Masking up at the airport might soon be a thing of the past. This is because the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) has recommended that this requirement gets scrapped.
In a statement, they said: “The AHPPC notes that all states and territories have relaxed mask mandates in most settings within the community and considers that it is no longer proportionate to mandate mask use in airport terminals.” This organisation also believes that this requirement can be removed from midnight on June 17.
However, it’s worth mentioning that the AHPPC “strongly recommend continued mask wearing in airport terminals.” This is because they acknowledge that this mandate did lower the risk of folks getting COVID-19 or another type of influenza.
Additionally, you still will need to wear a mask while you’re on a plane. Yup, this rule hasn’t been swapped out at all.
The AHPPC’s new recommendation is most likely going to result in our airport rules changing. The ABC reported that a statement from both Transport Minister Catherine King and Health Minister Mark Butler remarked, “We anticipate the travelling public will notice this change in the days following Friday as individual state and territory jurisdictions make the necessary changes to their public health orders.”
This news has been welcomed by some in the airport industry. A Brisbane Airport Corporation spokesperson told the Brisbane Times, “We do hope each state and territory follows suit and consistently removes the mask mandate across all jurisdictions.” They additionally noted, “If adopted here in Queensland, this means that café workers at the airport can work mask free, just like those working in an indoor food court just up the road.”
Last week, The Mandarin outlined that the Canberra Airport Group thought that the airport mask mandate violated the ACT’s Human Rights Act. Because of this, they declared that they’d go after the ACT government with legal action. However, since AHPPC’s new recommendations were announced, The Canberra Times has noted that this legal action has been ditched.
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