President Biden Introduces Mask Mandate for Travelers
With Inauguration Day in the books, President Biden wasted no time laying out his Coronavirus strategy which will include a mask mandate for travelers in the United States.
KHOU.com reports the President wishes to increase the amount of testing, increase the availability of vaccine treatments, and to require Americans wear a mask when traveling under a number of conditions. He plans to sign as many as 10 different executive orders related to the pandemic on Thursday.
During his Wednesday speech, Biden said, “We are entering what may well be the toughest and deadliest period of the virus." A moment of silence was held for the reported 400,000 Americans said to have died so far during the pandemic.
The specifics around the mask mandate are as follows. The President has asked for all passengers to wear masks at airports, on board ships, intercity buses, trains, or local public transportation. For those entering the country, a negative COVID-19 test result will be required BOTH before departing and upon arriving back in the United States. Finally, Biden added that masks will know be required on any and all federal properties.
As many Americans have already noted, transportation providers already require travelers to wear masks so why the double-dip? The Federal mandate (which is not a new law with any authority) basically is supposed to take away your ability to argue with someone about forcing you to wear a mask. While some people have no issue with this, others feel very strongly they simply do not work to prevent transmission and only cause other health issues of their own. There are plenty of people who are going to just start driving for summer vacations which is their right. As time goes on, hopefully, some of these concerns will start to fade. So many people are trying to help, yet so many are skeptical.
The President also introduced a goal of 100 Million Vaccine Shots during his 100 days in office.