(Fighting against New Coronary Pneumonia) Many public transportation and online car-hailing companies in the United States cancel the requirement for masks

  China News Agency, San Francisco, April 19. Several companies in the fields of American airlines, railways, and online car-hailing have successively announced that passengers using their means of transportation no longer need to wear masks.

  On the 18th, Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizler of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Florida issued a ruling overturning the "mask order" issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the public transportation system.

The Transportation Security Administration immediately said it would not continue to enforce it on public transit systems.

Several major airlines in the country and Amtrak announced on the same day that passengers no longer need to wear masks on domestic flights and trains in the United States.

In addition, some major airports in the United States have also lifted the mask order.

  On the 19th, the US online car-hailing platform Uber announced on its official website that from that day on, passengers and drivers do not need to wear masks on its platform's online car-hailing.

Lyft also announced that starting today, everyone on its platform will be able to choose whether to wear a mask, and the front seats will no longer need to be vacant, and the windows will not need to be opened.

In addition, health and safety reasons such as not wearing a mask will no longer appear in the app as one of the reasons for cancelling a trip.

  The U.S. federal government, disappointed by Mizeller's ruling, called on people to continue wearing masks when using the public transportation system.

On the 13th, the CDC issued a statement saying that in view of the current rapid spread of the subtype BA.2 of the new coronavirus Omicron strain in the United States and the rebound of the epidemic, the mask order implemented in the public transportation system will be extended until May 3.

The Associated Press reported that the U.S. Justice Department said on the 19th that as long as the CDC believes that the public transportation mask order is still necessary, the Justice Department will appeal the decision of a federal judge to overturn the mask order.

  The New York Times reported that in view of the recent rebound of the epidemic in the United States, Philadelphia began to resume the indoor mask order on April 18.

The city also became the first major U.S. city to reinstate an indoor mask order this spring.

In addition, some American universities have recently resumed indoor mask orders.

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