Canada to keep mask mandate for planes, trains after U.S. rule dropped: officials

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Transport Minister Omar Alghabra both said the government will continue to follow the science when assessing the need for COVID-19-related orders.

Canada is in no hurry to drop its mask mandate for airplanes, trains and other federally-regulated public transportation, officials said Tuesday, despite the end of a similar rule in the U.S. this week.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Transport Minister Omar Alghabra both said the government will continue to follow the science when assessing the need for COVID-19-related orders.

“For now, there is no change in our regulation,” Alghabra told reporters in Calgary.

“We constantly consult our experts, and whenever the advice that we receive changes because the circumstances change, we will change our regulation. But for now, it is what it is.”

A federal judge in Florida on Monday struck down the Biden administration’s rule requiring masks be worn on airplanes, trains and other mass transit systems.

U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle wrote in her decision that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had failed to justify the mandate and did not follow proper rulemaking procedures that left it fatally flawed.

Within hours of the ruling, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration said it will no longer enforce the mask requirement, and airports and major U.S. airlines quickly followed suit. Uber also announced U.S. passengers can ride without a mask, although the company is still recommending they wear one.

The CDC had recently extended the mask mandate, which was set to expire Monday, until May 3 to allow more time to study the BA.2 Omicron subvariant now responsible for the vast majority of COVID-19 cases in the U.S.