CALL TO END AIRPORT MASK MANDATE
AIRPORTS have lost patience with the face mask mandate, saying the outdated rule is confusing passengers, affecting staff recruitment and tying up valuable police resources.
Since January 2021, workers and people passing through airport terminals have been required to wear a face mask to help prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Now chief health officers are believed to have decided the mask mandate should remain in place at airports until there can be agreement across all jurisdictions to relax the rule at the same time. The requirement for a uniform response has exasperated airport operators.
Canberra Airport chief executive Stephen Byron said it appeared airports were caught in a “classic commonwealth-state stuff-up”. “National cabinet seems to have gone on holidays and no one can work out how to get rid of (the mask mandate),” he said.
He said airports were no riskier than supermarkets, cinemas or stadiums where mask-wearing was no longer required.