Brazil has reinstated its mandatory mask rules at airports and on airplanes. Will other nations follow?
Mandatory Mask Rule Returns On Airplanes, At Airports In Brazil
Earlier this week, ANVISA, Brazil’s health authority, announced the new regulation, which went into effect on November 25, 2022. This comes after Brazil lifted its travel mask mandate in August, over two years after it was introduced.
“In recent years, Brazil has seen an increase in virus transmission in the months of November to January, a situation that could get even worse with the anticipation of a greater flow of travelers passing through airports during school vacations and the end-of-year holidays.”
ANVISA Director Alex Campos framed the mask in patriotic terms:
“The use of masks in higher risk environments, due to their characteristics of confinement, circulation and agglomeration of people, represents an act of citizenship and protection of the community, and aims to mitigate the risk of transmission and contagion of the disease.”
Interestingly, this comes in the waning days of the Jair Bolsonaro administration. President Bolsonaro has railed against masks during the pandemic and notoriously refused to wear one early in the pandemic, prompting a court order to do so. This demonstrates a degree of legal separation between ANVISA and the Brazilian Presidency (indeed, ANVISA cited its own legal powers as the authority for its move).
As a small consolation, this time Brazil has not banned meal service on domestic flights, as it did during the pandemic.
Even with seasonal upticks in cases, I believe masks should be optional at this point in 2022. With vaccinations and treatment options for COVID-19 widely available, people should be left to decide for themselves whether to seek additional protection via masking. Masks were formerly framed as providing protection for others rather than yourself, but the use of medical grade masks offers personal protection and should be left to individuals due to their widespread availability.
Will we now see masking return to other countries? Hopefully not beyond Brazil (and Spain), though I expect other countries (not the USA) will re-introduce mask requirements if the weeks ahead bring an unexpectedly high surge in cases.
CONCLUSION
Mandatory masking has returned to Brazil. Masks continue to be required in Spain, a European Union outlier.
My opinion remains unchanged: masks should be optional. While there is some wisdom in wearing a mask in terms of preventive health, that should be left to each person to decide at this point.
of course Brandon will try and reintroduce masks, court order be damned
See what he is doing with student loans
I don’t care to wear a mask anymore, but I would be happy to see a mandate if for no other reason than to see the snowflakes melt
funny thing is you people were the snowflakes when the majority ignored the stupid mandates. We don’t care we won’t wear them it won’t matter how many pedophiles enablers scream at us for not wearing them. WE don’t care, we are the majority and we were proven right.
Aw, always good to see selfish pro-plague people on here. They’re the biggest snowflakes of all.
Who is Brandon and what does he have to do with masks in Brazil?
democrats only do what is political beneficial to them. Even brandon isn’t this stupid.
He knows people won’t wear them.
Covid is over even biden has said so.
I agree, masks should remain optional however wise people will wear them during the winter months in confined spaces. Doctor speaking.
No doubt there will be a denier along with some abuse in a few minutes. Deny all you like, covid is still killing people just like YOU.
I guess this must be a pandemic of the unmasked now, seeing it is no longer a pandemic of the unvaccinated, per the Washington Post on November 23, 2022: “For the first time, a majority of Americans dying from the coronavirus received at least the primary series of the vaccine. Fifty-eight percent of coronavirus deaths in August were people who were vaccinated or boosted, according to an analysis conducted for The Washington Post’s Health 202 newsletter, by Cynthia Cox, vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/23/vaccinated-people-now-make-up-majority-covid-deaths
That’s because the population of people vaccinated and boosted is significantly larger than the unvaccinated population. When striated, the % of unvaccinated who get covid and die is statistically significant and higher than those who are vaccinated, get covid, and dje. The virus is definitely weaker, but not understanding stats is kinda sad at this point.
interesting that WaPo couldn’t grasp that point. I’m sure they will do a correction.
Of course they won’t – WaPo is about clicks. Just a personal pet peeve about math and statistics
@Scooter: so true. Shame on the media for sensationalizing this misleading stat.
IMO should be talking about this instead — One of the most prestigious medical journals dealing with heart disease, the Journal of the American Heart Association (JAHA), has published two new articles this month dealing with how to detect and treat COVID-19 vaccine induced heart disease (myocarditis, pericarditis, and myopericarditis). https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/JAHA.122.026097, https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/JAHA.122.026873
science disagrees with you.
Even far left Atlantic agrees the covid measures were overkill.
People dying from covid are fat, diabetic, old, ect.
I’m none of those, I’ve had covid and didn’t even know it.
Source(s)?
Brazil just dropped off my list of potential vacation spots.
I doubt they will miss you.
I doubt they will miss him as well, they have more important things to worry about like the massive violence and the fact that tens of millions of people in the cesspool dump don’t even have indoor plumbing or basic sanitation.
Wow, you must really hate Brazil.
3rd world shithole that isn’t safe for the average American tourist.
Given all the mass shootings in the US this year so far, America doesn’t seem safe for the average tourist either.
If you look at the murder rate of brazil it usually the majority of cities that are the list of the top 10 most violent cities in the world.
Which doesn’t negate the fact about shootings in the US.
Your chances of being killed in a mass shooting are statistically impossible
Tell that to all of the dead people from those shootings.
But you’ll be killed the minute you walk out of the airport from a criminal because Brazil is such a violent Sh*thole.
Such hyperbolic nonsense.
Not really.
Your more likely to be killed by crime in Brazil than by COVID as a tourist in Brazil.
You really like making up things, don’t you?
The Troll Fest aside, it’s been time to sunset mask requirements for some time now.
Agreed! Especially since multiple studies have shown their lack of effectiveness.
Too bad for your message that studies show that cases and deaths increased when mask mandates were dropped, including in children.
>While there is some wisdom in wearing a mask in terms of preventive health, that should be left to each person to decide at this point.
Matthew – I’m curious. Do you feel the same way about drunk driving laws?