public health," the CDC wrote in a statement.

Earlier this month, the CDC had extended the mask mandate for an extra two weeks, saying it needed more time to assess a recent uptick in cases and citing the unique risks posed by travel. But that plan was tossed out Monday after a Trump-appointed judge declared the latest extension of the mandate unlawful and said the agency hadn't gone through the proper administrative process.

While many travelers cheered the move, the decision injected uncertainty into Americans' travel plans and sowed confusion. Some people even said they were mid-flight when their pilot announced masks were suddenly optional. An estimated 3% of Americans are immunocompromised and more vulnerable to complications of the virus, even if vaccinated. Also, children under age 5 remain ineligible for the vaccine.

"It wouldn't bother me as much if the removal of the mask mandate had come from a medical source -- someone with perhaps a medical degree or a career spent studying viruses, causes and cures," said John Shepard, an Uber driver in Winter Haven, Florida, who says he is immunocompromised.

"But to me, this was just a political move by a Trump-appointed judge who wanted to score political points, and it's putting millions of people at risk," he added.

Public health experts said it was possible the CDC was going to let the mandate lapse after May 3 anyway -- if hospitalization numbers remained flat -- but that it would want the power to reinstate it in the future.

"This change in policy sets a really challenging precedent for how public health is done in this country. A single judge overturning a mandate driven by public health professionals means that we're unnecessarily putting many people at risk," said John Brownstein, chief innovation officer at Boston Children's Hospital and an ABC contributor.

The case is not a slam dunk for the administration. The next step is for the Justice Department to file its appeal with the 11th Circuit, and legal experts say it's likely the decision will eventually end up with the Supreme Court, which has been skeptical in the past of federal powers related to the pandemic.