WH COVID Adviser Dr. Jha: Extending Mask Mandate for Public Transportation 'Absolutely on the Table'

White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha on Monday suggested that the extension of the federal mask for public transportation was “absolutely on the table.”

Jha told NBC’s “Today” that although a new variant is spreading, the low hospitalization numbers are not a cause for concern. He advised that extending the mandate was ultimately “a CDC decision.”

Host Savannah Guthrie asked Jha if he thought the mandate should be extended given the latest rise in cases.

“This is a decision that the CDC director, Dr. Walensky, is going to make,” Jha stated. “I know the CDC is working on developing a scientific framework for how to answer that. We’re going to see that framework come out, I think, in the next few days. And based on that, we’re going to want to be guided by this decision. Throughout the entire pandemic, we’ve wanted to make decisions based on the evidence and science. And that is what I expect we’ll do again this week.”

Guthrie asked if that meant extending the mandate was on the table.

“Look, this is a CDC decision,” Jha replied. “And I think it is absolutely on the table. And Dr. Walensky is going to make her decision based on the framework that the CDC scientists create. And we’ll make a decision collectively based on that.”

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