A federal mask mandate for airline passengers will remain intact despite a rule issued Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to ease mask guidance in other settings. The mask mandate for airline passengers and airports, issued by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), remains in effect until at least March 18 when it expires. The mandate could still be extended. “The mask requirement remains in place and we will continue to assess the duration of the requirement in consultation with CDC,” TSA spokeswoman Alexa Lopez told news outlets on Friday in reference to the CDC’s guidance shift. The TSA mandate was announced in January 2021 under the early days of Biden administration, although U.S. airlines have been required to mandate that passengers wear masks since 2020. Under the CDC’s announcement, masking mandates were even dropped in schools and school buses in areas where there are low levels of COVID-19, …