American Airlines’ and Southwest Airlines CEOs told Congress last week they don’t think that mask requirements are necessary for airplanes. The air filtration system is superior to the one found in ICUs.
Gary Kelly (CEO of Southwest) stated, “I believe that the case for masks doesn’t add anything to the air cabin environment, if any,” It’s safer than indoor environments and it is of a very high standard.
Anthony Fauci White House Coronavirus Advisor snubbed the idea, refusing to permit anyone to weaken the case for a government mandate.
He said it bluntly, “You must wear a mask when you fly.”
Jon Karl, ABC News reporter asked Fauci if he believed we’d ever be able to fly without masks. Fauci replied: “I don’t believe so. I think when you’re dealing with a closed space, even though the filtration is good, that you want to go that extra step when you have people—you know, you get a flight from Washington to San Francisco, it’s well over a five-hour flight. Even with a great filtration system, it’s still a wise thing to use masks.
Faucism reduced to its essence. For the government health bureaucrats who have given themselves sole authority over vast sectors of American life—from travel to education to entertainment to housing—it doesn’t matter what the CEOs of these companies think. Customers don’t care what they want. You don’t have to be vaccinated to travel maskless. Even if masking makes it impossible to travel with children under five years old, that doesn’t make any difference. The calculus of unelected public experts from the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is all that matters.
Like Fauci, NIH Director Frances Collins said this past weekend that air passengers should be masked—and should think twice about large gatherings, and even about going anywhere at all.
He said that he wasn’t saying you shouldn’t go, but that you must be careful. Before adding that those who aren’t vaccinated should stay at home.
These announcements come at another crucial moment in the pandemic. The rise of omicron variation, which is capable of evading some degree of prior protection but potentially less deadly, appears to have made these pronouncements. Political leaders have taken cues form the public health system and are now rushing to reinstate punitive mitigation measures. Muriel Bowser, D.C. mayor ended “a brief experiment” that allowed citizens to choose their masks. However, the mayor has violated this mandate several times throughout summer. New York Governor Kathy Hochul stated initially that the state would not enforce this new mandate on masks. But as more cases are filed, she suddenly changed her mind. reversed courseThey promised to send inspectors.
Government officials are trying to look like they are fighting COVID-19 by making these efforts, even though mandates, lockdowns and closures don’t do enough to protect lives. The death rate increased after D.C. reinstated the mask mandate in the wake of the Delta wave. However, the number of cases rose due to the variant’s increasing infectiousness. remained exactly the same—probably because vaccination rates are quite high.
Although the vaccine has been proven to be the best public health invention in saving lives, we don’t know if it means that there aren’t more booster shots available. COVID-19 is going to be around for many years, regardless of how diligently we wear masks and practice social distancing.
Yet the Faucists talk about COVID-19 as if the pandemic is still some kind of we’re-all-in-this-together civilizational struggle that justifies and necessitates the suspension of civil liberties, whole industries, and school time. Fauci stated to Karl in an ABC interview that he will not relinquish his authority position until COVID-19 has been defeated.
He said, “You know Jon, we are in war.” It’s almost like World War II is halfway over, when you realize that it’s enough. I am leaving. That’s impossible. You’ve got to finish it—and we’re going to finish this and get back to normal.”
The U.S. government will not be able to defeat COVID-19 the way it did against Nazi Germany or imperial Japan. Meanwhile, the government claims more power; it’s being used by those agencies that are least accountable to democratic processes to put in place harmful restrictions to people’s lives. These restrictions could be for many years or decades. Americans still remove their shoes and belts in order to board air planes, even though the event that inspired this policy happened more than 20 years ago—and even though the evidence against this policy is overwhelming.
Faucists want masks to be as long-lasting as TSA. They have made this explicit, just like Fauci. Every stage of the pandemic has seen public health bureaucrats repeat the same sentence. This isn’t the right time to relax. It’s not today, tomorrow or ever. They are not in control for as long as possible.