The Biden administration has extended the federal transportation mask mandate through September 13. This covers air travel as well as trains, rideshares, and buses. It was set to expire May 11.
There was never any question this was going to happen,
- Airlines and unions were lobbying for it, rather than against it
- The end of the mask mandate will be a symbolic way for the President to declare victory against the pandemic, which we’re not yet in a place for.
Mask rules made a lot of sense when airlines instituted them. I argued for masks when airlines were still prohibiting employees from wearing them. And I’ve argued that people should have been wearing better quality masks throughout the pandemic, and learning to wear them properly (there are simple YouTube videos!).
When airlines began requiring masks that gave customers confidence to fly. They may have found the requirement annoying to comply with, but overall knowing that everyone else would be wearing a mask made customers more comfortable.
Now that every adult in the U.S. who wants a vaccine can get one there’s no longer a reason to require them.
- The mRNA vaccines are incredibly effective at protecting people from infection, sickness, and negative outcomes. Most who have been vaccinated have little to fear.
- Those who haven’t been vaccinated are making that choice and shouldn’t be imposing a cost on others. Even without a mandate, passengers can still wear masks.
What is it Milton Friedman used to say, that nothing is as permanent as a temporary government program?
There are a very limited number of people for whom vaccines may not be indicated or may be less effective. The argument being made for the mandate, though, isn’t to protect those people so they can fly worry-free.
Children can’t yet get vaccinated but children are at statistically lower risk than vaccinated older Americans anyway. For young kids Covid-19 is less of a risk than many of the things we accepted already as background, pre-pandemic. And most evidence suggests they’re less likely to spread the virus as well. (Mask requirements for two year olds was always silly, Delta’s policy to exempt young children made far more sense before it was outlawed.)
The world continues to battle Covid-19, and as long as there are so many people with the virus there are hosts within which it can mutate. That presents a risk, even an outside risk of vaccine escape. If such variants develop and become dominant mask mandates can be re-imposed until booster vaccines for them are ready.
The mask mandate though should sunset, based on science of the virus that is actually circulating, availability of vaccines in the United States, and date on their effectiveness – rather than being extended based on hypotheticals.
We’ll see an end to the mandate eventually. It’s unclear whether that will happen in September, though it will happen for certain when the President declares victory over Covid-19 because the CDC rules that TSA mandates are based on are set up that way – and because it will be a symbolic win for the President to do so. We’ll certainly see the mandate lifted before the 2022 midterm elections.
Nonetheless during flu season I’ll almost certainly wear a mask myself, now that it’s socially acceptable to do so, because I really hate the inconvenience of getting sick.
I love Milton Friedman’s quote! How appropriate!!
I think September is a good time to sunset it. As you mentioned, a good 20% of the population isn’t able to get vaccinated yet and probably won’t be for a few more months. Plus it takes up to 6 weeks to be fully vaccinated. Additionally, there are some people who cannot get vaccinated right now – college students whose 2nd dose would be at the end of term or finals week. If I became eligible April 19th while a college student, I’d be waiting until the end of May when the semester was over before even considering getting vaccinated.
Also, there is the fact that being vaccinated does not stop you from contracting COVID or dying from it. Almost 80 fully vaccinated people have so far.
Give the mask mandate through summer, help get cases and deaths under control (we still have ~5,000 people/week reported dead from this!), and then look at removing it.
Friends have been able to get an appointment for late May or in June. Depending where you live and age, not everyone can just walkup to a vaccination center and get a shot.
Given how the flu season starts in October, I wouldn’t be surprised if people opt to wear masks in planes during flu season especially since it’s quite likely covid will become endemic.
Milton Friedman is one of the greatest economist ever. Not this clown Keynes.
Of course, governments typically love Keynes and not Friedman as the former advocates printing “free money” (“deficits don’t matter!”) while the latter denounces that nonsense.
If only we had assurance that this mandate will be rescinded September 13…but then flu season starts, providing another excuse to extend it. I have to agree with Gary almost 100% on this; Friedman’s quote couldn’t be more appropriate. I will probably continue to wear a mask past September (notice how there was almost NO flu season this year?) but that would be my choice. I’m all for masking (when needed) and vaccines (without question…I’ve been fully vaccinated since February) but I’m really had it with COVID “theater”.
I disagree. While the vaccine may be available, there is a sizable group that elect not to get vaccinated for a variety of reasons.
Those who don’t get vaccinated pose a threat to everyone. Neither the vaccine nor a mask is an absolute guarantee that you won’t get infected.
I don’t want an unvaccinated person sitting behind me and breathing on me without a mask.
Glad this came out today as I was mulling over two J class tickets to Europe for a Labor Day vacation. Now I think I’ll just stay and perhaps help out the local economy a little as wearing a mask for 10 hours is just no fun for me at least.
Every adult in the country is now able to SCHEDULE a shot, it doesn’t mean that every adult has been able to get a shot. We are not quite fully there yet on having enough supply for everyone, but now any adult who wants it and can find it can get it, they don’t have to have any certain conditions or qualifications, plus now that anyone can get it if they can find it, it still would take another 5-6 weeks for it to be effective, so we are nowhere close to having sufficiently vaccinated the adult population yet, and it is not because people have chosen not to get it. So, the entire premise for your post is completely inaccurate, and I know you know that, so I’m not sure why you decided to write this post, but at least now you definitely know in case you didn’t already.
I’m a UChicago grad and attended Friedman’s lectures. But I emphatically do see a need for masks. The Indian double-mutation is quite worrisome, with evidence that it infected a number of VACCINATED Israeli tourists. Why take chances before that is sorted out? Do you have an idea how many Indian-Americans travel between here and India every day?
@TheJetsFan, I don’t want an unvaccinated person sitting next to me, full stop. The vaccines are incredibly effective and as long as we permit unvaccinated people to force policies on us, we will never be able to resume our real lives. As of about mid-June when anyone who wants a vaccine will have been able to get the full course, vaccination should be required as a condition for flying, until herd immunity is achieved, which will happen a lot more quickly to the benefit of everyone if we stop catering to that group. I would exempt children under 16 from such a policy until they can get vaccinated. Those who choose not to be vaccinated can drive a car or walk.
I’m just not sure how being required to wear a mask is legally untenable or morally wrong.
Given the way that the virus can destroy bodies, and because there is a sizable population that can’t get vaccinated (because they are immunocompromised), it makes sense to keep the mask mandate in place so that they have the freedom to board a plane. There is nothing unconstitutional for requiring any clothing for health reasons, as health codes already require things such as shoes in restaurants. While most people not wearing shoes in restaurants won’t result in any serious harm, every once and a while, it can. Given that coronavirus is much more statistically likely to hurt someone than diseases from not wearing shoes in a restaurant, I see no reason why there shouldn’t be a mask mandate, particularly since a sizable portion of the population refuses to get vaccinated. I might not want to wear shoes, but I still have to because of government laws and respect for my neighbor. There’s nothing wrong with being required to wear a mask. It’s not about freedom/rights/etc., it’s about just not wanting to wear a mask.
I get that it’s annoying…but out of respect for others, I wear it. Even though I’m vaccinated, that doesn’t mean that I can just throw it off, because there’s something American about coming together and getting something done, not just focusing on ourselves. That’s just me though.
HT – it is just you. I’m vaccinated and have zero sympathy for those that refuse to get it. I wear a mask if required but as soon as it isn’t required I won’t wear it (and take it off the second I walk out of a door now).
Not my job to protect others and at some point there will be backlash against the mask mandate when 60-70 percent (or more) of the population is vaccinated and a sizable percentage of those who refuse to get it likely have had COVID so have natural immune. Don’t read all the worst case scenarios – that will basically be hers immunity and if Biden doesn’t lift it the consequences in the 2022 midterms will be severe.
Also people will continue to get sick and some will die (just like w the flu and many other diseases) but you can’t inconvenience everyone just to save a few.
Jim F, there was no flu this year because of travel bans, not because of masks. Lack of travel from the Southern Hemisphere to the northern hemisphere interrupted the normal transmission of influenza.
To all those looking for an “absolute guarantee” that they will not get infected I have one question–how the heck do you rationalize getting on an airplane, bus, or even ride in a car??? It is a statistical certainty that some of the people that choose do participate in those 3 activities will die as a result of doing so. Maybe you are more interested is signalling that you are one of the really gooooood people.
More and more studies are coming out about how covid is impacting children. If you are going to let unvaccinated people on the planes then people have to wear the masks until the pandemic is over. Michigan was seeing record highs of children being hospitalized and there are studies coming in around the world concerning children having long haul issues with covid. With the variants children are indeed a spreader of the virus. Maybe get updated information before pontificating about things that you clearly don’t understand.
Correct @Bill. A school in our district had an outbreak of cases among the elementary age, masked kids. That spread to two vaccinated parents. So neither being vaccinated nor being a kid means you won’t get infected or infect others. I don’t get the whining about masks. No way do I want any unmasked travelers breathing moistly on me in an enclosed space any time soon. I’ve flown a few dozen flights this past year with no infection and I have no intention of changing that. If I see some idiot pulling his mask down incessantly or wearing it below his nose, I change seats. It’s not such an inconvenience and not an infringement of your rights so get over it. Could well be a year or two more we need to protect one another. Get used to it and man (or woman) up. Stop being selfish.
You lose credibility when you say we can reimpose a mandate if the virus mutates. If we just keep wearing a mask, then we don’t have to worry about mutations in the first place. And as much as my daughter would like to get vaccinated, she can’t because she has leukemia. I would hope that everyone could wear a mask to help protect her and anyone else who sincerely can’t get vaccinated.
To Dave S
The shot is still in trial!!! Stop with the Bull shit of everyone getting It
I am not going to be a test subject and maybe you should be the one to drive not the smart people that want to wait and see who it effects the idiots that believe Bill Gates and that BS doctor
At this point COVID-19 is now playing a vital role in protecting us as a species. Now that a vaccine is both available, and has lead to the ability to quickly make safe vaccines for future viruses/strains….only the stupid amongst us will refuse to get vaccinated. Therefore COVID is helping to cull the stupid population, which are a far greater risk to society than any virus has, is, or ever will be. Ending the mask mandate will only serve to further this worthwhile course of natural selection….and I am all for it. Less stupid people inflicting damage on society, less of them breeding and creating even more stupid populations in the future is a good thing!
All this talk of protecting those who have special risks like the immunocompromised is all BS as well. If someone is at special risk for any communicable disease, they have no business on anything outside a medical flight in the first place. If they elect to take the risk of flying against medical advice….see paragraph one.
The vaccines are available to every adult now…..many states that have already vaccinated their willing populations have opened up their clinics to those out of state that need to be vaccinated. If we wanted to do the right thing for society….we would lift all these mandates in the minimum time it takes for anyone to get vaccinated from today. Only those who blindly want to enforce their will on others to make themselves feel good or are too dumb to understand simple logic will argue for longer mandates….they only hurt society as a whole.
We should be telling everyone….If you aren’t willing to go do the right thing for the greater good and receive the vaccine, guess what. You are on your own in 6 weeks….like it or not.
lol @DaveS.
Been traveling full time for the last year. No vaccine, no intention of getting one.
Busses, Ubers, Airplanes. Dozens of countries, all over the world.
Have no intention of bothering, either.
I’ll take a plane, and I’ll be in J or F @DaveS. Airlines want my money, and no one cares about your ridiculous fear mongering.
Agreed @daves. Clearly people like @carolyn are why we aren’t going to be through this anytime soon. Wonder if she wears a mask or thinks the vaccine has a tracking device.
Airlines put up with this because they just received billions more taxpayer money. Masks say that all is not well and lots of people, including many companies, will not travel until masks are gone – and with them the symbol that the world is not safe, whether it really is or not.
There is no free “mask safety.” Every American continues to pay.
I am surprised at the missing information in the rationale you give Gary, for ending the mask mandate on airplanes. Some 20% to 30% of the population are deciding NOT to get vaccinated, nor do they intend to ever do so. This resistance is even higher in certain parts of the country. Herd immunity has not happened yet, nor are we sure when the virus will be “beaten” in this way. So Coronavirus and its variants will definitely be circulating with us for a while longer. Additionally, vaccination only provides 90% immunity, so 10% of those vaccinated are susceptible to infection, though in MOST cases, in a more minor form. Continuing mask requirements offers some small degree of protection from others SPREADING the virus, even though it makes less sense for us NEEDING protection. While air circulation/filtration on airplanes is very good; it does not offer total protection from viral spread, and it only takes that one (perhaps asymptomatic) seatmate to infect you. Better they be required to be masked for now, to better improve your odds.
I have to disagree with you, Gary.
Just be vaccines are available, it simply doesn’t make sense to arbitrarily choose a date to lift the mask mandate. If we really want to follow the science, then lifting the mask mandate should really be based on COVID-19 transmission rates. When transmission rates have dropped so far as to pose no significant risk of harm to the average person, masks would no longer be necessary. I’m not an epidemiologist, so I don’t know what that rate signifies true herd immunity. I just don’t think we’re there yet.
Miss me yet?
~Donald J. Trump
It is unfortunate that there are more than a few people who are too selfish to want to protect others. I can certainly understand the airline employees wanting everyone on board to wear masks. They are the ones who get close to almost every passenger, some of whom are likely infected whether they know it or not.
Remember that there is an excellent chance that doctors, researchers and scientists are smarter than you are.
I totally agree. Where one if you want, dont where one if you want. You have the choice to fly or not fly so don’t punish those who wish to fly mask free.
“Wear” not “where”. My mask is making me lose brain cells….
@T. Jones – no, transmission rates alone don’t tell you whether mask mandates make sense.
First, there’s little risk to hospital capacity.
Second, there’s little chance – according to the CDC director – that vaccinated people will get or spread the virus. So for them masks aren’t helpful, nor meaningfully protective of others.
So the issue is, do we make everyone wear masks to protect those who refuse to get vaccinated from other people who choose to get vaccinated?
[Don’t come back at me with kids, or immune compromised, without addressing the arguments in the post]
@Paul B. – I think you are misunderstanding what 90%+ immunity means, it does NOT mean “10% of those vaccinated are susceptible to infection” that is a misunderstanding of the science that a lot of people are making. https://viewfromthewing.com/no-flying-after-vaccination-isnt-like-walking-into-a-fire/
@bo – “If we just keep wearing a mask, then we don’t have to worry about mutations in the first place”
That’s just false. We have the “Brazilian variant” and the “South African variant” for a reason, masking in the U.S. didn’t prevent those mutations from occurring.
@Jj – There’s been plenty of travel between the Northern and Southern hemispheres.
The Polio vaccine has a +/- 75% efficacy. Have any of you caught Polio today?
I am not getting the vaccine and I hardly wear the mask unless I have no choice. It’s not my job or obligation to protect others form a virus that has a survival rate of over 99%. If you have other health issues or underlying conditions, stay home.
-Your Mom
@DaveS says ” I don’t want an unvaccinated person sitting next to me, full stop.”
That’s literally like saying I don’t want a person with certain skin color sit next to me. Guess what we live in a free society, either learn to co-exist or feel free to stay at home. You can’t force others to do something just so that you feel safe. That’s not how it works and definitely not in America.
I’m fully vaccinated but there are others who have different beliefs or whatsoever their reason maybe. its their decision and our laws says one is not guilty until proven guilty. Not the other way around.
“Airlines and unions were lobbying for it, rather than against it”
Stop subsidizing these bastards with our tax dollars and they will change their tune overnight.
“@DaveS says ” I don’t want an unvaccinated person sitting next to me, full stop.”
That’s literally like saying I don’t want a person with certain skin color sit next to me.”
I’ve never seen a stupider, more disingenuous quote in the history of the internet. Did your parents just hit you in the head with a hammer for 20 years straight? How did you become this hellhole of a human being?
No longer needed unqualified medical advice from Leff extended indefinitely.
Many have their own thoughts but let us explore some more
1. What if the masks are not really protecting against the variants? Many in India who got COVID seem to be wearing masks.
2. What if vaccines(especially the US ones) are not protecting against the variants? Again that’s being widely reported in India
3. Since people die even of flu too, should we ask everyone to wear mask all year every year? Who defines which life is more valuable than the others?
4. The very existence itself is impermanent and anything and everything changes every single moment and there are no guarantees for anyone to live the next moment( Tragedy can stuck one at anywhere at any time)
@ryan, Thanks for sharing with us about what your parents were doing for the last 20 years.
I’m vaccinated, I could care less if an unvaccinated person sits next to me. Even unmasked.
The vaccines work amazingly well if you want them, if not your choice, but the concept that people are going to quote the mantra “their’s still a chance you could catch Covid after your vaccination is silly. It’s highly unlikely and if you do it would be a non issue…..the tiny amount who have been vaccinated and died from Covid is not worth worrying about, better chance the plane you are on will crash and kill you then dying from Covid if you are vaccinated.
We’ve got to put the understandable fear behind us and move on.
@ryan, when he said he does not want to sit next to the unvaccinated person
1. He has a concept in his mind that the person next to him is danger to him (there are people who think a person with certain skin color is danger to them)
2. That the vaccinated person cannot get infection or infect others
3. What if the person next to him was wearing mask?
Vaccines are still in trial, many do not want to subject themselves to be a research object. (again that’s a thought people have)
Not wanting someone unvaccinated sitting beside you is like not wanting somebody’s support animal sitting next to you.
TheJetsFan and DaveS
You will be exposed to this virus. It will find you.
Herd immunity doesn’t mean that it’s gone. The virus is endemic, just like the other four coronaviruses out there.
The virus will eventually find everyone on the planet unless they die first.
It’s not going away. Fear, pontificating, theatre… the virus cares about none of those.
This extension makes perfect sense. Now, the Trump-worshippers (and their fellow travelers at this time) who are sort of opposed to getting COVID-19 vaccines and opposed to mask mandates will have a few more months to ruminate about why mask mandates are still applicable for commercial travel. And the reason is looking at them in their own mirrors at home.
They’re going to make the masks permanent. The TSA will enforce the mask mandate. Health theater.
Any post about Covid is a hand grenade. He knew it was going to blow up. Click bait.
Whats the point? Covid is never ever going away. All masking does is give people false hope that Covid can be defeated. It cant be. Liberals love their endless, unwinnable wars. They love big government dictating how we live our lives and how we wipe our own asses. Mask mandates will never go away. Covid is here to stay permanently and with it the end of liberty.
@Gary Points well-taken.
I would agree there is currently little risk to hospital capacity and that the risk of transmission is low amongst those who have been vaccinated.
However 25% of Americans have flat out stated that they will not in any way get vaccinated, and much of the world continues to face difficulty in getting their populations vaccinated. This provides a potential reservoir from which new variants may emerge. The available vaccines have shown pretty decent efficacy for the variants that are circulating right now, but there is no telling how effective they may be against future variants.
As the rate or transmission decreases, so does the risk that new variants will emerge. We know that masking limits the risk of transmission, so it makes sense to continue doing so until we’ve reach the point at which the amount of virus circulating in the population is so low that the risk of new variants becomes negligible.
Remember also that it has yet to be established just how long immunity lasts. It’s understandable that people are tired of masking, tired of distancing, tired of COVID in just about every way. Lifting the mask protocols too early could undo much of the progress that’s been made.
More people getting vaccinated would certainly end the pandemic sooner, but hesitancy and lack of access in other parts of the world will ensure that COVID-19 continues until it has run its course. Since vaccinated people and unvaccinated people are indistinguishable from one another, everyone continuing mask protocols remains an important measure for reducing transmission.
I am sorry but your argument is fatally flawed. Not enough of the US population has been vaccinated to support ending a mask mandate. It is not a matter of everyone who wants to get a vaccine having access. It IS a matter of getting a large enough swath of the US population vaccinated. I am always alarmed when bloggers with no formal medical training feel compelled to espouse their thoughts as gospel.
If it were for Gary, the U.S. would look like India right now.
Thank goodness his whining ilk is not in charge of protecting America or it’d still be in the pandemic in 2023.
Masks on all modes of public transportation will be required until enough people are protected through vaccination or infection. Those who get vaccinated will speed the end of the mandate.
Whining will continue to remain optional.
I think you are excellent at writing about traveling… but please leave public health in the hands of experts. Non vaccinated passengers present a much bigger risk to others when they are not wearing masks… and based in the correlation between no-maskers and anti vaccine people, I don’t think it is crazy to assume that the passengers that would be without a mask would be also non-vaccinated and potentially carrying the virus.
So, your “solution” would imply that any child (that can not yet be vaccinated) would be put in much more risk than now. Awesome. Yeah, lower risk for them.. but why putting them in risk at all if we can reduce it even more?
I agree that once every person and child can be vaccinated it will be OK to remove the mask mandate… it’s called natural selection: idiots will die first.
–
Many schools will be requiring the vaccines in the fall. So then what – people like ‘George’ above will homeschool their kids? That’s what America needs- to get progressively dumber and dumber….
Hi Gary,
Long time reader and I love your blog, but I disagree with your stance on the mask mandate. Even for the vaccinated, there is still some risk of catching COVID and having a mask mandate in place both makes travel safer for everyone and makes travelers confident enough to fly. My parents are both vaccinated for instance, but they are high risk and are still nervous about flying. They are picking flights based on how full they think it will be and are wearing N95s. Knowing that everyone else on the plane needs to wear a mask makes it more likely that they will fly and that’s something that airlines are about.
A significant portion of the U.S. population remains unvaccinated and yes, many are making a choice to remain so. Just because they made a choice, however, does not mean that there is not a significant public health interest in making flying safer for them. Even if one decides they they made their choice and need to live with the consequences, remember that the virus won’t stop with them. If they get infected they will become carriers and go on to infect others. Some of these people will take up valuable ICU beds and strain our still overtaxed public health infrastructure. If wearing masks were a huge inconvenience, then I could see a case being made that its unfair to inconvenience vaccinated travelers for the sake of the willfully unvaccinated. But its not. Wearing a mask is just about the lowest effort public health intervention there is. Its roughly the same level of effort and inconvenience as wearing your seatbelt. Keeping the mandate in place is an incredibly minor inconvenience for some and potentially life-saving for others.
The government mandate also makes things easier for the airlines. Mask wearing is a political minefield and for some reason, instead of it being a question of science and public health, its become a major front in the U.S. culture wars. Airlines don’t want to have to take sides in that type of debate. Its way easier for them, and better for business, if the government can just set a rule that they can all follow. If the mask mandate expires, then each airline needs to set its own policy. If they go with a restrictive policy, mask-opponents will be furious. If they don’t enact their own restrictions, many travelers, and many of their own employees, will be furious. Front line employees would rather enforce a federal mandate than a private policy. It gives them a stronger hand in dealing with combative customers.
To me, keeping the mandate in place makes sense both from a public health perspective and from an industry perspective.
Great piece, Gary. No need for masks once a sufficient amount of us are vaccinated!
Gary’s logic is mostly intact with one major error. He writes
Those who haven’t been vaccinated are making that choice and shouldn’t be imposing a cost on others
1. Many want the vaccine but cannot yet get an appointment. Much better now but some people who want it still haven’t gotten it, maybe because they need a relative to take time off to help
2. Kids want it but clinical studies are not yet completed. Don’t kill kids.
3. Masks are already flimsy but offer some help.
If you fly and aren’t vaccinated, you either haven’t tried or are going to be. Time to end the mask ban.
@AC – How is wearing a mask inconvenient? If I said shoes were an inconvenience, would it be best to not require shoes? What about pants?
What a disappointingly reckless and uninformed take, Gary Leff. You realize people are still getting covid, right? You realize not everyone has had the vaccine yet even people who plan to take it? You realize vaccines aren’t 100 percent effective, right? You realize the khristian reicht is in large part refusing to take the vaccine and leave our country to continue to be exposed to a virus that’s highly contagious, deadly and destructive, right? Apparently you don’t grasp any of those points otherwise you wouldn’t post such a ridiculous, moronic article. Put your mask on and stop whining.
The face diaper mandates were never needed and certainly aren’t needed now. It’s fascinating watching the sheep sleep walk through life.
@James N
That’s rich coming from a Chump Fool hiding behind his front door.
@George
Your BS is getting tiresome. Your flying around to all these countries when Americans can’t even get into these countries you claim to be visiting.
You are almost close to the number of lies that stupid ignoramus lying a-hole ex-president has been expousing.
Get over yourself!!!!!!!!!!!!
It amazes me how all these complete and total morons just blindly keep towing the idiot line cast by the government to keep ignorant people from panicking. Six feet of air will save you! No….if you are a child, three feet of air will save you!
If you wear a cheap overpriced price of tissue paper over half of your face that 95% of the air you breathe in and out directly bypasses….that will save you.
If you believe any of that nonsense, please go get COVID and take yourself out of the misery that you cause the rest of us with more than 4 brain cells to rub together. If social distancing and masks worked, you would see differences in infection rates where they are more highly enforced….the numbers show the disease travels just as fast in the nanny state as it does where people have sense….because they DON’T WORK IN THE SLIGHTEST. Anyone with an IQ higher than their shoe size who is not so lazy and ignorant as to elect not to use the brain in their head knows this with about three minutes of critical thinking.
Stupidity is a FAR greater threat to our society….and it is lead by these morons who believe nonsense! We should be fighting them instead of the other 50 things that we are declaring a “war” on currently.
It’s not about Trump, he is an greedy idiot. It’s not about grandpa Joe, he is a greedy idiot too. All that the wealthy are interested in is keeping themselves in power while you morons fight over these completely nonsensical ideas because you are so full of yourselves. Please please please either come to your senses or go jump off a cliff and take your self out of the gene pool so that those of us who still value intelligence and common sense, you know….the ones who do things like make vaccines to save you idiots, can go about making a better world for future generations to live in. I know that you like the sound of your own voice far more than the greater public good, but those of us who are smart enough to get over ourselves and want a better place to live are sick of dealing with you!
Maybe we could do a quick Go Fund Me and send Gary on a mileage run from JFK to DEL? We could chip in a little extra and buy him a bag of M&Ms from Costco and a Coke so he could continuously eat and drink without a mask on throughout the flight. If we raise enough, maybe he could take his family and kid/kids(?) along as well. After all, our “THOUGHT LEADER IN TRAVEL” says, “Now that every adult in the U.S. who wants a vaccine can get one there’s no longer a reason to require them.”
I am vaccinated and the idea that I should still have to mask is absurd. Thankfully I lie in a part of Texas where we never adhered to the mask mandate put on by our governor. I have visited 9 other states over the past year, all like minded with either no mandate or no enforcement if there was a mandate. I have worn a mask less than 6 hours since Covid started. People I associated with were mostly not masked either. I used to fly even when driving was about the same time commitment but I have learned to enjoy road travel again and will continue to not fly till the mask mandate is lifted or I finally have to make a trip that would require more than a day of driving. It is ridiculous Biden, Pelosi, and all that crowd still wear mask even though they are all vaccinated. Just to signal how virtuous they are. Biden walking thru Arlington cemetery with a mask and not within many feet of anyone else. What an idiot. Maintaining the mandate at this point is just purely political. Fauci and Biden said Texas would pay a price for lifting the mask mandate over 6 weeks ago, yet cases consistently continue to drop. Fauci just likes the power of telling people what to do; its his 10 minutes of fame. People are still listening to him even though he is wrong more often than right. Reward people who are vaccinated by giving them their freedom and may be some who are not being vaccinated will do so.
Masks make people feel safer. The safer people feel being crammed elbow to elbow with strangers, the more people will fly.
No matter what science shows and what common sense tells you (barriers, barriers, corona is not the only airborne disease), there will be a group of (censored to idiots) who think they know more than everybody else, and will expose not only then, but others to diseases because they do not want to use a piece of cloth on their faces. We should make them pay for the millions of dollars we have used in controlling the pandemic, and I am sure they will use the mask without any mandate. Yes, taxing those none vaccinated and a fine for those not using a mask.
Any thoughts on how someone with asthma and/or anxiety who can’t wear a mask should fly? Healthy, vaccinated but can’t fly because of mask mandate. Still can’t understand how a plane full of masked people is okay but churches and cathedrals with vaulted ceilings and lots of space are either closed or limited to 25% capacity. Some folks have tested positive for stupid.
Except that those who aren’t getting vaccinated are still spreading it and variants are popping up all over the world. Not to mention that the vaccine does not claim to provide immunity, it only claims to minimize hospitalizations and deaths.
1. Masks don’t protect the wearer as much as they slow down an infected person from spreading the virus. Non-vaccinated (selfish a**holes) must be the ones required to wear a mask.
2. Vaccinated people still get COVID and I read just yesterday a vaccinated 78 yo man died in Illinois 4 weeks after his second shot from COVID.
I was on an American flight yesterday where the passenger across this isle from me in first refused to wear his mask the whole flight from TUL – CLT. The flight attendant offered him beverages, asked him to put his seat upright – but wouldn’t ask him to put his mask back on!
Masks aren’t fun but they save lives – other peoples lives! Stop being selfish a**holes!
Mask mandates will stay in place as long as one person is not vaccinated. Does anyone remember what the original goals were?
I don’t wear a mask in my full office, when I visit restaurants, go to grocery stores. Yet I have to for a plane. Once I’m off the plane I just chin it.
“During flu season I’ll almost certainly wear a mask myself…because I really hate the inconvenience of getting sick.”
Please stop spreading the myth that masks protect the wearer. Masks protect those that the would-be wearer is breathing/coughing/spitting on.
I’m so tired of people saying they are wearing a mask to protect themselves. CDC and WHO have consistently stated masks are for protecting others (unless you are wearing a N95 respirator and no one is doing that outside of a hospital, much less for hours on a plane).
The many months during the height of the pandemic when air travel was ongoing without masks or even as the mask requirements were airline specific…..and you could remove the mask entirely for a spell to eat your food like a human…all prove that it’s not the mask and the insane application of these rules that prevented massive outbreaks traced back to flights. While there were a few cases, actually for how packed people are on aircraft there were fewer cases and certainly no massive outbreaks. Perhaps it’s because of the airflow or the fact that increased cleaning helped, but it certainly wasn’t masks because the mask mandate would have been in response to huge outbreaks everyone would have seen….entire flights coming down with the virus or massive outbreaks amongst crew…yet they remained few both without masks early in the pandemic and with later. The mask is a security blanket for many and the airlines yielded to try and keep their businesses on a paying basis. Now, there is talk of continuing the madness forever perhaps? If airlines want their businesses to return to normal ….return to normal!
Gary,
I read some of your stuff and like it. But you show a good bit of ignorance here. This is most likely a click-bait article but, here goes…
First- I, like most of us, don’t much care for a mask.
What is the “science” you refer to that supports the lack of a need for a mask? You didn’t reference it so I’m guessing….Facebook? I’ll save you the trouble ….there is no science that supports that, yet. In time, it may. September? Next Spring? Somewhere between those sounds about right. My thought is after the coming flu season as doctors I speak to locally are concerned that the coming flu season will be particularly harsh without masks as which flu virus to defend against isn’t as easy to figure out as a result of this current VERY mild flu season.
When you reference “the virus that is actually circulating”, you mean the virus AND its variants…..right? The variants that have taken over in the areas now being hit hardest in the US(7 day daily average about 48k cases, 720 deaths). If we could remember, just for a minute, that as of yesterday(May 4th) an average of 720 people per day die from this and that’s WITH a mandate in place. That average puts Covid at the #3 killer in the US. behind only heart disease and cancer.
Despite what several above tried to claim, the evidence is overwhelming that masks DO work. To those wasting time claiming otherwise, I’d ask for ANY evidence to support that….from a scientific or medical body that also offers up its info for peer-review. (Hint- Doesn’t exist).
Unfortunately, tens-of-millions of people in this country are unwilling or unable to understand how and why masks “just work”. That being said, I don’t want a death sentence imposed on them, or worse, on someone they infect, just because of their deficiency.
If the worst thing I need to is wear a mask for a year or two then I think I’m doing alright. Not only that, I’m hopefully helping to get to point where medical personnel in my country can finally have a day off. You do know that while we sit here with time to debate this and plan our next vacation(with or without a mask mandate) there are countless doctors, nurses, etc… who haven’t had ONE day off for the past year.
So maybe I’m ok with this if only to make it so they can treat fewer people who are too dopey to protect themselves. As a proud American(and member of the human race) I still believe in Americans/people supporting each other, NOT every man for himself.
Lastly, I was sorry to hear you say the mask mandate …..”We’ll certainly see the mandate lifted before the 2022 midterm elections”. I remember hearing CoVid would disappear after Nov 3rd,then after Jan 20th now…..before the mid-terms? Sadly, you followed politics here. There’s a big blue marble of a world out there and believe it or not, the rest of the marble seems to be struggling with this virus too.
Masks are a common sense, easy way to continue to protect people. Unfortunately, there are people who have compromised immune systems for whom the vaccine is not very effective. Mask mandates on planes will make it safer for those people to fly until the pandemic is behind us.
i agree, once the vaccines are made available to the whole population, it should be on each traveler to wear their masks, not required like seatbelts to make us look like idiots who can’t decide for ourselves
Gary–very disappointing article. The masks are need as not even half the population is vaccinated.
If TB is spread in much the same way, how come we haven’t had mass spread of TB on planes before? Look Daniel Horowitz article on the real science of masks. A 3.2% leak (fog your glasses) renders masks zero % effective. Mandating a one size fits all is policy based not science based.
I am amazed at how many people you think are reasonably intelligent (they have jobs that require travel), yet have done nothing, with some exceptions, to determine the effectiveness of masks. I have.
There have been several (although not as many as you would think) RCTs* in the past, oh, ten years on the effectiveness of masks. In March 2020 I read every one of those test results. Every one agreed that the N95 mask is about 15% effective. That is not a typo. Only 15% effective for the N95, much less so for the disposable, the home made, and neck gaiters. Even the CDC has said that wearing a mask does NOT REDUCE your chances of catching Covid19 and not wearing a mask does NOT INCREASE your chances of catching it. That report is out there. Try reading it.
*RCTs – Randomized Clinical Tests or Randomized Controlled Tests
The only effective masks are the biohazard level ones and the military style ones because they are fitted to the individual wearer, they seal, and have changeable filters, filters that must be changed EVERY TIME it is exposed to a biohazard threat.
Everything else is useless for protection, only good for control and, sometimes, it makes people feel safer. Just like getting the gene therapy experiment injection that some call a vaccine. The current injections do not meet the clinical definition of a vaccine. (Think polio vaccine, think smallpox vaccine, etc.)
Follow the science.
I have not set foot on an airplane since January 21, 2020. And as much as I want to meet up with colleagues and customers, it has now become apparent that some travel in years past could probably not be identified as “high priority”.
I just read the interesting piece in regards to the 1,300 unruly passenger complaints that have been reported……since February 2021. Ordinarily there are 100-150 unruly passenger complaints in a…..year.
So no desire at the moment to share cabin space with some of the total wingnuts on airplanes these days.
“The mask mandate though should sunset, based on science of the virus … ” Hah! since when did science have anything to do with this incredibly mishandled virus disaster? Once the CDC convinced Americans that they’re sick with no symptoms, the sky’s the limit for more bogus control of the population. The bureaucrats and politicians are having a ball and they certainly don’t want to go back to work, so this power play will continue until travellers revolt. You’d think that at least the airlines would have the brains to figure out that many of their frequent travellers will not fly across the country breathing in their own carbon dioxide, and their revenue would soar without the mask requirement. I just hope I don’t die of old age before I get to take another trip.
Owen Daily: Your ignorance is misplaced….there have been far less unruly passengers in the last year because there have been far less passengers period. The reason for the numbers going up are the closet nazi flight/gate attendants coming out because they have practically been given the powers of arrest with absolutely no justification….and by god they are going to find a way to use it. They were picked on and unpopular in school, but people are going to pay now….that is why the numbers are going up.
Gary, you are wrong and way out of line. You sound just a little bit less insane than tucker carlson.
Ryan Waldron can you read?? Owen said there are far more unruly passengers despite far fewer travelers……..America has a significant population that just shoot their mouth to support a preconceived perspective and really don’t even try to understand reality.
Tucker Carlson has become a very rich man playing with the emotions of people like you.
to Sheepdog77. I’ll cut to the chase for anybody who doesn’t want to read the rest….everything he said was BS. Apparently he/she read a few sentences of a report and thought he had an “ah-hah!” moment. There is literally NOTHING on the CDC site or reports that says masks don’t work in ANY situation. Certain masks are better than others to be sure but, any reduction in transmission amounts to a reduced chance of being exposed to enough virus to “catch” the virus
I’m guessing you hold a job but you most definitely didn’t read anything from the CDC about the effectiveness of masks. Readily available on the CDC site is info about test results on masks. ALL of it directly refutes what you say. But, there are people who read what you wrote and WANT to believe it, so they will.
So much more on the CDC site but let’s take this directly from there-
“Seven studies have confirmed the benefit of universal masking in community level analyses: in a unified hospital system,38 a German city,39 a U.S. state,40 a panel of 15 U.S. states and Washington, D.C.,41,42 as well as both Canada43 and the U.S.44 nationally. Each analysis demonstrated that, following directives from organizational and political leadership for universal masking, new infections fell significantly. Two of these studies42,44 and an additional analysis of data from 200 countries that included the U.S.45 also demonstrated reductions in mortality. An economic analysis using U.S. data found that, given these effects, increasing universal masking by 15% could prevent the need for lockdowns and reduce associated losses of up to $1 trillion or about 5% of gross domestic product.42”
The numbers scattered in the above paragraph are citation references.
It’s unfortunate you wrote such a poorly thought out article, Gary. It’s the kind of click-bait trash that gets people who have little idea what they’re talking about thinking they’re well-informed.
Sheepdog is like so many that pontificate without really thinking. Just because masks aren’t 100 percent effective he has found half truths on the Internet to support his skewered perspective……..forget the statistics, if masks didn’t help how come the cold and flu season was virtually non existent this last year? Tells me two things, one, masks and social distancing obviously do have an effect and two, Covid is certainly not an “ordinary” virus. Had we done nothing we would have had a much larger cold and flu season and Covid would be out of control by now.
JohnW: As usual you and those like you are just as confused as ever. You accuse others of finding what they want in the information available online when you do the EXACT same thing. You also completely ignore the political motivations of those publishing what you are reading. So….my suggestion is this. Instead of looking around the internet and cherry picking information that you want to prove the idea that you already made up your mind about to begin with is right, why don’t you put on your big boy pants and actually think for yourself! I know it’s a novel idea and requires a bit of work on your part, but it’s worth it in the end I promise.
1. How exactly does 6 feet of air protect you from someone sneezing virus particles that can fly hundreds of feet? That’s right…..it doesn’t. Nor does a piece of plexiglass that does not cover a cashier’s workspace or walking a certain way down a grocery aisle. Social distancing is just made up BS to keep the simple minded morons that make up the majority of society from soiling their pants in panic. Stick with me now and you can maybe crawl out of that group.
2. How exactly does a mask consisting of a few sheets of tissue paper stacked together and does not even come close to making a proper seal around the face therefor not filtering any of a person’s breath help with keeping them from breathing or spreading microscopic virus particles that are carried in the air flow? That’s right….again it does not! It’s just another of the truly idiotic things that simple minded people believe to make themselves feel better. What does protect someone from another in close proximity with an infected individual is a full face positive air flow respirator. That is why doctors and nurses in the hospital use those instead of a cute little doggy mask their auntie made them that they wear all day and never wash!
So…you and everyone else have two choices. You can continue to stick your head in the sand and believe in nonsense, all the while continuing to give up the supposed rights that we all have in the sake of deluding yourself into feeling better, but not providing you ANY REAL PROTECTION AT ALL in the end. Or, you can wise up and start using your brain….after all that is why it is between your ears in the first place! Find the power of critical thinking and common sense and be a part of the solution rather than the problem…..because human stupidity is FAR more dangerous than any virus, bacteria, sickness, gun, bomb, or in this world or any other.
What would have solved this crisis would have been for everyone to stay the hell home for a few weeks at the very beginning…..but most of you were too ignorant to make that itsy bitsy little sacrifice, so now that ship has sailed and the rest of us have to deal with this whirlwind of BS ad infinitum as the price for your selfishness. The least you can do is WAKE UP and help fix the mess you have created for the rest of us to deal with.
Ryan, your comment, “..because human stupidity is FAR more dangerous than any virus, bacteria, sickness, gun, bomb, or in this world or any other,” sums this whole situation PERFECTLY!!!!
Ryan you seem to think hurling insults makes you more correct?…….didn’t see anything in your post that countered my point that what we did dramatically reduced ordinary virus’s and if we had done a better job of masking and social distancing we could have reduced even further the spread of the more virulent Covid…I do agree with your point that improper masking is a waste of time. We should have put more effort into the distribution and use of quality masks in the beginning. You seem to think the true experts, the people with education, experience and resources far superior to what you or I possess and only have the truth as an agenda are suspect.
Look at it this way, surely if everyone wore a quality mask from the beginning this virus would have been dramatically reduced , not an achievable accomplishment so the next best thing is what we did, a lot of spread was reduced and unfortunately, a lot got through because of faulty or no masking and people gathering in large groups.
Not sure who has been worse in trying to prevent a common sense pragmatic approach to this …. the far left tin foil hat brigade or the MAGA hats that just want to cling to any conspiracy theory they can find to give themselves what they think is more control in their sad lives. Either way this could have been handled better, but masks and common sense social distancing was all we had till a vaccine became available.
My take is once everyone who wants a vaccine has had a chance to get a shot has had one, we open up everything and just leave masking as an option for whoever feels so inclined. Sadly many people have been overly frightened by the removal of restrictions…similarly irrational in many ways to before when many people were overly dismissive of the seriousness of the Pandemic. We had Covidiot’s and maskholes before now we have the people afraid of a one in a many million chance of dying from Covid if vaccinated.
There has to be a common sense middle ground to recovering from the unprecedented combination of a virus fueled by conspiracy, politics and misinformation.
These comments are full of incredibly weak and sad people.
Vaccines don’t protect you from transmission. Whether I am vaccinated or not is no concern to you. The vaccines protect you from severity, not from transmission.
You should get your untested vaccine, wear your face diaper, and shut up about everyone else
@Michael – “Vaccines don’t protect you from transmission. Whether I am vaccinated or not is no concern to you. The vaccines protect you from severity, not from transmission.”
False false false. the Moderna and PFizer vaccines are 90% effective against being an asymptomatic carrier https://viewfromthewing.com/time-to-travel-cdc-study-shows-vaccines-prevent-both-infections-and-spread/
I don’t think were ever going back to the old way traveling was. After September 13th, I have a feeling it will be extended until further notice. Just like 911, COVID has permanently changed the world forever. And just like seatbelts and helmets, masks will be key to safety. Even children will get used to wearing them. We may not have to wear masks anywhere else, but definitely on planes, it will be forever. I imagine 20 million people will be banned from flying in the year 2029.
I hate mask wearing, but I gave up hope. We have reached heard immunity and the pandemic is over. It’s become permanent. And because mask wearing is a federal law, there is no way it will ever be reversed. I know I’m not getting vaccinated because I still have to mask up.
Like it is said, my mask protects you and your mask protects me.
WHAT PRESIDENT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT Biden LMAO . He’s NOT EVEN A LEGIT PRESIDENT. THE REAL AND CURRENT PRESIDENT IS DONALD J TRUMP. THE MILITARY DOESNT EVEN RECONISE HIM AS SUCH. BIDEN IS NOTHING BUT A PEDOPHILE FRUAD. IT WONT BE LONG AND HE’S GOING TO GITMO !
MASK DONT WORK MASK DONT WORK ITS A SCIENTIFIC FACT AND THE VACCINES YOU FOOLS ARE TAKING ARE EXPERIMENTAL AND WERE NEVER APPROVED ANYONE WHO TAKES A VACCINE YOU’VE BEEN CHIPPED DO YOUR RESEARCH AND GET YOUR HEADS OUT OF THE TV
It’s so depressing to read these comments from people who are brainwashed by the government. The virus is like a bad cold unless you have other health issues. But I guess if you can’t think for yourself, you just do what you’re told. The solution is simple. If you’re afraid of getting sick, stay home. Leave the rest of us to pursue our lives as we wish. If you want to live in a world full of people wearing masks, move to China, you’ll be more content.