The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have extended the federal requirement to wear masks on board of public and private air, rail and road transport for another two weeks. Despite multiple pressures from companies and various industry groups, the US administration extended the restriction until May 3. 

"This time will allow the CoC to assess whether the BA.2 coronavirus subvariant will be temporary or become a wave in the United States. The information will be used to determine whether the mandate should be further extended. If the infection numbers are relatively low, as they are right now, I think it's reasonable to remove the requirement", stressed Ashish Jha, new White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator. 

The decision to renew the requirement was made just days before the restrictions were set to expire on April 18. The reason is related to the fact that in recent days the number of new cases has started to grow again: on average, they are more than 31,000 per day (+8% compared to the previous two weeks), the American media note. 

On the same subject see the article published by AVIONEWS.