Canadian professor causes furor on Twitter over masking rules on flights

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A professor’s pro-mask, pro-vaccine social media stance has hurt enough American feelings to have become a news story.

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Amir Attaran, a professor with the University of Ottawa’s Faculties of Law and School of Epidemiology and Public Health, turned to social media when a United Airlines flight left Canada with at least one staffer who did not follow COVID masking mandates.

Attaran posted a photo of the UA flight attendant without her mask, noting that masks are required on all flights out of Canada.

Attaran called for the banning of United Airlines in Canada.

When criticized for his posts, Attaran tweeted that the U.S. has three times the COVID deaths per capita that Canada has had.

He then graduated to dissing U.S. gun laws, consistently mocking those who would criticize  him.

One response that did make sense, however — amid many ad hominem attacks and racist comments against Attaran — was a tweet requesting that the flight attendant’s picture be taken down.

Ian Cameron (@easyout) tweeted:

“I wish you’d take this tweet down featuring the photo of the United flight attendant. Flight attendants are frontline employees who risked their own health when little was known about COVID. They have had to put up with so much and are paid so little.”

Publications such as the New York Post and the Daily Mail ran news stories about the United Airlines debacle, although how Attaran’s slice-and-dice comments differ from the usual mud-slinging that distinguishes Twitter is not clear.

Many tweets accused Attaran of cowardice with regard to COVID, an interesting claim from anyone in light of the mounting evidence of severe post-COVID hepatitis in children and post-COVID heart, brain and lung damage in thousands of others.

“Anyone infected with COVID is at higher risk for heart issues — including clots, inflammation, and arrhythmias — a risk that persists even in relatively healthy people long after the illness has passed,” reported the John Hopkins journal of Public Health.

Attaran, meanwhile, was born in California and now has dual U.S.-Canadian citizenship.

Whatever you think of him, he supports truth in advertising: his Twitter bio reads: “Professor. Litigator. Scientist. Bicyclist. Husband. Father. Son. Wrecks grifters, anti-vaxxers & scientific illiterates. Personal account (not @uOttawa)”