The CEOs of the 10 major airlines have joined forces in a joint effort to demand that President Joe Biden “sue the federal transport travel bans, including international predecessor testing requirements and the federal mask mandate.”
In the letter, American Airlines, Delta Airlines, United Airlines Holdings, Alaska Airlines, Atlas Air, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines and UPS Airlines have signed.
“The steady and steady decline in hospital admissions and mortality rates is one of the most compelling indicators that our country is well protected from serious diseases from COVID-19. We have entered a different phase in dealing with this virus, and we strongly support your view that ‘COVID-19 no longer has to control our lives.’ “
“The prerequisite test requirement, imposed to slow down the introduction of variants in the United States, has exceeded its usefulness and hindered the return of international travel,” they said. The United Kingdom (UK), the European Union and Canada have acknowledged this fact and lifted the travel ban. U.S. inconsistencies with these practices create a competitive barrier to U.S. travel and tourism that imposes an additional cost and burden on travel to the United States. “
And they took direct notice of the masked mandate.
“Science clearly supports the removal of the mask mandate, as demonstrated by the recently released CDC Framework, which indicates that 99 percent of the US population no longer needs to wear the mask indoors,” the CEO said.
“The high level of immunity in the United States, the availability of high-quality masks for those who want to use them, the availability of hospital-grade cabin air, the availability of extensive vaccines and the newly available therapeutics provide a strong basis for administration to lift the mask order and require pre-exit testing.” We urge you to do so now, “they said.
The full text of the letter was provided by Daily Wire.
Honorable President:
We commend your leadership throughout the COVID-19 crisis and now that the country is recovering from the effects of the epidemic. During the global health crisis, US airlines have supported and cooperated with the federal government’s move to slow the spread of COVID-19. We are encouraged by the current data and the removal of the COVID-19 restriction from coast to coast, indicating that it is time to end COVID-era transportation policies.
Our industry is leaning towards science at every turn. In the beginning, we voluntarily implemented policies and procedures – covering the face is mandatory; Passenger health recognition and contact tracing information required; And enhancing the cleaning protocol – creating a multi-level approach to reduce risk and prioritize the well-being of passengers and employees. We support the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) because they have created some federal mandates in these policies and have imposed additional measures such as the need for prenatal testing and vaccination for international travelers to try to slow the introduction of variants in the United States. .
However, much has changed since these measures were enacted and they are no longer understood in the current context of public health. The steady and steady decline in hospital admissions and mortality rates is the most compelling indicator that our country is protected from serious diseases from COVID-19. Considering that we have entered a different phase of dealing with this virus, we strongly support your view that “COVID-19 no longer has to control our lives.” Now is the time for the administration to sue the federal transport travel bans – including the international predecessor testing requirements and the federal mask mandate – that are no longer linked to the reality of the current epidemic-related environment.
Prerequisite test requirements
The need for predecessor tests to slow down the introduction of variants in the United States has exceeded its usefulness and prevented the return of international travel. The United Kingdom, the European Union and Canada have acknowledged this fact and lifted the travel ban. U.S. inconsistencies with these practices create a competitive barrier to U.S. travel and tourism that imposes additional costs and burdens on travel to the U.S. Moreover, many foreign travelers are reluctant to take the risk of getting stuck abroad. At the tenth meeting of the Emergency Committee on January 19, 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) noted that “the failure of the travel restrictions introduced after the identification and reporting of the Omicron variant to limit the international spread of Omicron demonstrates the ineffectiveness of such measures. ” The WHO recommends that countries consider risk-based approaches to facilitate international travel by taking measures such as testing and / or quarantine requirements for individual travelers fully vaccinated with the WHO-listed COVID-19 vaccine. Finally, a recent study by Oxra and Edge Health, which examined the effectiveness of travel restrictions in Europe, concluded that such measures have failed to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Mask mandate
Science clearly supports the removal of the mask mandate, as demonstrated by the recently published CDC Framework, which indicates that 99 percent of the U.S. population no longer needs to wear the mask indoors. Several studies have been done before adding the widespread availability of vaccines, including one from Harvard’s TH Chan School of Public Health and another from the US Department of Defense, concluding that an aircraft cabin is one of the safest indoor environments. Combination of high filtered air and constant air flow and downward direction of air. Lifting the mask mandate at airports and onboard planes can be done as safely as in England. Importantly, the functionality and availability of high-quality masks for those who want to wear them gives passengers the ability to protect themselves more if they choose to do so. This does not mean that people still wear masks on airplanes, yet crowds are allowed to gather without masks at restaurants, schools and sporting events, even though none of these venues have in-flight air-conditioning systems.
It is important to acknowledge that the burden of applying both the mask and predecessor test requirements has now fallen on our staff for two years. It is not a function that they are trained to perform and is subject to their daily challenges by frustrated customers. This in turn takes a toll on their own well-being.
The high level of immunity in the United States, the availability of high-quality masks for those who want to use them, the availability of hospital-grade cabin air, the availability of extensive vaccines, and the availability of newly available therapeutics provide the administration with a strong basis for ordering and prescribing masks. Test requirements. We urge you to do so now.
We urge the move not only for the benefit of the traveling public, but also for the thousands of airline employees accused of enforcing the patchwork of outdated regulations implemented in response to Covid-19.
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