Evidence from 2022–2025 shows that disputes and debates over mask mandates and related workplace safety rules continued for years after June 2021, matching Friedberg’s forecast of “the next couple of months at least, and maybe for several years.”

• Mandates lifted but legal fights continued: By April 2022, general state-level mask mandates in the U.S. had been lifted, and the CDC changed its guidance so most counties no longer “needed” masks, with all states ending general mandates by that time.(en.wikipedia.org) Yet the federal transportation mask mandate was struck down by a federal judge in April 2022, and the Department of Justice appealed, showing ongoing litigation and controversy even as official public-health guidance loosened.(en.wikipedia.org)
• Extended litigation over mask rules: Public Health Law Watch documents continued court battles over COVID-era mask mandates through at least late 2023, including Carlin v. CDC (airline pilots challenging the transportation mask mandate) and Texas cases involving local mask rules versus state-level efforts to restrict them. These cases were only dismissed as moot after emergency orders or mandates had already been rescinded, underscoring how long the disputes dragged on.(publichealthlawwatch.org) In 2024, the Third Circuit was still issuing decisions in cases arising from New Jersey school mask mandates and protests at school board meetings.(publichealthlawwatch.org)
• Ongoing conflict over workplace and institutional rules: Articles in 2023–2024 describe continued lawsuits and political fights over COVID-related workplace rules, including challenges to employer vaccine/mask policies and their rollbacks, illustrating that questions of what was “fair and right” at work persisted beyond the formal end of mandates.(northcarolinahealthnews.org) Guidance to employers after the end of the federal Public Health Emergency in May 2023 emphasized that, even without government mandates, organizations still had to make their own controversial decisions about mask requirements and infection-control policies.(bowditch.com)
• New disputes about banning masks and federal limits on mandates: In the 118th Congress (2023–2024), proposed amendments sought to prohibit enforcement of COVID-19 mask mandates or limit any future federal masking requirements, and floor debates explicitly framed these as fights over public health versus personal freedom.(congress.gov) By 2025, reporting shows some U.S. employers and jurisdictions attempting to ban employee masking, provoking conflicts with disability law and workers’ claims to reasonable accommodations, demonstrating that mask-related workplace disputes remain active several years later.(thesicktimes.org)

Because substantial legal, political, and workplace conflicts over mask mandates and related safety rules continued well past “the next few months” and indeed for multiple years after June 2021, the prediction that such challenges and questions would persist for several years is well supported by the record.