NATIONWIDE — The new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director appointed by President Joe Biden confirmed Wednesday that the agency’s moratorium on certain types of evictions is being extended until March 31.

The order, previously scheduled to expire January 31, was created to temporarily halt evictions for nonpayment of rent for tenants who have been financially impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Biden signed 17 executive orders on his first day in office, including one requesting that the federal agencies overseeing eviction and foreclosure moratoriums extend those orders until at least the end of March. 

In a statement responding to that order, new CDC Director Rochelle P. Walensky wrote that she would extend the moratorium as a protective public health measure. 

“Despite extensive mitigation efforts, COVID-19 continues to spread in America at a concerning pace,” Walensky said in a statement. “We must act to get cases down and keep people in their homes and out of congregate settings — like shelters — where COVID-19 can take an even stronger foothold.”

Housing advocates are calling on Biden and the CDC to not only extend, but strengthen and improve, the existing eviction moratorium.

Evictions for nonpayment of rent have still been occurring throughout the country even with the current moratorium in place. 

To gain protection under the CDC’s moratorium, tenants must know about the order and take action by filling out a provided declaration form and giving it to their landlord. Landlords are currently not required to inform their tenants of the existence of the order, and they are allowed to challenge a declaration form’s validity in court, according to federal guidelines.