Time to Ground Airline Mask Mandate Madness

The following op-ed has been authored by a non-clinician. 

In February of 2020, Dr. Anthony Fauci advised a high-profile traveler in an email obtained by a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that he did not recommend wearing a mask.

Just one month later, Fauci said, "there’s no reason to be walking around with a mask."

At one point, during his time as a presidential candidate, Joe Biden said he wouldn’t impose a national mask mandate if he were elected president.

Both Biden and Fauci also promised that there wouldn’t be a nationwide vaccine mandate.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said from the briefing room podium, imposing a federal mandate is "not the role of the federal government."

And for once, this writer agrees with her.

In February, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Biden administration over the mandate requiring masks at airports and on airplanes citing the mandate was unlawfully issued and not authorized by Congress.

Last week, a group of 17 lawmakers in Washington sued the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) over the air travel mask mandate citing once again that the CDC lacks the authority to impose such a mandate. The lawmakers listed on the lawsuit include, Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., Lauren Boebert,, R-Colo. — and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.

Additionally, just a few days ago, 10 pilots with JetBlue, American and Southwest airlines filed a lawsuit against the CDC stating that the mandate encourages unruly passengers and impairs the health of pilots while piloting an aircraft.

Think about this.

What if the air traffic control tower couldn’t understand what a pilot was saying under their mask resulting in a tragic accident with hundreds of passengers onboard?

Or, what could happen midair if a pilot was suffering from mask fatigue and they suddenly lose their energy while piloting an aircraft with three hundred passengers onboard forty thousand feet in the air?

Mask fatigue is real.

The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), a branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has studied this extensively. And there are scientific articles discussing the negative effects of mask wearing to our health.

Does President Biden want the pilots on Air Force One suffering from mask fatigue – especially as they fly over the Atlantic Ocean during his upcoming trip to Europe?

Of course not.

So then, why are pilots and passengers still required to wear a mask two years into the pandemic when elected officials and political leaders said such a requirement would never be implemented?

Since the start of the pandemic, the airline industry has gone the extra mile to ensure clean, high-quality air using state-of-the-art HEPA air filtration systems that remove 99.99% of airborne particles.

During a congressional hearing in December, the CEOs of American and Southwest airlines openly questioned the need to continue to wear masks on planes saying, "I think the case is very strong that masks don’t add much, if anything, in the air cabin environment. It is very safe and very high quality compared to any other indoor setting," said Southwest CEO Gary Kelly.

"I concur. An aircraft is the safest place you can be. It’s true of all of our aircraft — they all have the same HEPA filters and air flow," said American Airlines CEO Doug Parker.

Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants looked like she was auditioning for a job with the Biden administration saying that the did not support the lifting of mask mandates at this time.

Nelson went on to say that this was a decision for the medical community to make and not hers. But if we followed what Nelson suggests and look to the medical community for their assessment, then Joe Biden would be living in a dementia ward in a nursing home instead of The White House.

But her comments should be no surprise. Back in 2005, it was the same flight attendants association that opposed the carrying of sewing scissors, knitting needles, nail clippers and tweezers on board — warning of bloodshed in the aisles if these dangerous objects were allowed on board aircraft following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. And during the pandemic, we’ve seen elected officials and non-elected bureaucrats making decisions that are causing more harm than the pandemic itself.

Getting the vaccine or wearing a mask should be a choice.

It’s not the government’s decision, or what someone in the medical community suggests.

It’s your decision and yours alone.

If the Democrats want to follow the science — then follow the science on mask fatigue and let’s put an end to the mandate madness.

Mark Vargas currently hosts a radio show, "Mark My Words with Mark Vargas" on AM 560 The Answer. Follow Mark on Twitter: @markavargas. Read Mark Vargas' Reports — Click Here Now.