US airline passengers warned to keep wearing masks

US authorities have issued a sharp reminder to airline passengers that they must continue to wear masks on aircraft and at airports, despite the easing of restrictions in other settings. The reminder comes as the Centers for Disease Control gave people who are fully vaccinated the green light to resume the activities they did prior to travel. It said those who had been fully vaccinated could resume activities without wearing a mask or physically distancing but noted there were a number of exceptions. READ: Rolls-Royce in talks with Boeing over 797. These included instances where people were required to wear masks due to “federal, state, local tribal or territorial laws rules and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance”. The US Federal Aviation Administration was quick to point out that one of these exceptions was traveling on public transport, including flying. “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) remind the traveling public that at this time if you travel, you are still required to wear a mask on planes, buses, trains, and other forms of public transportation traveling into, within, or out of the United States, and in U.S. transportation hubs such as airports and stations,’’ the FAA said on its website. “CDC guidance is clear that fully vaccinated people are safe to travel and can resume travel.” Lobby group Airlines for America said airlines would continue to enforce the requirements to wear masks on flights as long as the government mandate is in place. Flight attendant unions successfully pressed for a mask mandate to help members deal with unruly passengers refusing to wear the protection. The FAA has since recommended stiff fines of up to $US35,000 for unruly passengers under a “zero tolerance” approach adopted in January. This has included a call for a $US32,750 fine for a JetBlue Airways who refused to wear a mask, threw food in the air, shouted at the crew and allegedly assaulted a flight attendant on a February 7 flight from the Dominican Republic to New York. READ: Unruly passengers face $US35,000 fine, jail in FAA crackdown CDC guidelines stipulate that people are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after their second dose of two-shot vaccine such Pfizer or Moderna or the same period after a single-dose vaccine, such as Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine. “If you don’t meet these requirements, regardless of your age, you are NOT fully vaccinated,’’ the guidelines say. “Keep taking all precautions until you are fully vaccinated.”