The CDC has officially asked the Department of Justice to appeal a federal judge’s decision in Florida earlier this week to overturn the Biden administration’s travel mask rule.

CDC has urged the Department of Justice to proceed with an appeal in Health Freedom Defense Fund, Inc., et al., v. Biden, et al., to defend CDC’s public health authority beyond the continuing assessment announced last week. The CDC continues to believe that an order requiring masking in the indoor transportation corridor is required for public health at this time. The CDC will continue to examine public health circumstances to see if such an order is still required. According to the CDC’s statement, this is a legal order that falls fully within the agency’s legal jurisdiction to safeguard public health.

In all indoor public transportation settings, the CDC continues to urge that passengers wear masks. The protection of our nation’s public health is the CDC’s top priority. As previously said, masks are particularly useful in busy or poorly ventilated areas, such as the transportation corridor.

Airplanes have been proved to be one of the safest places from the Wuhan coronavirus due to onboard filtering systems and the fact that they are extremely highly ventilated.

The Department of Justice announced on Tuesday that it would appeal the ruling if the CDC recommended it. That is exactly what they did today.

Earlier today, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki acknowledged that the back-and-forth between the Department of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over whether to reinstate the mandate was to ensure that the federal agency would have its authority in the future.

Thousands of passengers rejoiced when the mandate was lifted, prompting the decision to appeal.

PSAKI: "Our focus here was seeing what power we had to preserve" forced masking on airplanes. pic.twitter.com/OV98Nh1g1j

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 20, 2022