Delta Air Lines has just launched its latest inflight safety video and there’s no escaping the feeling that this airline at the very least believes passengers will be required to wear face masks onboard airplanes for the foreseeable future.
The video features Delta pilots and flight attendants who all wear face masks throughout the video which also includes face mask reminder messages.
The decision to focus so much on face masks is in stark contrast to other airlines that have recently unveiled new inflight safety videos with no mention whatsoever of COVID-19 precautions.
Last week, Air Canada launched its new safety video which featured Canadians in iconic locations around the country without a face mask insight – despite the fact that Canada is only emerging from one of the longest Coronavirus lockdowns in the world.
Delta’s new video could, however, age pretty quickly if a group of Republican senators have their way. The group, which includes Ted Cruz and Roger Wicker are pressing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to immediately lift mask requirements on public transport, including onboard commercial flights.
“Over 150 million people in the United States are fully vaccinated and mask mandates have been lifted across the country. But the CDC inexplicably still hasn’t lifted the mask mandate for public transportation,” Cruz said of his demands.
“It’s long past time for President Biden and the CDC to follow the science.”
The group believe ending the federal mask mandate early would incentivize more Americans to get vaccinated. According to Our World in Data, around 54 per cent of all Americans have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine but supply is far outstripping demand and the United States is falling far behind other countries in its vaccination campaign.
The federal face mask mandate is currently due to expire on September 13 but the Delta variant poses a significant risk to the U.S. if the level of vaccination doesn’t start rising again and there may be a need to extend the mandate.
In fact, the Delta variant is such a risk that the World Health Organization said on Friday that fully vaccinated people should continue to wear face masks – advice that flies in the face of CDC guidance that says fully vaccinated no longer have to wear a face mask in most settings.
If all goes well though, let’s hope Delta (that’s the airline) recorded two versions of their new video – one without face masks.
H/T: One Mile at a Time
