Lessons from Biden’s mask mandate failure

National Post, 23 April 2022

There is a difference between courts that act imperfectly and courts that are impotent. During the pandemic, Canada’s courts have not only been masked, they have been mute

The Biden administration’s mask mandate crash landed while I was airborne.

On Easter Monday, I headed off to preach at a retreat to a group of priests in the American south. A bit tired out from the activity of Holy Week, I settled in to sleep on the first leg of the trip, from Toronto to Chicago.

Carefully observing the injunction to wear seat belts “while seated” — is it even possible to wear seat belts otherwise? — “even when the seat belt sign is not illuminated,” I cinched my safety restraint in place and dozed off for 40 winks at 30,000 feet, confident that I would not be awakened by the aero-gendarmerie should the seat-belt light be switched on.

But then I was. As I am a sound sleeper, the flight attendant had a time of it, poking me to no effect and then gently agitating my shoulders. My eyes flickered open upon her invigilating gaze, and the admonishment was swift. While my seat belt was “securely fastened,” my mask was dangerously dangling.

Well, not really dangling. During my slumber, it had slipped down, exposing the front of my nose. It’s possible that my nostrils had somehow gained unimpeded access to the recycled air. Given that my own proboscis is not especially protruding, I imagine this happens to not a few passengers, but our flight attendant was equal to the supervisory task.

Her eyes made clear what her masked scowl could not: she was displeased. I immediately remedied the situation, wondering if she had been watching all along to see if my slippage had exceeded the recommended 15-minute maximum allowed for mask-free eating and drinking.

Suitably chastised, the mask was firmly in place the rest of the way, including on the connecting flight from Chicago to New Orleans, despite a most enjoyable conversation with an old friend who was coincidentally on the same flight. Little did we know that, while en route, a federal judge in Florida struck down the U.S. Centres for Disease Control’s (CDC) mask mandate. Within hours of landing, the airplane mask mandate was no longer being enforced by the federal government and the major airlines had dropped it.

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