Airlines ask Biden to end mask requirements for planes and airports.

[Celerity]

The chief executives of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and several other passenger and cargo carriers made the request Wednesday.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/23/business/airlines-mask-mandate.html



The chief executives of the largest U.S. airlines asked President Biden on Wednesday to allow a federal mask mandate at airports and on planes to expire next month. The group also asked that the government drop a requirement that visitors from abroad provide a negative coronavirus test before traveling to the United States.

“The persistent and steady decline of hospitalization and death rates are the most compelling indicators that our country is well protected against severe disease from Covid-19,” the chief executives of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and several other passenger and cargo carriers wrote in a letter to Mr. Biden.

“Given that we have entered a different phase of dealing with this virus, we strongly support your view that ‘Covid-19 need no longer control our lives,’” they said, citing a phrase the president used in his State of the Union address earlier this month.

The letter represents the first time that the industry has publicly united against the mask mandate, which was recently extended until mid-April. At a congressional hearing in December, Gary Kelly, the chief executive of Southwest Airlines, cast doubt on the effectiveness of masks on planes, but he stood alone. A day later, Delta’s chief executive, Ed Bastian, told CNBC, “Masks are going to be important as a safeguard for a while yet.”

snip

[Blues Heron]

1. Cases are on the rise and they want this?

They are banking on the lag between rising cases and rising hospitalizations to make their cynical pitch which will only increase spreading. They know as well as anybody else checking the CDC numbers that cases have started up again, that's why they are doing this now.

[Zeitghost]

30. Cases are not on the rise

Here in the US, we have been dropping steadily since early-mid January.

[Blues Heron]

32. CDC showing a rise

see for yourself -

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_dailycases

7 day average daily new cases

March 19 - 26,929
March 20 - 27,074
March 21 - 27,251
March 22 - 27,545

We bottomed out on March 19 and have been rising each day since

[Zeitghost]

33. We are half what we were at the begining of the month

And 1/10th what we were in the beginning of February. The trend in down and has been for some time (although certainly starting to flatten from the nearly 3 month free fall).

When you factor in that this is only reported cases, the CDC numbers you posted (which differ slightly from the John Hopkins numbers I follow on ourworldindata.com) do not show a statistically significant trend upwards and are well within normal day to day and week to week fluctuations with a healthy margin of error.


After the Omicron wave, COVID is running out of potential fatalities here in the US. The 7 day average daily death count is now back below 1000 for the first time since Nov 21 and I don't expect it to get back over that mark.

[Blues Heron]

34. It's not starting to flatten - it has flattened, bottomed out and now is on the rise with BA.2

I hope you are right though going forward.

[Zeitghost]

35. These are the JHU numbers for the last 2 weeks

36,330
36,105
35,464
35,433
31,337
30,735
31,827
32,742
30,427
30,492
29,892
31,449
31,086
30,511

[Blues Heron]

36. It is more helpful to look at the 7 day average to spot the trends

anyway to your first point - its not going down anymore that's for sure.

[Zeitghost]

52. Those numbers

Are a rolling 7 day average.

[Blues Heron]

53. thanks

[pnwmom]

46. So we're a lot lower than we were at the peak. That doesn't mean this is over, or that

it isn't on the rise again.

[Zeitghost]

51. I never said it was "over"

I said we have not started to rise.

[Scrivener7]

2. NY numbers going up again, and we're always the tip of the spear.

[Doodley]

3. How is the relaxing of covid restrictions going in Europe? Cases up and deaths up.

[Celerity]

9. Europe is a huge area, dwarfing the US in population end economic activity. I'm afraid you are going

to have to be more specific.

For Sweden, we have no new surge in cases or deaths, and almost all restrictions (not for air travel, other than domestic) were ended weeks and weeks ago.



https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/09f821667ce64bf7be6f9f87457ed9aa

Cases per day




Deaths per day




New data coming, and an update soon, will let you know.

[Celerity]

48. update, no surge, and the cases and deaths continue to fall off

[Pobeka]

4. What a huge mistake. Masks are not a burden. They do save health and lives.

99% of the "burden" people think they have with masks is just psychological.

I do have some sympathy for folks who have to do heavy labor and whatnot, wearing a mask for 8 hour shifts.

But for us normal follks not exerting ourselves physically, sitting in air-conditioned or otherwise cool environments, give me break.

We still don't understand long covid, and how that might play out with the population of infected folks who don't get bad enough to end up in hospital.

[Johnny2X2X]

6. I agree, you relax when you can so you can enforce when you must

Cases are falling to low levels and deaths are falling too. Even in NY cases aren't so much spiking as they saw a modest few % increase over a week's time.

Masks work, but they also can't be seen as something that's just going to be permanent when the conditions in the country don't warrant their mandated use. Do away with them until you have to reinstate them, give people the comfort of knowing these restrictions aren't permanent and they'll accept them as being necessary when they are.

[Blues Heron]

14. cases are rising not falling

we hit the bottom a few days ago and are rebounding in an upward direction right now.

Masks will be around as long as this disease is around killing people - its the only thing we have that actually blocks transmission from one person to another. If thats permanent - so be it. Coddling the snowflakes is not how you do public health.

[Johnny2X2X]

16. Not true

Cases reached a new low yesterday in the national 7 day average since early last July. And in several spots where cases bottomed out, they're not rising quickly enough to cause much concern.

When you don't have significant community spread, masks are simply not necessary. In most of the country right now community spread is low enough that masks aren't really doing much.

[Blues Heron]

18. I'm going by the CDC data tracker numbers

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_dailycases

7 day average daily new cases

March 19 - 26,929
March 20 - 27,074
March 21 - 27,251
March 22 - 27,545

What numbers are you looking at?

[Johnny2X2X]

21. World Meters which includes likely cases too

28,481 Tuesday and 28,340 yesterday.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

Regardless, things might be close to bottoming out, but we definitely are nowhere close to seeing exponential growth anytime soon. too many people have immunity right now, whether immunity wanes and we get to a bad spot again is to be seen.

And what's really important for context too is the people getting really sick from Covid now are well over 90% unvaccinated. People vaccinated and boosted face almost no risk of being hospitalized from Covid. If you're boosted, Covid has finally become the flu to you. Sure, people can die from the flu too, but we don't mask to protect everyone from the flu every flu season.

The unvaccinated are 97.4 times more likely to die from Covid than the fully vaxxed and boosted according to the CDC. So you're talking about if 975 people die of Covid, only 1 of them was fully vaxxed and boosted. I'll wear a mask when asked to, it's not much of a hassle, but I also realize I'm doing so to protect a bunch of antivax idiots, the full vaxxed and boosted have protected themselves.

[Blues Heron]

24. I think the "Covid is just the flu" talking point has been debunked pretty thouroughly

Its just not the flu, nor will it ever be. You don't want this virus, vaxxed or not.

[Johnny2X2X]

25. But if you're boosted, it's about as dangerous as the flu to you right now

If not less so. The flu kills tens of thousands of people in the US every year, Covid is not going to kill but a few thousand fully boosted people this year. I don't want to get Covid (again), nor do I want the flu, but neither is likely to hospitalize or kill me because I am fully vaxxed and boosted, I also take the flu vaccine yearly.

This really is a problem right now that is almost all a problem for the unvaccinated idiots. Sure, there's immune compromised and elderly people we need to protect, just like we need to be careful for them during flu season. But if 1,000 in the US people die from Covid in the next 2 days, 1 or 2 of them were boosted, somewhere between 50-70 of them were only partially vaxxed, and the rest were unvaccinated morons, fuck the morons.

People are still taking precautions, especially DUers since most here have a sense of duty to help society. But the fact of the matter is, the people we are protecting right now are almost all unvaxxed morons.

[Samrob]

7. Go ahead. Make my day! nt

[oioioi]

8. Union: Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA)

Masks are a critical component of aviation safety during this pandemic. We have worked with airlines and the federal government to ensure multiple safety measures are in place to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 onboard. Because of that work, when all of the protocols are followed the aircraft cabin is one of the most controlled environments in public life. The layered safety protocols including sanitation of the aircraft, HEPA filtration on most planes, the federal mask mandate, and limited onboard service.

But over the last few months as cases dropped and vaccinations climbed, some of these protocols were loosened. We cannot and should not let our guard down, especially as COVID cases are spiking again. Our youngest passengers under five still don’t have access to the vaccines, nor do individuals who are traveling for medical purposes and cannot safely get vaccinated.

As this surge shows, we are still in the middle of this pandemic. To ensure the health of aviation workers and the economic recovery of our industry, we must continue applying these important public health measures throughout our aviation system for the duration of the COVID-19 emergency.

https://www.afacwa.org/masks_critical_layered_safety_covid

[SoCalDavidS]

10. The New Normal

Don't expect them to agree to reinstating the requirement when cases begin rising.

[Blues Heron]

12. cases already are rising

[SoCalDavidS]

19. I Realize That, I Meant When They REALLY Start Rising

I just think it will be tough to put the genie back inside the bottle, should there be something which spikes cases.

[Blues Heron]

20. agreed

[MissMillie]

11. Just as the latest variant gathers up steam. Anyone know...

...the effectiveness of masks on the latest variant?

[Hugin]

13. After they spread Omicron globally in less than a month...

If I were President Biden I would think twice about lowering the restrictions on air carriers.

The commercial airlines are a first defense against a pandemic and so far they haven't been held to much scrutiny.

But, I'm not the President... So.

Laissez-faire.

YOYO folks. It's not so bad, I've lived it most of my life.

[beaglelover]

15. Good, it's time.

We have effective vaccines and treatments for COVID now. Time to go back to normal life and learn to live with COVID as we do with the flu. You are free to still wear a mask while flying and around other people. It should not be forced on everyone any longer.

[Spider Jerusalem]

17. Covid isn't the flu.

The flu doesn't cause brain damage in even mild cases. Getting the flu doesn't leave you with potentially severe side effects many months later. Anyone saying "live with it like we do the flu" is advocating for idiocy.

[beaglelover]

22. Fine, don't fly then if you are afraid. The rest of us will and will do so unmasked if we

so choose to.

[bluestarone]

28. You sound like a really nice person?

NOT!!!! caring only for yourself, is NOT a true Democratic feature.

[beaglelover]

39. I'll wear a mask when I feel it necessary like during cold and flu season. Other times, not a

chance. I've played by all the rules the last 2 years. We have effective vaccines and treatments for COVID. You are free to keep doing whatever you want in regards to COVID but most of us are going back to normal life now. Enjoy!

[liberal_mama]

23. My vaccinated husband got Covid and several months later is still suffering after effects from it

As far as treatments go, we asked for the monoclonal antibodies or anti-viral pill and our doctor said they were being rationed and nothing was available to us except some prednisone! I've been with my husband for over 30 years and he's had plenty of colds and flu and this was like 10x worse. He thought he was going to die. He believed he was protected and took his mask off at work. He was infected at work by a still contagious coworker a week after the CDC changed the quarantine guidelines to 5 days. I'm still furious about this.

[LiberalFighter]

27. Execs should stfu.

[Dial H For Hero]

31. Good. Not in time for my early April trip, but hopefully for my international trip in May.

[beaglelover]

38. Glad there's at least one other person here who agrees with me.

Some people just love their masks I guess.

[CrackityJones75]

41. I agree with you.

But there is no arguing with people here about it.

Short of masking until covid somehow magically is eradicated from the planet there is no discussion.

[beaglelover]

45. Yes, agree wholeheartedly. It's very different on this one board versus my

interactions on other boards and in my friend circle.

[CrackityJones75]

49. On this forum,

On this forum, with some folks, if you don’t agree wholeheartedly on an issue you become the worst person in the world for some reason. Crazy. For some there is no differing or having degrees of differences before you are damn near labeled enemy.

[Ace Rothstein]

47. Yeah, in the UK now and flying here sucked.

Didn't help our flight was cancelled on the way over and we had to fly here via Helsinki or lose a day of our trip. Lots and lots of water breaks.

[IzzaNuDay]

37. Covid likes this

Everyone letting their guard down in time for the summer vacation season.
the airlines.

[CrackityJones75]

40. Covid is going to kick the shit out of Democrats next election.

Sorry but that is what is going to happen.

[beaglelover]

42. can you expand on this? I'm not sure what you mean?

I think we'll do better if we loosen some of the COVID requirements everyone has been dealing with the past 2 years, versus if we keep enforcing things like mask mandates.

[CrackityJones75]

43. I think you and I agree on the issue.

If people want to wear a mask they should. I do sometimes. Sometimes I don’t. I am vaxed. I am boosted. I think demanding that everyone at this point wear a mask is insane. That said, if airlines attendant unions want people to wear masks, then we will have to wear masks.

Politically if we keep trying to force people to wear masks we are going to get beat up pretty badly. Do politics mean more than people’s health? Yes and No. If the politics leads you to bigger public health issues then yes.

[beaglelover]

44. Thank you for the response. Yes, we do agree!

[liberal_mama]

54. I'm also worried about the midterms and I understand that the democrats don't want to enforce mask

mandates because of the upcoming elections. However, the messaging should be that while there isn't a current mask mandate, many people should still be wearing good masks to avoid getting infected with Covid19. I was at the doctor's office the other day and many people who were medically fragile were unmasked. I think that most of these high risk people honestly believe there is no danger now and they don't need to wear masks anymore.

In my area, cases are ticking back up.