CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stressed their recommendation that people should wear a mask while using public transit and while flying.
This comes after a federal judge threw out the mandate last month.
What You Need To Know
- Tim Cooper, a former restaurant worker at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport, is immunocompromised
- He is speaking out against the mask mandate being lifted in airports and on planes
- Cooper says it puts immunocompromised people at greater risk
A Charlotte man who used to work at the airport is speaking out to encourage people to continue wearing their mask.
Related story: CDC continues to recommend masking while traveling
Tim Cooper managed restaurants at the airport. Last July, he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, which Novant Health says is an uncommon type of blood cancer.
“It’s been a whirlwind experience to stop you in your tracks,” he said.
After his diagnosis, he could no longer work at the airport because his immune system was compromised. And as someone who is immunocompromised, he says the masks are still needed to protect others who are also immunocompromised.
“It’s not about you. It’s about someone else. People forget that, it’s not just about them,” Cooper said. "It’s your kids, your grandparents, elderly parents, elderly neighbors that are affected or those who have immune compromised diseases. Wearing a mask should be a simple ask. It’s not just for you to wear it yourself. It’s to protect others, like me, that are immunocompromised,” he said.
