It is NOT a good idea to fly without wearing a mask

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Link to tweet

[ProudMNDemocrat]

1. I will have some handy when I fly to the UK in September.

Just to be on the safe side.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. I flew for many, many hours, home from Perth, Australia and wore a mask the

whole time.

[vanlassie]

22. California to London - very few of us in masks.

Last May.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

3. Open all the windows.

[housecat]

14. lol

[Meowmee]

50. 😹

[Brother Buzz]

4. My cousin just got tagged on a flight from San Diego to Portland....

and she religiously wears a mask. Just saying.

[orleans]

26. "tagged?" nt

[ZonkerHarris]

33. tagged meaning caught covid

[Brother Buzz]

39. Yes, thank you

She's fully vaccinated and just came down with severe cold symptoms. Her orthopedic surgeon had her tested after she communicated her symptoms before an appointment.

I just learned my nephew caught covid after flying from Indiana to Reno; airplanes have always been walk-in incubators for contagious crud.

[sdfernando]

5. I took a short flight this morning from San Diego to Las Vegas

It was a mostly full plane. It think they flight attendant said 146 people. I saw about 1/2 dozen mask wearers, me included. I'm not taking a chance on a plane....to many people in a small enclosed space.

[The Revolution]

6. The mask is more to stop you from spreading it

It may provide some protection for you as well, but a virus can still enter through your eyes for example. Not to say you shouldn't wear one if you want, but at this point vaccination is going to be your best protection I would think.

[Iwasthere]

19. Ot so much

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/new-covid-subvariant-spreads-rapidly-in-northeast-sparking-concerns-it-evades-vaccines

[NullTuples]

21. CV vaccines don't stop you from getting infected; they bolster your body defenses.

In Jan-Feb (ie before McConnell started to refuse funding for national testing, tracking, etc. programs), 46% of the deaths were vaccinated. People were stupid, and stopped wearing masks thinking their vaccine was like a magical shield. What they refused to understand (mostly because they didn't want to change their behavior) was that even if currently vaxxed, going out to eat in restaurants, going to parties, hour-long religious services in an enclosed space with singing and chanting, etc. etc without masks on the entire time grossly overwhelms even the impressive protections provided by the vaccines with a massive viral load.

[Ms. Toad]

29. Please stop spreading the incorrect information which was introduced, in part,

early in the pandemic first - as a little white lie to save masks for health care workers - and later perpetuated to appeal to the altruism of people who believed that they, as young/healthy individuals, were not at risk.

Well-fitted masks which are either N95 equivalent (if commercial), 600 TPI two-layer cotton, or 3-layer with a different fabric layer in teh center provide extremely good protection for the wearer.

[Meowmee]

51. This

It makes me ill to see this constantly spread here.


Masks DO PROTECT THE WEARER. Always wear N95 well fitted.


Why do you think healthcare workers wear them… When I went into a clinic with a sinus infection in November before Covid had hit full force the first thing the doctors and nurses did when they got near me and knew my symptoms was to start to put their masks on because they were scared… when they found out that I hadn’t traveled at all they relaxed a bit but did not take the masks off. They were already scared then. They all knew.

[Ms. Toad]

52. There are cloth masks which are as good.

Two-layer cloth masks made from 600 threads per inch cotton, and loser weave cotton with a layer of other fabric in three middle. They have been tested to filter.3 microns (the particle size the N95 masks are rated for) as well as N95 masks.

I'll add the link to the research when I get back to my computer.

(If you're using the 600 TPI cotton, you need to make your own - since one never seen a description of fabric that detailed on commercially available masks. I'm currently wearing 3-layer fabric ones - cotton/polyester, since I found a very cheap source from someone closing out masks which just happened to meet my quality/fit requirements.)

[Meowmee]

54. I will read what you post and research it.

I will still continue to wear my n95 duck bill Kimberly clark masks because they are still what is recommended for the best protection and they are the easiest for me to breath in. I do seem to have some irritation from the straps on my ears but it’s manageable. The price went down also which is good. 😀

[Ms. Toad]

55. Sorry - I forgot to come back and add the link.

Here it is: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7185834/

Table 1 has the comparison information. The middle column is the .3 micron filtration percentage (N95s block 95% or more of particles which are .3 microns are larger). Rows 9, 10, 16, and 17 are the rows on tight weave/multiple fabric masks.

As to what is recommended as "best," that depends on who you listen to. N95 and KF94 are universally considered to provide good protection, as long as they fit well and aren't counterfeit. When I wear disposable ones, I wear a KF94 - because of how Korea certifies its masks they are somewhat less likely to be counterfeit. Cloth masks don't fall in the most recommended list for anyone for two reasons - most people are unaware of the studies done and there isn't any standard certification for cloth masks. I wouldn't rely on a store-bought mask to have the correct number of threads per inch, but the ones I have now rely on the electrostatic filtration from the different fabrics as opposed to the size of the holes. (Incidentally - that's why your N95 mask breathes more easily than some other versions - all of the KF94/N95 masks rely on electrostatic filtration rather than size of hole, which means they breathe more easily than cloths relying on multiple layers and tight weave - which inherently restricts air flow more.)

[Meowmee]

56. Thanks 😀

Yes I would imagine getting the right cloth or trusting that someone else used it are pretty problematic. When I had to go to the hospital for the second time when I had Covid pneumonia I put a KN 95 mask on and I could not breathe in it all in it so I had to put one of the cloth masks on that I had bought a filter instead. But I was having a lot of trouble breathing then so that was a different situation.

The Kimberly-Clark masks I use now are on the list of masks that are approved and which can be trusted. Although the duck Bill mask looks a little odd it is so much easier to breathe him. And the N 95 versus the KN 95 I was using is also a huge difference for me.

When we visited the hospital we sometimes had to put their mask on on top of our mask which was crazy because we had already a better quality mask than the surgical masks they were giving people.

I have one mask so I bought early on that I thought I could wear over the KN 95 I was wearing which has Siamese cats on it and it’s so pretty but it would not give you any real protection by itself , although it had a space for a filter but when I put it over the other masks it made it harder to breathe. I think that one was just made out of some type of polyester maybe. But I had one cloth mask that was quite thick and it had a space for a filter. That was the one I ended up wearing the second time I went to the hospital. It also had a little plastic attachment to it which let air out of it I later found out so it was probably not the greatest thing for me to wear but I didn’t know that then.

Another thing I think which is better about the N95 and the surgical masks is that the material is also waterproof or spill proof to some degree so it will protect you from splashes of infectious material as well.

[Orrex]

32. Forgive me, but you would think wrong.

The best preventative measure is a combined approach including frequent hand-washing, mask use, vaccination, and safe social distancing except in groups known to be safe.

There is an over-reliance on vaccination which, although helpful in reducing severity, is not the magic bullet that some want it to be.

This ain't over yet, and it's dangerous to pretend otherwise.

[mcar]

7. We wore our masks when we flew on 12/22 and 12/30

Also made sure I had one on on the terminal shuttles.

[3auld6phart]

17. "I o longer fly

but when I did I even kept my seat belt tight. Air pockets are rare but can happen at any time. Last flight from England. A lady behind us coughed all the way.late 90s. Long before Covid. Wear mask when I get out to help wife shop. Good idea and a safety measure to wear.Weird, I t thought masks were mandatory for flights

[Iwasthere]

8. YES wear a GOOD mask!!!!

And social distance as much as possible. It's our only defense now. The new variants are being evaded by vaccines. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/new-covid-subvariant-spreads-rapidly-in-northeast-sparking-concerns-it-evades-vaccines

[niyad]

16. Do you mean the new variants are evading the vaccines?

[majdrfrtim]

28. "Scientific American" article regarding

just how unprecedented-in-human-history the virus’s recent mutations have proved to be, explaining in part how they’ve evaded even immunity from prior infections: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/omicrons-surprising-anatomy-explains-why-it-is-wildly-contagious/

[niyad]

31. The quote said that the new variants are being evaded by the vaccines.

[stopdiggin]

9. good chance this is misunderstood?

some level of (degraded?) mRNA found in almost all flights tested (in Malaysia)

- linked article - The aircraft sewage surveillance process involves systematic sampling and testing for untreated wastewater and sewer contamination. RNA fragments of the SARS-CoV-2 virus are found in the feces of infected individual regardless of health status (symptomatic, asymptomatic, pre-symptomatic, recovered) and can be detected in sewage. This form of the virus is not infectious and can't be transmitted via feces.

this gives some (rather loose?) indicator of current (and prior?) infection in a population.

(wearing a mask is a solid public health measure, regardless - from now on into the foreseeable future most likely)

[LetMyPeopleVote]

10. We test wastewater in Houston for the virus which is a great indicator of the spread of the virus

[stopdiggin]

25. and that's a great resource and application

(just hoping people are understanding what is really being said with the testing and results)

https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2022/04/feces-covid-19.html

https://www.sacbee.com/news/coronavirus/article263044553.html

[Bettie]

11. My son is on a marching band trip to Spain right now

I hope he wore his mask, though he has been vaccinated and boosted, with the bivalent in the last month.

He is, however, having a great time.

[yellowdogintexas]

12. NO way I would fly without a mask!

I have some really good ones, and I have testing kits.

Next time I fly I will test before I leave, mask up when I get out of the car to leave and all the way through the flight.

If I have to eat I will pick the most isolated spot I can find. (last trip I got lucky in Albuquerque, the largest eatery on my concourse was nearly empty !)

If another vax comes out, I will be in line to get it. Probably won't fly again until midsummer.

[SunSeeker]

13. We wore the free N95 mask we got from Biden on our last flight and were fine.

Thanks Joe!

[NullTuples]

23. What free mask, please? I don't remember reading or hearing about masks, only test kits?

Regardless, everyone should be buying (if they can) N95's + KN95's by the box. Ideally, free gov't provided ones would have been available everywhere for the last three years. But even now the effects of Trump's CDC linger and people argue over whether masks help or are even needed.

Meanwhile, people are still dying or ending up with long covid...

[area51]

35. I believe SunSeeker may be

referring to this free mask program offered last year.

[SunSeeker]

41. Yep. nt

[NullTuples]

45. Thank you, I'd completely forgotten!

[SunSeeker]

40. It was a year ago. They were distributed by CVS.

And some grocery stores. https://www.npr.org/2022/01/19/1074037421/the-biden-administration-will-give-out-400-million-free-n95-masks

I got my 3 from my CVS. Then I noticed a whole pile just sitting at the customer service desk of my local Ralph's grocery store (I live in a red area of Orange County, CA, so a lot of people here didn't want to pick up any--to own the libs), so I grabbed 3 more.

But they are readily available for reasonable cost now on Amazon and drug stores, unlike at the beginning of the pandemic.

[NullTuples]

44. Thanks, I remember that now!

[mn9driver]

15. Masking on airplanes is wise. But this is a misleading headline.

These tests were conducted in Kuala Lumpur using aircraft sewage water. These tanks are never fully flushed or sanitized, merely emptied.

I would guess that 96 percent of all airliners flying in the world today have detectable virus DNA fragments in their sewage tanks.

[NullTuples]

46. Sewer pipes are not flushed either, yet the measurement has been found accurate.

[mn9driver]

48. Missing the point.

All these results only show that people who have or had COVID used those aircraft bathrooms at some point before the sample was taken. That’s all they show.

[NullTuples]

49. Except...if they compare results over time.

It's possible - don't know if they did so here - but it's possible to statistically discern a baseline that represents residual viruses in the tank itself, but acts as a zero point for comparisons over time.

[Deep State Witch]

18. Will Be Wearing Ours in February!

Heading out to LA in February for a cruise to the Mexican Riviera. Definitely wearing our masks on the flights!

[NullTuples]

24. And then eating indoors in crowded ship-board restaurants?

[Deep State Witch]

53. Well, yeah

But you have to take some risks. At least in a restaurant, we can distance.

[TheBlackAdder]

20. I flew from Philly to Boston and perhaps 10% of the pasengers wore masks.

.

I wore my N95 once I parked my car to when I got out of of Silver Line to at the financial district.

While I was on the Silver Line, I was one of two people on the bus. Sitting across from me was a scruffy older woman and near her were two twenty-somethings. Two twenty-somethings were sitting to my right. They were looking at me as though I was an alien because I was the only one in the front of the bus, besides the driver wearing a mask.

Then, that woman started in. She was open coughing, while feigning a weak attempt to cover her mouth, Snot was going everywhere. All of a sudden, those four others stopped smiling and a foreboding look of panic entered their faces. This woman was hacking up a lung for a good 5 minutes. I was just about ready to bail when she got off. UPDATE: I forgot the best part. She was wiping the snot away with her fingers. Then, she started to wipe her nose with her arms to the point where they were glazed like a Dunkin Donut.

Oh, how the tides changed with those other maskless people.

.

[liberal_mama]

27. I can't even imagine that some people are so stupid that they'd consider getting on an airplane

or public transportation without a good quality mask now. It just boggles my mind. Yet, my daughter works for an airline and tells me that most travelers don't mask. It shocks me that so many people are completely uninformed and ignorant now.

[relayerbob]

30. You could not pay me to get on a plane for anything short of a crisis

[mnhtnbb]

42. I just cancelled a trip to Florida for late February

because I was planning to fly, connecting in Atlanta.
I was ambivalent about going to Florida anyway, even when I planned the trip. Eh. Not giving up much.

I flew last April and May--wearing a mask--but so many people refuse to wear them.

Both my Republican brother and SIL contracted COVID last year while traveling. And I think she continued a trip when she should have been quarantined due to exposure to her Covid positive husband.

[relayerbob]

47. My brother has been very careful

Vaxxed, masked, etc. and he still got it, either at a church or on a plane. He's OK, thankfully, but you can't protect yourself from everybody, always. Too many idiots.

[mountain grammy]

34. I wouldn't even consider flying without a mask.

[IronLionZion]

36. N95 masks are affordable and widely available now

I got a whole bunch online but they are in drugstores and grocery stores and hardware stores these days too.

The risky part is in the airports. I feel risky in the crowded lines for check in, bag drop, security, boarding/offboarding, etc. So that's my priority for masking if I don't want to keep it on throughout a long flight.

Good luck out there and be safe DUers. There are plenty of unmasked unvaxxed conservatives out there who are happy to share it with you.

[BlueMTexpat]

37. I will ALWAYS

wear mine on any flight. Period. And yes, I am taking all other precautions: vaccinated to the hilt; hand sanitizer; thorough hand-washing; distancing when possible, etc. I am not making a fuss about it - just doing it. And I'm old, so the precautions are well founded.

Plus I don't want to be an inadvertent transmitter if I ever get the virus.

In this visit to the US (since November), I have been quite pleasantly surprised by how many people in my area of the US are wearing masks most places. But then, Maryland is a good blue state and I live in a very blue area of the state. I wish that everyone had neighbors as nice as mine and a state with sane politicians of both parties. The Dems are MUCH saner, of course.

I was recently at a show at the Kennedy Center. I estimate that at least half in the audience were masked. I was, but my companions were not.

There were fewer people wearing masks in Switzerland when I left than are wearing them here. But I am among those there who do, when grocery shopping, on public transit, etc. and when in groups of people I do not know well. I am less cautious among good friends, but there is a lot less touching and kiss-greeting than prior to the pandemic.

[musette_sf]

38. I buy KF94s by the 100-count box.

I will wear a mask for air travel for the rest of my life. I made a connection at Narita a few years ago (pre-pandemic), noted all the people wearing masks as a matter of course, and thinking that maybe it’s not such a bad idea to do that. I’ve been wearing one of those AirTamer ozone things for air travel for years, so now I use both.

[Iris]

43. So much for the air flow bullshit. But thanks for posting. I fly on Monday and will definitely mask

Now