Airlines want to drop mask and Covid-19 test rules. What do doctors say about it?

Mask mandates in the United States are speeding toward what could be their final frontier: transportation. In less than a month, the rule requiring masks on planes, in airports and on other means of public transportation is set to expire. And it could happen sooner, if US airlines have any say in it. Airlines including Delta, American, United and Southwest, plus cargo carriers and industry group Airlines for America, are all calling for an end to both the mask mandate on public transportation and the pre-travel testing requirement for international arrivals to the United States. "It is past time to eliminate Covid-era transportation policies," they said in a recent letter addressed to the White House. Mask disputes have come to blows on some flights, and flight attendants have faced unprecedented levels of aggression in trying to enforce the federal rule. The nation's largest flight attendants union, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, hasn't come down on one side or the other of lifting the mask mandate -- saying it has members on both sides of the issue. Southwest Airlines' flight attendants union has called for an end to the mandate. Many in the travel industry are understandably eager to make it as easy as possible to get more travelers moving after two crippling years of the pandemic. But how do doctors and disease transmission experts regard the rollback of Covid precautions? It's not all or nothing, for one thing. Travelers can still protect themselves, and the rules could be eased incrementally or reinstated if cases increase substantially. Cases in the United States have plateaued recently after nearly two months of declines, and health officials are keeping a close eye on the BA.2 Omicron variant.<br/>