Health and social policy

Executive Order 13998: Promoting COVID-19 Safety in Domestic and International Travel

President: Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Directed agencies to require masks across federally regulated transport and assess testing, quarantine and public-health measures for international travellers.

Status: Revoked.

Is Executive Order 13998 still in effect? No. Revoked April 12, 2024; transport mask order ended.

A mask and travel document appear beside a train, aircraft, ship and route symbols over a globe.
Travel health precautions, illustrated symbolically; the image is not a statement of current travel requirements. EO Explained · site-generated editorial illustration · not documentary evidence.

What does Executive Order 13998 do?

Transport and health agencies were assigned mask rules, while health and homeland-security officials assessed travel testing and border measures.

Administration position: The order’s findings and policy rationale were the Biden administration’s positions. This guide distinguishes them from implementation records and judicial rulings.
SignedJanuary 21, 2021
Lead officialsHHS/CDC, Transportation, Homeland Security/TSA, Labor and State
Express timingAgency updates within 7 days; travel assessments within 14 days

Before and after

Before the order

Airlines and transport systems used a mix of carrier, state and federal pandemic rules without a unified federal transport-mask direction.

After the order

CDC issued its transport mask order effective February 2021. A federal district court vacated it in April 2022; CDC stopped enforcement, the order expired with the emergency, and EO 14122 later revoked EO 13998.

Who had to do what

Agency / officeActionTiming / position
Transport and health agenciesRequire masks in listed transport settingsImmediate implementation
HHS and DHSAssess testing rules for air and sea travel14 days
State, DHS and CDCPlan land-border public-health measuresImmediately / as directed

What happened next

EO 13998 signed.

CDC transport mask order took effect.

District court vacated the CDC order and enforcement stopped.

The mask order expired with the public-health emergency.

EO 14122 revoked EO 13998.

Reviewed court position

Court status

No court opinion, filing or docket is linked in this guide’s current source set.