“If this becomes a precedent for a judge to overrule the government and CDC experts, it puts us in a problematic place for the next wave, the next pandemic, bioterrorism or who knows,” said Dr. watchman. “Government needs to be able to act, and to imply that the government doesn’t have that authority is very concerning.”
He noted that he would continue to wear a mask on flights and strongly encouraged his family and loved ones to do so, although he did not consider the situation serious enough to warrant a government mandate.
“Should you wear a mask if you’re sitting shoulder to shoulder with people in an aluminum tube for six hours?” said Dr. watchman. “I think you should, and I will.”
The same argument applied to trains and buses, he said. “My general feeling is that there’s still enough virus around that I think it’s wise to wear a mask in tight indoor spaces if you’re unsure of the vaccine status of the people around you and there’s quite a bit of it. amount of virus in the community. †
The virus seemed to become more transmissible with each new variant, said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, and new Omicron subvariants appeared to carry mutations that can affect immunity. “This virus is so contagious that you don’t need a lot of exposure to get infected,” said Mr. Osterholm.
The risk was also extremely unpredictable, he added. “These variants are 210 miles per hour curveballs,” he said. “What’s going to happen is really in the hands of the virus.”
Telling people to wear masks is one of the simplest and cheapest steps they can take to fight the spread of infectious diseases, said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. “This tells them they can’t use the most effective tool they have,” he said of the ruling against the passenger mask mandate. “It doesn’t hurt anyone. It’s easy to do. It’s as simple as an umbrella in the rain.”
