The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not currently recommend resuming mask or COVID-19 vaccine mandates, according to a report from The Epoch Times.
The CDC recommended that transportation workers, travelers and passengers receive a COVID-19 vaccine before they travel, although they are not mandating either.
“Anyone may choose to wear a mask in crowded or poorly ventilated indoor areas, including on public transportation and in transportation hubs at any time,” a CDC spokesperson told The Epoch Times.
The federal health agency noted its advice for individual and community actions around COVID-19 are tied to hospital admission levels.
Hospital admission levels “are currently low for more than 96 percent” of the United States, the spokesperson added. Thus, the agency has no mask or vaxx mandate recommendations at this time.
Earlier in the week, another CDC representative informed NBC News the agency has not been discussing the reintroduction of mask mandates.
The CDC’s advice is being scrutinized after some hospitals and offices nationwide began to reimpose such mandates.
There has also been speculation about federal reintroduction of mandates or lockdowns, measures taken in 2020. However, the CDC has not updated any guidelines regarding mask mandates on its official website.
A recent report from InfoWars, led by Alex Jones, suggested a high-ranking Transportation Security Administration official indicated the return of lockdowns and mandates in the upcoming fall.
The claim by the unnamed individual cited by Jones was allegedly based on discussions among agency officials.
A TSA spokesperson refuted these claims August 25, stating that such claims are false and that the agency “does not have any new requirements and there has not been any meeting on the topic.”
The TSA confirmed that while they have the authority to impose mask-related requirements based on CDC orders related to transportation systems, they are “not imposing mask-related requirements at this time.”
Benjamin Haynes, another CDC spokesperson, labeled reports of impending lockdowns as “utterly false,” according to a report from The Associated Press.
Recent data from the CDC indicates a rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations across the nation. However, these numbers remain among the lowest since the pandemic’s onset in early 2020, The Epoch Times reported.
Dr. Shira Doron, chief infection control officer for Tufts Medicine, commented on this trend to ABC News.
“An upswing is not a surge; it’s not even a wave,” Doron declared. “What we’re seeing is a very gradual and small upward trajectory of cases and hospitalizations, without deaths really going along, which is great news.”
A January 29, 2021, CDC order mandated masks for individuals using public transportation, including airplanes and in transportation hubs.
The order was enforced by the TSA until a federal judge in Florida invalidated the mandate April 18, 2022.
The judge ruled the CDC had not provided sufficient justification for the order and had not adhered to proper rulemaking procedures.
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