Surgeon General Murthy: Travel Is 'Unique' Because It Can Be 'Higher Risk' Due to Crowds and People Have to Travel

During an interview with CBS’ “Red and Blue” on Wednesday, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy defended the transit mask mandate even as masks are not required in other indoor settings by arguing that travel is different because “you bring a lot of people together in a closed environment for a prolonged period of time,” and “many people don’t have the option not to travel.”

Murthy said, “So, the CDC’s decision is based in part on the fact that, look, we have cases going up right now and what the CDC wants to be able to understand is the trajectory of those cases. … We are also seeing hospitalizations relatively flat, which is good. We hope that they don’t surge, and certainly nothing like we saw in January. But the CDC wants to be mindful of this and wants to keep an eye on it before it pulls back those types of federal mask requirements on planes.”

He concluded, “Let me lastly say this, because sometimes people are wondering, well, why do we have them in planes and trains and busses, but not in certain other indoor settings? There’s something that’s unique about travel, which is that, number one, you bring a lot of people together in a closed environment for a prolonged period of time, which inherently could be higher risk. But many people don’t have the option not to travel. Imagine your mother is ill and you need to fly across the country to see her or you have to travel for your job and not traveling might mean that you would lose your job, so, because it’s not an option for people, it bears being cautious in those environments, make sure people have the protection they need, especially as cases are going up.”

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