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Much of it was banned 50 years ago. In 1973 the US used about 800,000 tons of the stuff and by 2023 that was down to ~1,000 tons. The US via the EPA did try and fully ban it back in 1989 when George H.W. Bush was President but a Federal Judge in the 5th Circuit Court blocked the EPA's effort. So instead we ended up with "almost completely banned".
Anyway the specific type that was still legal, the one in the article, has some specialty uses such as creating Sodium Chloride which is necessary for water treatment plants. Chrysotile asbestos still has an exemption in Canada, and other countries, for that very reason.
Ideally we would have had it completely banned back in '89 or at least by the mid 2000's like the EU countries but there is some nuance here.