By Sean Goulding Carroll
US authorities have ended the national requirement to wear a face mask on public transport, including planes, trains, taxis, and buses, following a ruling by a Florida judge that the Biden administration’s mandate was unlawful.
The ruling reverses last week’s decision by the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) to extend the mask mandate on public transit to 3 May due to rising COVID-19 case numbers.
The White House confirmed that the mandate would no longer be enforced, though encouraged passengers to continue to wear masks.
A number of airlines immediately lifted the mask requirements, some even in-flight, leading to celebrations. One video doing the rounds shows passengers on a flight from Los Angeles to Denver cheering the news, tearing the cloth from their faces and exuberantly spinning it on their fingers.
But other passengers, notably an elderly man, sit stoically with their masks still on.
Wearing a face covering may seem like a minor health precaution to take in a crowded environment, one that can help to slow the spread of a highly contagious disease. But as with many aspects of the response to the COVID pandemic, it has morphed into a cultural flashpoint.
The lawsuit that led to the US ruling was backed by the conservative group Health Freedom Defense Fund (HFDF), the BBC reported, a group that vehemently opposes COVID-related mandates.
The judge who struck down the law, Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, was appointed by former President Donald Trump, a leader that mocked mask wearing for much of his tenure.
The US is not alone in controversy over masks – Europe has followed suit.
In Europe as in the US, wearing or not wearing a mask has become politicised to the point that it’s possible to guess a person’s political leanings by their attitude towards it.
Many of the talking points used by European anti-maskers are copied from their American allies.
Indeed, the United States has a habit of exporting culture wars to Europe, which usually arrive late and with a simplified discourse:
Witness much of Europe’s tetchy response to the “Me Too” movement against sexual harassment or the outrage at the US-style recommendation that the European institutions use “holiday season” rather than “Christmas” to promote inclusiveness.
For now, though, there is no uniform rule across the EU when it comes to travel and masks. Whether or not it is a requirement to wear a mask on a plane or a train depends entirely on the country.
In Belgium, the mask law is in effect for all public transport modes, but travel to neighbouring the Netherlands and the requirement is gone – with the exception of aircraft.
Head further north though, to Sweden, and the mask mandate is not required on planes – well, not unless you’re travelling to Italy, where high-quality masks are required on all public transport modes, as well as in shops.
IATA, a trade association representing airlines, and ACI Europe, a group representing airports, have called for mask requirements to be dropped when travelling within or between states in Europe where no mandate is in place.
As with much of the developments across the pond, the ruling to drop mask requirements in the USA is likely to add fuel to their campaign.
Ryanair cabin crew to strike in Brussels
Residents of Brussels looking to jet off for a cheap post-Easter trip may see their plans disrupted, as Ryanair cabin crew in Brussels and Charleroi airports have announced a three-day strike.
Cabin crew employed by the Irish airline in the Belgian capital will strike from Friday 22 April to Sunday 24 April.
The strike action comes amid a failure to reach an agreement between Ryanair and Belgian union officials, who accuse the company of underpaying employees.
Around three-quarters of Ryanair cabin crew workers in Brussels receive minimum wage, earning around €2,000(US$2,173.40 ) a month before tax, VRT reported.
Despite employing around 650 people in Brussels, Ryanair does not have a human resources department in Belgium. This has led to frequent errors with staff payment, according to Hans Elsen of the Christian union.
The Belgian secretary of state for consumer affairs, Eva De Bleeke, has called on Ryanair to provide compensation to affected passengers.
COVID lockdown leads to severe port congestion in Shanghai
For those who thought that the supply-chain disruptions wrought by COVID were a thing of the past, the situation in Shanghai is proving otherwise.
The Chinese city is in the midst of a severe lockdown, imposed by Chinese authorities to curb skyrocketing case numbers. Over 26,000 positive tests have been recorded in the city.
The strict nature of the lockdown has disrupted production in the electronics sector, stoking fears that the slowdown will ripple across the world, the Financial Times reported.
While Shanghai port continues to operate, the lockdown has caused a significant delay in offloading, partially due to a lack of truckers to move goods. This has led to hundreds of cargo ships stuck in the heavily congested port.
MEPs push European Commission to reveal used cooking oil origins
Greens EU lawmakers have sent a formal letter requesting that the European Commission provide data on the origins and quantities of used cooking oil (UCO) imported into the bloc, putting further pressure on the EU executive to allay fraud concerns surrounding UCO imports.
Airbus urges EU leaders not to sanction Russian titanium
Airbus urged Europe Tuesday April 12 not to block imports of titanium from Russia, saying sanctions on the strategic metal would damage aerospace while barely hurting Russia’s economy.
Fuel ship sinks off Tunisia, threatening environmental disaster
Tunisian authorities intensified efforts on Saturday April 16 to avoid an environmental disaster after a merchant fuel ship carrying one thousand tons of fuel sank off the coast of Gabes on Friday, two security sources said.
Serbia accuses Ukraine and unnamed EU country of Air Serbia bomb hoaxes
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić accused Ukraine and an unidentified EU country of being behind a series of hoax bomb threats against Air Serbia planes.
