Last night I flew into Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and want to provide a few observations on the newly-reimposed mask rule at one of the nation’s busiest airports. In short: it was widely disregarded.
I arrived at United Airlines in Terminal 8 and was told to mask up. There were signs that masks were required again.
I put compliance at less than 50%, which is a striking indictment of the public officials in Los Angeles County.
I was very tempted to take a picture of the three flight attendants standing in front of the sign. I would not want them to be in trouble at this point in time. Several gate agents were not wearing masks. I didn't see the TSA officers. There were police officers in the baggage claim area. The people who should have been setting the example were instead breaking it.
The people will only respect rules when they believe they are legit. People are so over covering up that they will no longer respect the rules. There seems to be no appetite to enforce these rules.
I put on my mask when I got off the plane. I believe it should be up to each person. I am not a sheep who follows government rules. I am an old-school institutionalist who believes that elections have consequences and that public officials should be held accountable, but society is better when we follow the lawful rules of those we choose to power. Don't like the rules? The people in office should be thrown out. It isn't unconstitutional for a local government to require masks. That is up to LA County.
The point of this post is not that. The re-introduced mask experiment is not going well. People are ignoring the rule.
Most people don't have an appetite to wear a mask according to my observations last night. I witnessed a different sort of consensus at Los Angeles International Airport last night, even though public polling suggests the majority still favor the public transportation mask mandate.
Los Angeles County has imposed mandatory masks at the airport.
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