Biden pushes harder for masks, vaccines amid surge of US COVID-19 cases

The New York Fire Department (FDNY) also expressed anger about the possibility of weekly COVID-19 testing paid for by employees.

"This testing will not be done on our own time or our own dime," FDNY union president Andrew Ansbro said. "If the city wants this, they can make it possible and they can pay for it."

Clay Ramsay, a researcher at the center for international and security studies at the University of Maryland, told Xinhua the Biden administration has two choices: not to take requirements much beyond what it's already done, or try out a new requirement and wait to see what the judicial system does.

The administration "doesn't like to launch things that it believes put the courts into a real quandary and are hard to support before a judge," Ramsay said.

"However, ... sometimes Biden may go ahead in this fashion," Ramsay said.

Conservative media also voiced strong opposition to any sort of mandate, arguing that the pandemic is over in the United States.

Fox News host Kayleigh McEnany, also press secretary for former President Donald Trump, said earlier this week, "We're in a different stage of the pandemic now. We don't need mandates. We don't need masks. People are getting vaccinated."