Requiring proof of vaccination for domestic air travel has been something bandied about for months, but never implemented. The Biden administration has “looked at” the issue several times, yet has taken no action at the request of the airline industry which fears a customer backlash and difficulties at airline gates if passengers are denied boarding. Essentially, the airlines have told the Biden administration that they don’t want to be in charge of enforcing an unpopular mandate on their unvaccinated customers.
In an interview over the weekend on ABC News, Dr. Anthony Fauci said he would “welcome” a vaccine mandate for domestic air travel considering how contagious the omicron Covid variant appears to be.
As Fauci noted, if this is one more tool for the federal government to force vaccination rates higher, he’s in favor of it. This position is not surprising given Fauci’s natural inclination to erode personal liberty in the name of government mandates:
“I mean, vaccine requirements for people coming in from other countries is to prevent newly infected people from getting in to the country,” Fauci said of the existing vaccine requirement for international travelers to the US.
He made the comments in an interview Sunday on ABC News’ “This Week.”
“A vaccine requirement for a person getting on the plane is just another level of getting people to have a mechanism that would spur them to get vaccinated,” he added of a potential vaccination mandate for domestic air travel.
However, he then demurred on the matter and indicated that as long as air travel requires universal masking, he does not believe a vaccine mandate is required on top of that:
Despite calling such a mandate “welcome,” on Sunday, Fauci similarly pointed toward existing strategies as effective in mitigating the spread of COVID-19.
“I mean, anything that could get people more vaccinated would be welcome,” Fauci said Sunday. “But with regard to the spread of virus in the country, I mean, I think if you look at wearing a mask and the filtration on planes, things are reasonably safe,” he added.
Fauci sure does love his masks, perhaps more so than the vaccine. However, it’s becoming more and more clear that masks, unless they are surgical-grade or higher, are useless when it comes to stopping the spread of airborne viral particles. This is particularly true for cloth masks, which are mere theater at best.
People seem to have accepted masking and have been conditioned for it over the past two years. As long as Fauci can keep everyone from showing a sliver of their face on a plane, then he’s fine with stopping short of requiring the needle:
“Anything that could get people more vaccinated would be welcome,” Dr. Anthony Fauci says when asked by @jonkarl about potential vaccine requirements for domestic air travel. https://t.co/CxSdhhlI9G pic.twitter.com/KHVeu6nmTH
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) December 26, 2021
Of course, the air travel mask mandate itself doesn’t apply evenly across the board. Here’s Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters seemingly flouting the mask requirement with no repercussion from flight attendants:
More democrat hypocrisy!
Maxine Waters on plane last week without a mask!
Democrats think they’re above the law. pic.twitter.com/EpOxanRULf— Alan M. Goldberg (@AlanMGoldberg) December 22, 2021
Despite the rampant hypocrisy among liberal Democrats who have repeatedly and publicly ignored their own mask and Covid rules, it doesn’t seem like the public in many areas is ready to fully fight back yet.
Instead, with the omicron variant circulating and government-fueled panic setting in once again, the country is now in a “soft lockdown” in many areas, as events are canceled and various industries are being shuttered due to rising positive case numbers:
Whatever the effect of a soft lockdown on the spread of Omicron, it will affect the economy too. Even if customers remain willing to go out, businesses will have to close when too many employees end up sick or get stuck in quarantine. It’s why the NHL canceled its games through Christmas and why several museums in London have closed their doors. Shortening isolation periods in light of Omicron might help minimize these disruptions. The U.K. is now allowing sick people to test out of isolation at day seven, and the U.S. is considering a shorter period for vaccinated people with breakthrough cases.
In a soft lockdown, businesses are also on their own. Last spring’s stay-at-home orders came with unemployment assistance and emergency loans. None of that is coming this time.
As noted, when the government “broke” the economy back in March of 2020, by mandating a shutdown, it also then provided unemployment assistance and billions of dollars in aid to harmed businesses. At the moment, however, we’re getting all the panic and disruption with none of the support that was offered back then. Many businesses that barely survived Covid up until this winter will not be able to take further losses of revenue.
Meanwhile, research continues to indicate that the omicron variant causes little more than mild symptoms in most people, leading some to question why the increased chaos and shutdowns for a virus that amounts to little more than a common head cold:
Early evidence suggests fewer people are needing hospital treatment than with other variants – with estimates ranging from a 30% to a 70% reduction.
The study in Scotland has been tracking coronavirus and the number of people ending up in hospital.
It said that if Omicron behaved the same as Delta, they would expect about 47 people to have been admitted to hospital already. At the moment there are only 15.
In the meantime, however, if cases continue to rise, and cases are treated the same as fatalities on CNN, and the Biden administration thinks it needs to do something more to slow the spread, don’t be surprised if a vaccine mandate for domestic air travel becomes a reality.
