Pete Buttigieg Calls Wearing Masks on Planes a ‘Matter of Respect’

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Tuesday he viewed wearing face masks on airplanes as a “matter of respect.”

ABC News host Martha Raddatz inquired about the issue during an interview with Buttigieg on the network’s This Week, asking him to explain why the federal Transportation Security Administration and Federal Aviation Administration — which fall under Buttigieg’s purview — still require vaccinated people to wear face coverings in airports and in airplanes, despite Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance doing away with such requirements elsewhere.

“Some of the differences have to do with the physical space,” Buttigieg told Raddatz. “Some of them have to do with it being a workplace wherein some of these transit and travel situations people don’t have a choice.”

He added: “It’s a matter of safety, but it’s also a matter of respect.”

The CDC loosened guidance in May that required masks for vaccinated people in most settings. Buttigieg has given no indication of when the agencies under his directive might follow suit.

Watch above via ABC News.