The federal mask mandate for airline passengers could end as early as next month. Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and current Pfizer board member, predicted the coming change in an interview with CNBC.
Dr. Gottlieb expects that the Biden administration will not renew the airline mask mandate after it expires on April 18. However, he noted that the new COVID-19 variant, BA.2, will influence the decision.
“If we’re not in the thick of another wave of BA.2 infection in the middle of April, I think they will go ahead and lift that,” Gottlieb said. “I think the uncertainty around that is we are starting to see infections start to creep up. If it kind of levels off in the next couple of weeks, which it may, I think the administration will go ahead and lift that.”
Dr. Gottlieb indicated that if there is a jump in the number of infections by next week, it is likely that the Biden administration will extend the mandate for another month.
“They’re going to be hard-pressed to lift that, and they’ll probably kick it out another month,” Gottlieb said. “If we’re actually seeing a wave of infection — we’re unclear how large it’s going to be — I think it’s very hard to lift it in that kind of a backdrop, so [they’ll] probably extend it a month.”
The comments from Dr. Gottlieb, who headed the FDA under former President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2019, follow an open letter sent last week from the CEOs of ten major airlines to President Biden, calling on him to end the mask mandates for airports and planes.
“Now is the time for the Administration to sunset federal transportation travel restrictions,” the letter read.
Among the letters’ signees were the CEOs of American, Delta, and United airlines.
“It is critical to recognize that the burden of enforcing both the mask and pre-departure testing requirements has fallen on our employees for two years now,” the letter states. “This is not a function they are trained to perform and subjects them to daily challenges by frustrated customers. This, in turn, takes a toll on their own well-being.”
The CEOs expressed that high-quality masks for those who wish to use them, combined with hospital-grade cabin air, widespread vaccine availability, and a high immunity level in the U.S., constitute sufficient enough protection to allow for the lifting of the mask mandate and pre-departure testing requirements.
Earlier this month, the White House extended the mask mandate until April 18, noting the CDC recommended it in the wake of the BA.2 Omicron subvariant.
Further pressuring the White House is a group of nine flight attendants who filed a lawsuit against the CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services, demanding mask mandates be removed.
The nine plaintiffs wrote that the mandates cause “chaos in the sky” and noted the “thousands of reports” sent to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for “‘unruly’ passenger behavior” over about the past year. Airline travel has served as one of the most contentious aspects of mask mandates since their initiation two years ago. Numerous examples of violence between passengers and sometimes against airline employees have been reported and captured on countless videos.
In some cases, passengers have been escorted off planes because they refused to wear a mask. Last year, the FAA noted that approximately 75% of their unruly passenger complaints were connected to disputes over mask mandates.