Masks would be required on flights under US House measure

Leading Democrats in Congress, frustrated with what they say are inadequate protections against Covid-19 in air travel, introduced legislation to require the federal government to mandate face masks on flights and in airports. The bill, unveiled on Thursday, would also force the government to create a national aviation preparedness plan for epidemics -- which is required under an international treaty but was never done in the US -- and to ramp up government-sponsored study of how infectious diseases are transmitted on airliners. “Covid-19 infections are spreading across this country like wildfire, yet the Trump administration refuses to enact basic public health protections for the tens of thousands of airline passengers who board airplanes each day,” said Representative Peter DeFazio, the Oregon Democrat who co-sponsored the bill and is chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The law would authorize criminal penalties for passengers who disobey a flight crew’s instructions to wear a mask on a plane and sets civil fines for people who don’t wear masks in an airport. The legislation was endorsed by multiple industry groups and unions.<br/>