One of the first things that the Biden administration did after winning the election is to impose a federal mask mandate on planes and airports. But as vaccine rollout is progressing at a rapid pace, is it time to not wear masks again? The federal mask mandate is set to expire on May 11. If you will ask the largest flight attendants union, it should be extended through September.
For Sara Nelson who is the president of the Association of Flight Attendants CWA, “we are still in the middle of the crisis”. She said this during a meeting of the Aviation Safety, Operations and Innovation subcommittee of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. Nelson added, “I do think it’s important that we recognize that and stay the course here with the mask policies”.
The union represents flight attendants from United, Alaska, and Frontier. They also recently posted photos of flight attendants getting vaccinated. It comes with a message: “Get vaxxed, wear a mask and come fly with us”.
Before the federal mask mandate, US airlines had trouble with some passengers refusing to wear masks. The CEO of Airlines of America Nicholas Calio agrees to extend the mask-wearing mandate. Joe Biden called the move by some states to remove their mask mandate a big mistake.
Mississippi Republican Senator Roger Wicker agrees to the likelihood of extending the federal mask mandate. However, he also mentioned during the hearing that “someday the mask requirement needs to end”.
COVID Variants Make Lifting The Mask Mandate Tricky
Dr. Leonard Marcus, who is the director of the Aviation Public Health Initiative is also present. Senator Wicker asked Dr. Marcus if there are metrics that will determine whether to extend the mandate or not. Dr. Marcus said that the COVID variants will make the decision difficult to remove the mask mandate. He said that “right now, our recommendation from the science community is to continue wearing a mask”.
He also added that vaccinated individuals outside have a low risk of transmission. However, indoors including airports and airplanes is a different story.
