By Larry Johnson
Alaska Airlines has added a soccer motif to flag passengers who refuse to wear a mask.
If passengers refuse to mask up, they’ll now get a yellow card promising a review of their individual situation and noting that they may be banned from future flights.
Masks, considered essential to stopping the spread of the COVID-19 virus, have become a politicized point of contention, with health experts advising their use and assorted conservatives (including ‘President’ Donald Trump) declining to wear them and contending it should be their personal choice.
The anti-maskers seem to believe wearing a mask threatens their liberties, and sometimes seem to believe it threatens their masculinity, too.
The coronavirus, however, is spread via droplets produced when someone coughs, sneezes, or speaks. Wearing a mask prevents people from both transmitting and contracting the illness.
Alaska, like most other U.S. airlines and nearly all of them worldwide, wants you to wear a mask when you fly.
“We’re counting on both our guests and employees to be considerate of one another to wear face coverings and contribute to our constant effort to keep everyone healthy and safe,” says Ben Minicucci, Alaska’s president.
Makes sense to me. I’m no scientist, and I am not crazy about wearing a mask, but I trust scientists a lot more than I trust who claim the earth is flat and President Barack Obama isn’t an American.
I would watch with glee if I could witness a macho climate change-denier clutching his yellow card on the way down the center aisle of my next Alaska Airlines flight.
I might even give the guy a round of ironic applause. I’ll be anonymous behind my mask, after all.
