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1. Embed this notice
   Alice McFlurry :bc: (alice@beige.party)'s status on Friday, 29-Nov-2024 05:56:08 JST Alice McFlurry :bc:

   As one of the few people I see who still wears a mask on airplanes, I think back and wonder how this wasn't always a thing, even before COVID.

   Travelers are in a closed space for a prolonged period of time sharing possibly-infected air with people who have been all around the world and likely in close company with even more people.

   COVID or not, wearing a mask is only a minor inconvenience and it shouldn't even be a question about whether or not to wear one, provided you care about your own health and/ or the health of others.

   • Alexandre Oliva likes this.
   • Rich Felker and Minoru Saba repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Alice McFlurry :bc: (alice@beige.party)'s status on Friday, 29-Nov-2024 14:37:35 JST Alice McFlurry :bc:

     in reply to

     Just wear a mask. It's not THAT hard.

     I’m autistic and VERY particular about pretty much everything. I don’t like clothes touching my wrists or ankles and socks with "bad seams" will ruin my day and I absolutely do not like the way a mask feels on my face, but I still wear one.

     If I can do it, everyone else can too.

   • Embed this notice
     Stéphanie (stephanie@ottawa.place)'s status on Friday, 29-Nov-2024 14:37:39 JST Stéphanie

     in reply to

     @Alice I remember, I was always sick after flying. And I thought it was normal and inevitable! When all I would have had to do was wear a mask.

     I don't fly as much anymore, but I've never been sick since started masking.

   • Embed this notice
     Shannon Skinner (she/her) (shansterable@c.im)'s status on Friday, 29-Nov-2024 14:38:33 JST Shannon Skinner (she/her)

     in reply to

     @Alice
     This commercial from 17 years ago for a vitamin supplement tablet called Airborne should have alerted us to wearing masks. I never thought of it at the time.

     The product's assumption is that humans contract viruses while traveling on crowded flights so they need to boost their immune system.

     When the product hit the market, I recall a lot of head nodding and a general agreement that people get sick when they fly. That is why the product gained popularity.

     Flash forward to today. The same people who probably bought Airborne (and maybe still do) as a pre-flight ritual, don't mask during flights, casting doubt on how the phrase "avoid it like the plague" ever came into existence.

     I'm with you. I mask on flights. When the plane is stuck on the tarmac and the cabin gets hot and stuffy (which has happened on 7 of my last 7 flights), that is when I am grateful to have one on.

     If you need Airborne, you need a mask.

     #COVID #COVIDIsNotOver #MaskUp

     https://youtu.be/pDoG3gvE8Nc?si=-Z-Oq17XixNbavht

   • Embed this notice
     Bill Hooker (sennoma@chaos.social)'s status on Friday, 29-Nov-2024 14:41:11 JST Bill Hooker

     in reply to

     @Alice Welp, shut my mouth:

     https://www.travelandleisure.com/airlines-airports/how-airplane-cabin-air-works

   • Embed this notice
     Alice McFlurry :bc: (alice@beige.party)'s status on Friday, 29-Nov-2024 14:41:12 JST Alice McFlurry :bc:

     in reply to

     • Bill Hooker

     @sennoma Filtered or not, it doesn't matter if the contaminated air is able to get to you before it hits the filter.

   • Embed this notice
     Bill Hooker (sennoma@chaos.social)'s status on Friday, 29-Nov-2024 14:41:14 JST Bill Hooker

     in reply to

     @Alice I don't know if the recycled air in airplanes is filtered, but it COULD be. My guess (because unmasked air travel remains a major vector of transmission) is that it isn't, and that airlines decided the cost of fitting HEPA filters wasn't worth the lives destroyed and lost.

   • Embed this notice
     Alice McFlurry :bc: (alice@beige.party)'s status on Friday, 29-Nov-2024 14:41:16 JST Alice McFlurry :bc:

     in reply to

     Reply-guys, please don’t give me your dumb "BuT tHe AiR iS FiLtErEd" excuses. It's still contaminated air before it gets recycled/filtered, and people are still breathing that in and out. It doesn't matter if it gets filtered AFTER that has happened.

   • Embed this notice
     Rich Felker (dalias@hachyderm.io)'s status on Friday, 29-Nov-2024 14:41:46 JST Rich Felker

     in reply to

     • sabik
     • Bill Hooker

     @sabik @sennoma @Alice Yep, you can observe this with CO2 sensors - when the mixing is and isn't happening. It helps a lot but you still need a mask.

   • Embed this notice
     sabik (sabik@rants.au)'s status on Friday, 29-Nov-2024 14:41:47 JST sabik

     in reply to

     • Bill Hooker

     @sennoma @Alice
     AIUI, the air is filtered during flight; it could be filtered during boarding, but usually isn't (they'd have to turn it on); and then there's the airport and the bus, train or taxi to get there

     As others have noted, in a closely packed space, filtering also reduces the risk only so much

     So yeah, wear a mask, as much as you can

   • Embed this notice
     Rich Felker (dalias@hachyderm.io)'s status on Friday, 29-Nov-2024 15:36:41 JST Rich Felker

     in reply to

     • sabik
     • Bill Hooker

     @sabik @sennoma @Alice As I said it reflects the mixing of compressed clean outside air, not anything to do with filtration.

   • Embed this notice
     sabik (sabik@rants.au)'s status on Friday, 29-Nov-2024 15:36:42 JST sabik

     in reply to

     • Rich Felker
     • Bill Hooker

     @dalias @sennoma @Alice
     I mean, measuring with CO₂ sensors won't take into account filters

     The filters may or may not be present and functional, of course; that'd require actual regulation, like we do with restaurant food safety