The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has reported a 50 percent jump in active COVID-19 infections amongst employees in the two weeks since the federal face mask mandate was lifted.
On Monday, around 542 employees at the agency were off work with COVID-19, compared to 359 suffering from Coronavirus on April 18 – the same day that a Florida judge struck down the mask mandate.
Federal judge Kathryn Mizelleon vacated the mandate on the grounds that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had overreached by creating masking rules without first having the mandate cleared by Congress.
Although the CDC has asked the Department of Justice to appeal the ruling, the mask mandate was almost immediately rescinded after more than two years in force.
The TSA was the federal agency responsible for enforcing masking rules on public transport through the Security Directives and Emergency Amendment.
There is no direct evidence to connect the lifting of masking rules with the rise in COVID-19 infections amongst TSA staffers. The United States is currently witnessing a national uptick in Coronavirus infections which could be down to several different factors, including the relaxation of mask rules.
The CDC continues to advise that everyone aged two and over wear a face mask on public transport – including passengers and workers.
“Wearing a well-fitting mask or respirator is most beneficial in crowded or poorly ventilated locations, such as airport jetways,” the agency said in a statement on Tuesday.
In a statement, the CDC said the recommendation was based on “the currently available data, including an understanding of domestic and global epidemiology, circulating variants and their impact on disease severity and vaccine effectiveness, current trends in COVID-19 Community Levels within the United States, and projections of COVID-19 trends in the coming months.”
A growing number of countries have lifted masking rules on public transportation, although many other governments have tempered the ending of general mask mandates by keeping them in place on airplanes and other forms of public transport.
Huh. It’s almost like masks prevent the spread of disease. Who’d a thunk it?
The numbers were going up *before* the masks stopped, and going up across the entire US, so clearly the mask change (which is also *solely* for air travel) was not the factor. The TSA is being dishonest here.
I fully believe the gov. (TSA) will tell us the 100% god’s honest truth and not try and push any agenda. LOL!!!
Well that does it. Lock down the US like Australia,
We’re all doomed and 4 million people will truly die from this Covid thingy.
Paging Fascist Fauci, you’re needed at a gala..
You’re drawing parallels without scientific proof, merely jumping to conclusions. Most TSA employees continued wearing masks, but the latest and greatest Chinese OMICRON variant is going around. So they’re getting it anyway (because the pore size of these stupid masks is a lot bigger than airborne viruses anyway. And how many TSA agents caught a cold or the chicken pox?
I’m so over this COVID theatre crap. Let’s move on.
I find this hard to believe. Everything is political now.