Canada will not follow the U.S. lead when it comes to dropping mask mandates for travel, say Canada's Transport and Prime Ministers.
As Open Jaw reported, Monday, 18APR, a judge in Florida knocked down the U.S. federal travel mask regulation, ruling that the CDC exceeded its legal mandate. Immediately, all major U.S. carriers dropped their own masking rules for domestic flights and also for certain international flights.
That’s not happening in Canada anytime soon.
Transport Minister Omar Alghabra responded to reporters’ questions by defending Canada’s “science and data” based decisions.
"I take no joy in these regulations except to know they are done to protect everyone's health and safety,” he said.
Deflecting a request to comment about mask mandates being dropped stateside, he added, "Masks are proven to provide additional layers of protection and we will continue to follow the advice of our public health experts."
The Prime Minister was also queried about Canada’s mask mandate, and reinforced Alghabra’s claim that federal decisions about masking and COVID safety would be made based on “what the science is telling us.”
The CBC reports that a government official revealed that Ottawa even “communicated with airline operators Monday night to say that Canada's mask requirements will still apply.”
Meanwhile, in what’s becoming a bit of a masking muddle for Canadians, Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, Dr. Theresa Tam, recommended that all Canadians continue to mask in “indoor settings” regardless of what their provinces’ rules now require.
