JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – People will have to keep their masks on while flying on planes a little longer.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Wednesday its extending its nationwide mask mandate for travelers on airplanes, trains and other transit systems by 15 days -- until May 3.
The federal mask mandate was supposed to expire on April 18.
On the day of the announcement, News4JAX spoke with travelers at Jacksonville International Airport about the extension. The majority of people we talked with said they don’t mind wearing their masks a little longer. We did speak with some people who said they’d rather not wear masks while walking around the airport, but a lot of people said they would still wear them on the plane.
“I’m actually in favor of extending the mask mandate for planes and just close confined quarters,” said passenger Rachel Richards. “We all don’t like wearing these things, but I’d just rather be safe than sorry. I’ve lost family members and I don’t care to see it again.”
Passenger Jerome Eliott said it did not bother him wearing a mask on the plane.
Passenger Kamela Eddins is from St. Marys and traveled home from Kansas City on Wednesday.
“Just got off the plane where people were coughing. I’m glad we had the masks on,” said Eddins, who also told News4JAX that she would still wear a mask even if the mandate was dropped,
The mask mandate extension comes after officials say they’ve seen a rise in COVID-19 cases nationwide amid the spread of the BA.2 omicron subvariant.
“It is what it is. I mean, if that’s what they think they need to do -- I know parts of the country are experiencing some hot spots again with COVID, so if they think they need to do it, hopefully, we’ll be out of this soon,” said airport visitor Sean Davis.
The Florida Department of Health reported Friday that 11,337 new cases were reported in the state that past week, and the previous week, 10,114 new cases were reported.
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Local infectious disease specialist Dr. Mohammed Reza said extending the mandate will by us some time as the BA.2 is spreading. He said we haven’t seen that many cases in Florida, but he said the masks do work in slowing down the spread.
The group Airlines For America, which represents the 10 major U.S. carriers, wrote a letter Wednesday asking the administration to drop the mask mandate. The group said it’s difficult to understand why masks are needed on planes but not in crowded bars, restuarants and sports arenas.
Reza said the main issue on planes is not having ventilation -- you’re in close quarters with someone in a closed space that allows the virus to spread more quickly. In restaurants and other spaces, you can spread out or open windows.