Amid the BA.2 surge, the Biden administration has extended the federal mask mandate for all transportation networks to May 3, two weeks after its original expiration date of April 18.
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Dr. Jeremy Faust, an emergency physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in the division of health policy and public health and an instructor at Harvard Medical School, told KCBS Radio's Radio's "Ask An Expert" masking up in crowded areas on a national level is important to avoid having to reinstate masking at a local level.
"Any extension is welcome," he said. "The masking situation is such that we can only do it so often because there's a little bit of mask fatigue and I think that one place that we all can agree on is very crowded spaces like planes and trains."
Until the United States has more control over coronavirus, Faust said he is all in favor of extending the public transportation mask mandate.
"If we do that we can actually have masks go away in smaller gatherings sooner, so I support extending mask mandates in very crowded situations until we have a better handle on this, including a vaccine for every single age group," he explained.
To encourage vaccinations and help people understand the importance of COVID-19 safety protocols, Faust said the country needs to implement a framework similar to the one seen in Philadelphia, emphasizing transparency.
"Philadelphia's really interesting," he said. "They have a very clear set of guidelines and thresholds where they'll bring the masks back or acquire testing and vaccination again. What I like about it is that everyone can see it coming. When the community understands what is happening, they're much more likely to be accepting of these kinds of requests."
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