Airlines Lift Mask Mandates Midair, Leave Passengers Exposed

From The New York Times:

Halfway into her flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles Monday night, Brooke Tansley heard the pilot’s voice pipe up through the public address system, apologizing for the interruption.

“You’re going to be very excited to hear this news,” she recalled him saying. The Transportation Security Administration was no longer requiring masks on planes, and passengers were free to take them off if they’d like. The announcement was met with a smattering of claps and some jubilant cheers, and about a third of the people aboard immediately peeled off their masks, Ms. Tansley said.

But, as the Times explained, Ms. Tansley was not at all jubilant. She’s an asthmatic who was flying with two children too young to be vaccinated and she was on her way to a meeting with a colleague with a rare autoimmune disease.