WASHINGTON, April 21, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - The United States government is
appealing a court ruling that controversially lifted a federal mask mandate
on US public transport earlier this week, the Justice Department said
Wednesday.

After the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the country's top
health body, assessed "that an order requiring masking in the transportation
corridor remains necessary to protect the public health, the Department has
filed a notice of appeal," spokesman Anthony Coley said.

A US federal judge on Monday struck down the Covid-19 mask mandate, stating
that it exceeded the CDC's statutory authority.

Policymakers in Washington had decided just the prior week to extend it
through May 3.

Although the public has a "strong interest" in combating the spread of Covid,
the mask mandate "exceeded the CDC's statutory authority," and it "failed to
adequately explain its decisions," US District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle
of the Middle District of Florida said in her decision.

Multiple major airlines subsequently dropped their mask mandates on domestic
flights and some international flights, while ride-hailing services Uber and
Lyft as well as passenger rail Amtrak additionally announced an end to mask
requirements.

Polling suggests continued majority support for indoor mask mandates, but
with a clear minority opposed.

A YouGov America poll conducted April 18 found 63 percent "strongly" or
"somewhat" support US government requirements for masks on public transport.