It’s just gotten easier to spot the Canadians in an American airport — look for masks.
Air travel rules within North America took on a striking contrast on Tuesday after a Florida judge struck down the mask requirements for U.S. airlines and the Biden administration delayed a decision on whether to appeal.
Meanwhile Canada is keeping its pandemic precautions.
All of which made for divergent scenes at Reagan National Airport near downtown Washington.
In most of that airport, as in most of the United States, mask-wearing is now decidedly optional. There were faces covered here and there on Tuesday.
It was nothing like the cluster of concealed mugs surrounding baggage carousel 4A in Terminal A — the airport’s unofficial Little Canada. Virtually everyone there remained masked.
‘I’m not taking off my mask’
When asked about the U.S. policy change, Sunnie Peck of Winnipeg mock-slapped herself in the forehead to express her bafflement.
“I’m not taking off my mask,” said Peck, who had been visiting her grandkids in Washington, and was preparing to board a return flight through Toronto.
“There’s science. Whether you believe in it or not.”
Peck says she’s happy Canada hasn’t followed in ditching mask requirements amid a pandemic that has killed many millions worldwide, and for which hospitalization rates are still quite high in Canada and in some other countries.
Some travelers agreed, like one woman who, asked about the policy change, pointed at her chin and said: “That’s why I put two masks on.”
The pandemic does appear to be in a relative lull, however, in the U.S. And several said now’s the time to move on to voluntary mask-wearing.
WATCH | Confusion over masks at U.S. airports:
Confusion after U.S. judge strikes down mask mandate for travel
8 hours ago
Duration 2:03
The U.S. will no longer enforce masking onboard planes and other forms of public transportation after a federal judge in Florida struck down the mandate, causing confusion for some travellers because companies can still enforce their own mask rules. 2:03
Lainie Weinstein of Toronto had just spent a few days with her U.S.-born husband visiting family in Washington and they were in no hurry to mask up.
She said she’s “all for” the U.S. move.
“If you want to wear a mask, you can wear a mask. If you don’t want to wear a mask, you don’t have to. So it’s up to each individual person.”
Asked whether she feels most Canadians share that view, she said: “Absolutely not.”
Her husband Scott Weinstein concurred that there’s an obvious cultural contrast between his native U.S. and new home: “It’s definitely a lot stricter in Canada,” he said.
But he said he was fine sliding on that covering for the trip to Toronto.
“It’s an hour flight, so we’ll survive,” he said.
Celebrations on some flights
The rules aren’t just inconsistent across the continent. There’s anecdotal evidence of different practices on different planes.
While some passengers from Canada said there was universal mask-wearing on their flights, people on one Canada-U.S. flight were said to have enjoyed looser requirements.
One passenger on a Delta flight from Calgary to Minneapolis said some people cheered when the crew announced masks were now optional.
Andrea van Vugt, a trade expert and adviser to former prime minister Stephen Harper, was on the flight and said about half the passengers wore masks, and half didn’t.
Delta pilot announces end of the mask mandate just before takeoff, passengers cheer. <a href=”https://t.co/MUkRIHAtO4″>pic.twitter.com/MUkRIHAtO4</a>
In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle of Florida said the Biden administration had not only exceeded its legal rights with the mask mandate, but also skipped the required procedural steps that should have allowed for public comment.
Mizelle was appointed to the court in the final weeks of the Trump administration, for which her husband, Chad Mizelle, worked as legal counsel in the White House and in the Department of Homeland Security.
The American Bar Association had called Mizelle unqualified to be a judge; it described her as smart, hard-working and “delightful” but lacking the necessary legal experience.
So, should Americans still wear masks on planes?
“[It’s] up to them,” U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters Tuesday.
Inevitable concerns
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the administration was reviewing the case and said the policy should be guided by public-health experts, not the courts.
Among the inevitable concerns for policy-makers and travelers is whether vulnerable people can protect themselves in the absence of widespread masking.
Some public-health experts have expressed confidence that a high-quality mask can deliver significant protection against virus transmission.
But masking policy is also a political decision, and American politics is unsettled on the issue — offering no obvious option for Biden, with midterm elections months away.
Politics at play
There’s some evidence Americans want mask mandates to continue on planes: 60 per cent do, according to a new Harris poll.
Yet the percentage of Americans wearing masks on a regular basis is declining, even in a city like Washington which until recently had its own mask mandate.
Fewer than half of Americans, 44 per cent, now wear masks around other people, according to a recent Associated Press poll which showed a steep drop from last year.
Independent voters are even less likely to wear masks than the national average, says a recent Economist-YouGov poll.
So Biden and his staff will sort through the virus data, their legal prospects and the politics as they weigh their response to a Florida judge.
In the meantime, two years into a deadly pandemic, it’s a moment of transition in the North American neighbourhood, and you can see it on the face of air travelers.
Or in the case of one pocket of that neighbourhood, around baggage carousel 4A, around half their face.
The sixth-ranked Canadian women will face World Cup champion Spain in an international friendly next month.
Third-ranked Spain will host Canada on Oct. 25 at Estadio Francisco de la Hera in Almendralejo.
The game will be the first for the Canadian women since the Paris Olympics, where they lost to Germany in a quarterfinal penalty shootout after coach Bev Priestman was sent home and later suspended for a year by FIFA over her part in Canada’s drone-spying scandal.
In announcing the Spain friendly, Canada Soccer said more information on the interim women’s coaching staff for the October window will come later. Assistant coach Andy Spence took charge of the team in Priestman’s absence at the Olympics.
Spain finished fourth in Paris, beaten 1-0 by Germany in the bronze-medal match.
Canada is winless in three previous meetings (0-2-1) with Spain, most recently losing 1-0 at the Arnold Clark Cup in England in February 2022.
The teams played to a scoreless draw in May 2019 in Logroñés, Spain in a warm-up for the 2019 World Cup. Spain won 1-0 in March 2019 at the Algarve Cup in São João da Venda, Portugal.
Spain is a powerhouse in the women’s game these days.
It won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2022 and was runner-up in 2018. And it ousted Canada 2-1 in the round of 16 of the current U-20 tournament earlier this month in Colombia before falling 1-0 to Japan after extra time in the quarterfinal.
Spain won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2018 and 2022 and has finished on the podium on three other occasions.
FC Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati (2023) and Alexia Putellas (2021 and ’22) have combined to win the last three Women’s Ballon d’Or awards.
And Barcelona has won three of the last four UEFA Women’s Champions League titles.
“We continue to strive to diversify our opponent pool while maintaining a high level of competition.” Daniel Michelucci, Canada Soccer’s director of national team operations, said in a statement. “We anticipate a thrilling encounter, showcasing two of the world’s top-ranked teams.”
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024
EDMONTON – The NHL’s Edmonton Oilers announced Tuesday that assistant general manager Brad Holland is leaving the club.
The move comes almost three months after the departure of former Oilers general manager Ken Holland, Brad’s father.
Oilers chief executive officer and president of hockey operations Jeff Jackson said in a statement that Brad Holland and the team parted ways so Holland could “explore other opportunities.”
Holland, 43, joined the Oilers as a scout in 2019. He was promoted to assistant GM in July 2022.
He had a hand in building the team that advanced to Game 7 of the 2023-24 Stanley Cup final before losing to the Florida Panthers.
The Oilers hired former Chicago Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman to replace Ken Holland on July 1.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — The Miami Dolphins are placing Tua Tagovailoa on injured reserve after the quarterback was diagnosed with his third concussion in two years, a person familiar with the move told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team had not yet announced the move. Tagovailoa will be sidelined for at least four games with the designation.
He was hurt in the third quarter of a Thursday night game against the Buffalo Bills on a play where he collided with Bills defensive back Damar Hamlin. He ran for a first down and then initiated the contact by lowering his shoulder into Hamlin instead of sliding.
Players from both teams immediately motioned that Tagovailoa was hurt, and as he lay on the turf the quarterback exhibited some signs typically associated with a traumatic brain injury. He remained down on the field for a couple of minutes, got to his feet and walked to the sideline.
Tagovailoa this week began the process of consulting neurologists about his health. He was diagnosed with two concussions in 2022 and one while in college at Alabama.