Mask mandate extended as Gov. Abbott is the latest high-profile breakthrough case

On the same day we learned federal officials are extending the mask mandate for airline flights and other transportation until next January, we also learned Texas Governor Greg Abbott has become the latest high-level official to contract a breakthrough case of COVID-19. The video above shows a video message Gov. Abbott tweeted out Tuesday.

“I have received the COVID-19 vaccine and that may be one reason why I’m not really feeling any symptoms right now,” Abbott said. “I have no fever, no aches and pains, no other types of symptoms.”

Abbot’s spokesman said Abbott is isolating in the governor’s mansion in Austin and receiving monoclonal antibody treatment.

As the quarantine continued Wednesday, the Transportation Security Administration was set to discuss the mask mandate extension with airline unions. The TSA briefed airline industry representatives on the plan Tuesday.

The current mask mandate was supposed to end Sept. 13. The new extension will keep it in place until Jan. 18.

The extension comes as the Delta variant is fueling a surge of COVID-19 cases. The seven-day average of new cases has topped 140,000, an increase of 64 percent from two weeks ago and the highest level in more than six months.

Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines have reported a recent slump due in part to the case surge, as well as the usual slowdown that occurs near the end of the summer.

The mandate has caused issues between passengers who don’t want to wear a mask and flight attendants asked to enforce the rule. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, airlines have reported 3,889 incidents involving unruly passengers this year. 2,867 of those incidents, about 74 percent, involved refusing to wear a mask.

Despite these incidents, the largest union of flight attendants said the extension will help keep passengers and aviation workers safe.

“We have a responsibility in aviation to keep everyone safe and do our part to end the pandemic, rather than aid the continuation of it,” Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, said. “We all look forward to the day masks are no longer required, but we’re not there yet.”