Federal officials said Thursday that airlines should consider limiting capacity on planes to promote social distancing, but stopped short of requiring them to do so. The officials also recommended – but did not require – travellers wear face coverings in airports and on planes. What is the matter with these people? All leading US airlines now require passengers to wear masks, but regulators have refused a request by the airlines to make it a federal rule – that despite every recommendation from medical specialists.

The Transportation, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services departments made those and other recommendations in a report containing guidelines for reducing the risk of spreading the new coronavirus by air travel.

The agencies said airlines and airports should take steps to increase social distancing, clean surfaces touched by passengers, give specialized training to airline crews, and provide more information to help with contact tracing if passengers test positive for the virus.

The issue of limiting capacity on planes gained new urgency this week when American Airlines joined United Airlines in trying to fill every seat on every flight. The move was criticized by the government’s top expert on infectious diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

We see rising cases of COVID-19 every day in the US. We see rising death rates. We see the stubborn ignorance of people who choose to believe equally ignorant individuals and officials, or willfully misleading millionaires who value dollars far more than human lives.

Yes, the economy matters. Of course it does. But no country on earth has so deliberately disregarded, mismanaged, and blatantly lied about the necessity of simple precautions that could attempt to prevent COVID-19. No leader has ignored all professional advice (while insuring he himself is well protected) and exhorted his aptly described ‘base’ to ignore social distancing, to ignore masks, and, if not to protect themselves, to show some decency and concern toward their fellow citizens.

Today there will be an event at Mount Rushmore. 75,000 tickets were expected to be distributed. There are two issues. First, masks will be available but not mandatory. and social distancing will be non-existent. Second, there will be fireworks. The National Park Service stopped staging pyrotechnics at Mount Rushmore in 2010 out of concern for wildfires. The memorial is surrounded by 1,200 acres of forested lands, including ponderosa pines, and lies next to the Black Hills National Forest’s Black Elk Wilderness. But Trump wants fireworks, Governor Kristi Noem will provide them.

Masks

Not everyone is fortunate enough to get tested and Trump doesn’t really need a mask, as  he said in an interview with Fox News, because, “everyone’s tested. Because I’m the president, they get tested before they see me.”

Well, ain’t that swell.

But Trump appears to be coming around. In his curiously mangled syntax he said on Wednesday, “Actually, I had a mask on. I sort of liked the way I looked, OK? I thought it was OK. It was a dark, black mask, and I thought it looked OK.”

“Looked like the Lone Ranger. But, no, I have no problem with that. I think – and if people feel good about it, they should do it.”

Well, that seems  a bit of a turnaround. But does he have any clue that the Lone Ranger’s mask covered his eyes and not his nose and mouth. If Trump chose to wear his mask in that fashion…

If you’re a believer … this is the time to say …God help us!