Flight cancellations rack up. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warns of a meltdown if the Omicron variant continues to spread. It will.
Flight cancellations have stranded hundreds of thousands of people. Economic consequences will be severe, not only to the airline industry but across multiple other sectors as stranded workers fail to show up when expected. But we should not blame COVID-19. Omicron may be more contagious than other variants, but it is seldom more severe than a cold. Put another way, most of those in hospitals with Omicron may have COVID-19, but are not there because of it.
The Biden administration cites science but panders more to panic than to good public policy in its airline regulations.
Airlines filter air more effectively than public buildings do. While Biden might appeal to altruism and concern that its restrictions protect the most vulnerable given the possibility of asymmetric transmission, the response to this should rest with individual risk assessment among those who feel most vulnerable. They might either use surgical-grade masks capable of filtering such tiny droplets and tape to ensure a seal or find another way to travel. The reality, however, is it likely does not matter much what they choose. COVID-19 is endemic.
Nor is it ever possible completely to eradicate risk for the most vulnerable. Transit did not stop when the boy in the bubble was born. In effect, Biden administration policy confuses inconvenience with effectiveness and imposes upon America collective agoraphobia.
If pilots and crew are asymptomatic, let them fly. Ditto passengers. If air traffic controllers feel 100%, let them work. If someone feels ill, let him or her take a sick day. Americans catch viruses every day; most do nothing other than strengthen our immune system.
Just as Congress should subordinate itself to the same health regulations and insurance requirements as the rest of Americans, so too should every government official have to abide by the restrictions they impose on others, even when traveling abroad. Secretary of State Tony Blinken wants to fly home from Senegal? Let him find a testing center delivering results within 24-hours there, as he demands other Americans do.
The issue should not be political. While Democrats seized upon President Donald Trump’s confused response to the pandemic to score political points — as a candidate Joe Biden even cast doubt on vaccines developed on Trump’s watch — hindsight suggests that it did not matter much what Trump did as the pandemic was going to run its course. The same holds true for Biden, Governor Ron DeSantis, or Governor Gavin Newsom. They might relish the image of control, but the fact of the matter is what they do does as much to stop a wave as a three-foot high wall would stop a tsunami.
Sometimes, less is more. Government might provide information, but no bureaucrat has an individual’s best interest at heart than that individual.
Back to airline travel: the system may be on the brink of collapse, but the problem is less Omicron than out-of-control government. Let the free market prevail. If some companies wish to mask all travelers, let them play the market. If others want to sing the praises of their filtration systems, let the buyers decide. If some wish to weed out asymptomatic employees and cancel flights, let them pay the price and if others want to return to normal, that is fine too.
Omicron need not be the straw that breaks the camel’s back; it could instead be the wave that teaches a government convinced of its own omniscience a degree of humility.
Michael Rubin (@mrubin1971) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential. He is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
