Flyers cheer as officials lift mask mandate midair; video viral on social media

Videos and pictures of passengers of a New York- San Francisco flight cheering as the cabin crew announced that masks were no longer mandatory on domestic flights are going viral on social media.

This comes at a time COVID-19 infections in New York, Connecticut are on the rise in the past few weeks and the BA.2 sub-variant of omicron and its sublineage BA.2.12.1 are estimated to make up more than 90% of the coronavirus variants in the United States.

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In the video, several flyers were seen lifting the mask mandate after US district judge Kathryn Mizelle overturned the government’s extended mask mandate on April 18.

According to the viral video posted on Twitter by many passengers who were on the flight, a flight attendant said the mask will be optional for all crew and passengers as well and before he could finish the sentence, passengers clapped and cheered.

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One passenger could also be seen waving the mask in the air and then keeping it inside the seat pocket. The announcer also said those who want to continue wearing the masks are free to do so. “In that way, we can alleviate stress and discomfort,” the attendant said.

Several major airlines including Jetblue, Spirit and Southwest have reportedly made masks optional.

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Delta Airlines has already come under fire for stating that COVID-19 has transitioned to an ‘ordinary seasonal virus’, a statement which the airlines later retracted.

As epidemiologists on social media slammed Delta Airlines for making such an irresponsible statement, it later corrected it and said COVID-19 and transitioned to a ‘more manageable respiratory virus – with better treatments, vaccines and other scientific measures to prevent serious illness’.