Travel Industry Urges White House To Lift Airplane Mask Mandate
For most Americans, there are little sign of the COVID-19 restrictions we were abiding by so carefully just a few months ago. However, one area where face masks are still required are in airports and on aircraft. However, if the travel industry has its way, Washington would do well to drop this remaining restriction.
According to a recent piece in Reuters, the U.S. Travel Association is urging the White House to life current travel restrictions specifically the mandate requiring masks on airplanes and on other transit by April 18th.
This new stems from a letter written to Dr. Ashish Jha, the incoming White House COVID response coordinator. In the document, the US Travel Association called for an end to face mask regulations for all fully vaccinated inbound international travelers. The latter advised that if the deadline of April 18th wasn’t soon enough that the federal mask mandate should be repealed within 90 days.
U.S. Travel Chief Executive Roger Dow told Reuters, “It makes little sense to keep the pre-departure testing requirement in place for inbound air travelers when the U.S. government does not require negative tests at U.S-Canada and U.S.-Mexico land border points of entry.” In addition to calling on the White House the travel industry is also asking the CDC to end “avoid travel” advisories for all those that are vaccinated. Currently, the CDC is advising that Americans avoid traveling to over 120 different countries.
Photo: Family Veldman/Getty Images
Earlier this month the White House extended requirements for travelers to wear masks on airplanes, trains and in stations, airports and other transit hubs through April 18th. This contradicts guidelines set for by the CDC which says that 99.5% of the U.S. population live in areas where COVID levels are low enough were people don’t need to wear masks.
This is a story that we’ll continue to follow closely. Readers are encouraged to keep following along with MickeyBlog for further Walt Disney World news and updates!
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Source: Reuters
