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[Fauci] also continued to reiterate that wearing masks on planes is still a good idea despite airline CEO's saying they were not always necessary due to sufficient air filtration systems inside aircraft.
"I think the idea of taking masks off, in my mind, is really not something we should even be considering, and that's what we meant by it depends on what the goal of getting people vaccinated before they get on a domestic flight," Fauci said.
Fauci's comments follow an airline executive's comments on Capitol Hill that masks "don't add much" given that "99.97 percent of airborne pathogens are captured" by highly efficient filtration systems.
"Yeah, I think the case is very strong that masks don't add much, if anything, in the air cabin environment," Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly said in response to whether maskless air travel could ever resume. "It's very safe, and very high quality compared to any other indoor setting."
Kelly later tested positive for COVID-19 following the Senate Commerce Committee hearing on airline oversight last week, the company told Reuters on Friday.
Kelly testified alongside the president of the nation's largest flight attendant union and executives at United Airlines, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines. The hearing examined the impact of $54 billion in pandemic aid Congress gave to airlines.
"I think the case is very strong that masks don't add much if anything in the air cabin environment," Kelly told senators Wednesday. "It's very safe, very high quality compared to any other indoor setting."


"And so one word of concern or encouragement for your team is that as you look towards federal solutions that will help alleviate the challenge, make sure that we do not let federal solution stand in the way of state solutions. And the production of 500 million rapid tests that will be distributed by the federal government is great. But obviously that dries up the supply chain for the solutions that we might offer as governor."A few moments later, Biden responded:
Comment: With the US leaning on Germany to sabotage its own economy by blocking Nord Stream II, is Germany attempting to recoup some of its losses by selling on Russian gas at a mark up? It's telling that Poland is also willing to go along with these games, despite its people suffering for it.
The proof that this contrived crisis could be resolved is evident in Russia's readiness to agree to "astounding" gas contracts with countries like Hungary and Serbia. However, it's clear that the West is hellbent on attacking Russia in whatever way it can and its wishful thinking is blinding it to the damage that it's causing at home: