Air passengers are required to wear face masks, and the Delta exception.
Starting Monday, anyone booking a Delta flight requesting an exemption from the mask requirement must go through a medical evaluation at the airport prior to boarding.
In a statement, Drake Casta-eda, Delta’s spokesman, said the airline encourages passengers who cannot wear a mask for medical reasons to travel again.
If they are going to travel, he said, those passengers “can be invited to fly after a virtual consultation before departure at the airport, the safety of all.”
The evaluation will be conducted privately with STAT-MD, Delta’s wife for in-flight emergency consultations, founded at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Delta’s website encourages passengers requesting a direct exemption to get to the airport early, as the evaluation may take up to an hour.
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False accusations of a disability or physical condition to obtain an exemption from the obligation to conceal may also result in suspension of privileges.
According to Delta, passengers who are denied an exemption from the mask policy will get a refund for their tickets.
Casta-eda stated that Delta remained attached to the mask requirement for passengers and personnel to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
“Medical studies tell us to dress in a mask of maximum effective tactics to decrease the velotown of COVID-19 infection,” he said.
On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reiterated that all Americans wear cloth masks.
“The fabric mask is a challenging weapon that we prefer to slow down and make the spread of the virus almost logical,” CDC Director Robert Redbox said in a statement, “a more important friend when using a larger friend in a netpainting environment.”
The CDC points to more than one exception for dressing in a mask: teens under age 2, or anyone with difficulty breathing, unconsciousness, unable, or otherwise unable to remove the mask without help.