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Justice Clarence Thomas on Tuesday rejected an emergency request to block Biden administration's Covid-19 mask requirement for public travel. The request was brought by a man seeking to leave Florida by airplane, who said his Generalized Anxiety Disorder prevented him from wearing a mask. While the Supreme Court has been willing to disrupt other coronavirus-related regulations, particularly as they affected religious gatherings, there was no apparent appetite for disturbing the public transportation mask mandate. (Sneed, 7/13)

National Nurses United, the largest union of registered nurses, is urging the CDC to reestablish its recommendation for everyone to wear masks in public, regardless of vaccination status, to prevent COVID-19 infections and variants from spreading. In a letter sent Monday to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NNU asked the agency to reinstate universal masking, update its COVID-19 guidance to fully recognize aerosol transmission and require infection tracking and reporting among essential workers as well as those who are fully vaccinated. (Devereaux, 7/13)

St. Louis County health officials are urging residents to mask up while in indoor public settings and even while at large outdoor gatherings when social distancing is not possible regardless of vaccination status amid a surge in COVID-19 cases. The update, posted Monday, follows an advisory issued July 1 warning about increases in community transmission due to the Delta variant.  The official guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has remained that vaccinated individuals do not need to wear a mask while indoors, or while in large gatherings. However, amid the variant spread, Dr. Anthony Fauci has been pressed on whether the guidance will change. (Hein, 7/13)

Students at most St. Louis-area Roman Catholic schools will not be required to wear masks this fall, the Archdiocese of St. Louis announced Tuesday. The decision came amid warnings from local health officials about troubling signs of COVID-19 infections spreading among unvaccinated children in the region. “Beginning this upcoming academic year, the wearing of masks in archdiocesan schools will be optional and at the discretion of each individual family,” the Archdiocese of St. Louis said in a message sent Tuesday. “The archdiocese urges all school families, students, leadership, faculties and staffs to be thoughtful of their own health — and that of their community — in all of their decisions, especially regarding the wearing of masks and monitoring for COVID-19 symptoms.” (Bernhard and Munz, 7/14)

California health officials, after initially banning children who refuse to comply with the mask-wearing mandate from campuses, has scrapped that order and left enforcement up to individual school districts. State officials announced Monday, July 12 that K-12 students in California who refuse to wear masks inside school buildings will be barred from campuses and offered “alternative educational opportunities.” The exception will be for students granted exemptions, such as those whose medical condition makes it too difficult for them to keep a mask on. (Tat, 7/13)

With cases of the more transmissive delta variant of the coronavirus rising in Louisiana and across the U.S., New Orleans officials on Tuesday warned residents to take precautions and asked them to get vaccinated if they haven't already. “Delta is here, delta is dangerous, and delta is killing people. This should scare the hell out of you,” said Beau Tidwell, spokesperson for Mayor LaToya Cantrell, during a news conference. “The message from the mayor is that this is very serious, and you need to get your shot. We can’t be more clear or more stark than that.” (Sorapuru, 7/13)

Efforts to mitigate COVID-19 at large New Orleans events — including mask mandates or requirements attendees be vaccinated or have a negative test — will likely continue into the fall because of low state vaccination rates and the spread of dangerous variants, the city’s health director said Tuesday. Dr. Jennifer Avegno’s remarks came at a news conference focusing on the city’s efforts to encourage vaccinations in a state that has one of the nation’s lowest vaccination rates. Louisiana health officials on Tuesday said COVID-19 cases are surging, largely among non-vaccinated people, as the more easily transmissible Delta variants spread in the state. (McGill, 7/14)