A group of nine flight attendants from six different airlines filed a lawsuit against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week, citing health concerns as well as their own physical safety. They are requesting that a judge strike down the federal mask mandate, which was implemented last year.
In addition to making it difficult for them to breathe properly, the organization claims that wearing a mask puts their physical safety at danger. Last year, passengers disputing over whether or not to wear a mask were responsible for about 75% of the approximately 5,800 incidents that occurred at airports and on aircraft.
The Biden Administration said earlier this month that the mask requirement will be extended another month, to April 18.
Earlier this month, a group of ten pilots filed a lawsuit against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) over the mask regulation.
Allegiant, American, Delta, Frontier, Southwest, and United are among the airlines that employ the nine flight attendants. It was decided to file the 61-page case in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado since the plaintiff, Victoria Vasenden of Southwest Airlines, is headquartered at Denver International Airport, and numerous others often work flights in and out of the Denver area.
The statement from Vasendren read, “Masks are detrimental to our health and affect flying safety.” “We’re on flights and at airports for up to 18 hours a day with no prospect of getting any fresh air. Physicians don’t have to put on masks for that long.
That is an attack on the brain, organs, and tissues of the human body as well as the environment. Despite this, we are required to guarantee that all parts of the flight are safe, despite the fact that our abilities are plainly diminished by the masks.”
The flight attendants, like the pilots, accuse the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and its parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, of seven breaches of the law and the Constitution. The flight attendants are requesting that Senior District Judge Marcia Krieger dismiss the mandate and permanently prevent the two agencies from issuing such directives in the future.
Tammy Gipp, one of Frontier Airlines’ nine flight attendants, is on medical leave because she is unable to bear the mask she is required to wear on flights.
“We have severe health and safety concerns about the FTMM, none of which were investigated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the Department of Health and Human Services before to pushing the policy into force,” she added.
Currently, there have been no studies undertaken by the Federal Aviation Administration to determine if having a plane full of oxygen-deprived crew and passengers lowers emergency response time, especially in the event of an unexpected decompression of the aircraft.