The CDC Refuses to Drop Masking on Planes

If Not Now, When?

As many expected, the CDC and TSA announced that the federal mask mandate on airplanes would be extend from April 18th to May 3rd.

TSA @TSA

BREAKING NEWS: TSA extends face mask requirement through May 3, 2022. TSA will extend the Security Directives and Emergency Amendment requiring mask use on public transportation and transportation hubs for 15 days through May 3, 2022. tsa.gov/news/press/sta…

Literally wait two weeks folks…

The mask mandate on plane was never needed, masks don't work and airplanes have exceptionally clean air anyway. But if we accept the rationale that mandates were tolerable earlier in the pandemic it's bizarre that they're still in place now.

Why Not Just Remove Masks on Airplanes?

     Consider that if the CDC is not comfortable lifting the mandate now, when will they be? We have fewer Covid cases, hospitalizations, and deaths then at practically any time since the start of the pandemic.

If the CDC isn't willing to drop the airline mask mandate now, when Covid has a lesser impact than its had all pandemic, what hope is there that they won't reissue a mask mandate next fall during the inevitable seasonal wave? As feared, perpetual on and off masking appears to be on the table until there is a change in administration.

Just Say No to On-Ramps

You’d expect an honest media to pressure our government on this, and demand an answer for when we can finally expect the mandate to be lifted, right? Instead we get this:

Tom Elliott @tomselliott

MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell to Dr. Fauci on the CDC extending its mask mandate 15 days: "Why only 15 days?" Fauci: "I would agree we really do need more time"

Andrea Mitchell gets to ask Dr. Fauci, the lead architect of our entire pandemic response, why we’ve still forcing people to wear useless masks on planes and instead her questions is just, “Why only 15 days?” And of course Fauci just nods his head and agrees that it’s "prudent”…

Our Public Health Betters will not end these mandates willingly!

Even more disheartening, the two week postponement appears, at least in part, to be the result of the CDC stalling until they can reconfigure the mandate to apply only while boarding and deplaning:

Anthony LaMesa @ajlamesa

Scott Gottlieb says "the scuttlebutt in Washington is that when they do eventually lift this...they're gonna impose a mask requirement when you board and when you deplane." Let me take a dirty, crumpled surgical mask out of my pocket for the walk down the jet bridge. 🙄

The News with Shepard Smith @thenewsoncnbc

"I'm not surprised they extended it two weeks...I think they can reasonably lift it," says former FDA commissioner @ScottGottliebMD on the CDC extending the mask requirement for public transportation. https://t.co/vhhJXXRUDr

According to Pfizer boardmember Scott Gottlieb,

"when they eventually lift this... they're gonna impose a mask requirement when you board and when you deplane."

The News with Shepard Smith @thenewsoncnbc

"I'm not surprised they extended it two weeks...I think they can reasonably lift it," says former FDA commissioner @ScottGottliebMD on the CDC extending the mask requirement for public transportation.

Imagine trying to enforce that! Can the geniuses and CDC really be planning this? It's absurd and unworkable, but that's just par for the course given everything else we've been put through these last two years, so it's probably true. So I guess don't throw away your mask just yet.

Anyway 0 and 2...