The Biden administration is apparently planning to extend the statewide mask mandate for public transit by two weeks in order to monitor cases of the coronavirus Omicron subvariant BA.2.

“In order to assess the potential impact the rise of cases has on severe disease, including hospitalizations and deaths, and health care system capacity, the CDC order will remain in place at this time,” the CDC said in a statement.

The federal transportation mask rule was going to expire on April 18, but the CDC plans to extend it until May 3, according to a source who previewed the action on Wednesday morning.

It is being done out of an abundance of caution, according to the source.

In the United States, some 30,000 new Covid cases are reported every day, the majority of which are caused by omicron’s BA.2 subvariant, and the number is growing.

It’s likely to be an underestimate, according to experts, because more people are using at-home tests that aren’t recorded in national data.

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