Last Friday, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) finally updated their masking guidelines. As a result, the guidelines were loosened for 70 percent of Americans in counties at "low" or "medium" risk, including school children in those areas. That didn't affect the mask mandates everywhere, though. The requirement to wear masks on public transportation and indoors in airports, train stations, and bus stations still remains. That federal mandate will expire on March 18, and whether or not it will be extended remains uncertain. Cue the hysteria from TIME magazine.
"Why You Should Keep Wearing a Mask on Planes—Even When You No Longer Have To," the February 28 headline from Jamie Ducharme read.
The article actually begins with some concessions from Ducharme, who references the CDC's decision from last Friday:
... But as Omicron cases decline nationwide and states drop their own mandates, it’s not clear whether the policy will be renewed again. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Feb. 25 relaxed its own guidance around masking and currently says indoor masking is not necessary for about 70% of the population. Though that guidance is separate from the travel mandate, it signals a growing acceptance for going bare-faced.
For months, airline executives have questioned the need for in-flight mask mandates, arguing that the air filtration systems on planes are effective enough to eliminate virtually all airborne pathogens...
...
Still, in-flight transmission happens less frequently than one might expect with such close quarters and shared air. The authors of a research review published in September 2021, which analyzed 18 prior studies on in-flight spread of SARS-CoV-2, concluded that “transmission of SARS-CoV-2 can occur in aircrafts but is a relatively rare event.”
Yet Ducharme still cites those who will continue to wear masks on flights, including experts who recommend a "cloth mask you’ll keep on" during the flight, if the more effective N95 or KN95 are "too uncomfortable."
It's worth noting that especially in the midst of the more transmissible but also much more "mild" Omicron variant, which Ducharme mentions often throughout her piece, a cloth mask offers hardly any protection. Dr. Leana Wen, CNN's medical analyst last December around the holiday season, pointed out that "cloth masks are little more than facial decorations," as Spencer reported at the time.
Last July, as Katie covered at the time, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), a medical doctor who has also been particularly outspoken against mandates, introduced legislation to get rid of mask mandates for airplanes.
As Alison Fox reported for Travel + Leisure on Wednesday, Jet2 appears to be the first major airline to no longer legally require masks. Passengers in England and Northern Ireland will no longer have to wear one, but it is recommended.
COVID nonsense and hysteria is nothing new for TIME. As I highlighted in late January, a thread on TIME's Twitter account and posted to their website as an explainer contained a whole bunch of fear-mongering when answering the question of "can I go back to normal," asked by someone who had been fully vaccinated, boosted, and had contracted the virus.
