Experts react to airlines dropping mask rules, and share how they plan to stay safe from Omicron variants while flying

The majority of travelers at Los Angeles International Airport were still wearing their face coverings on April 18, 2022.

Brittany Murray/MediaNews Group/Long Beach Press-Telegram via Getty Images

• A federal judge in Florida struck down the mask mandate on public transport Monday, calling it unlawful.
• Masks are optional on planes, trains, and buses across the country now, according to the TSA.
• But public health experts say it's still a good idea to keep wearing one, especially as the BA.2 Omicron variant spreads.  

Masks are now officially optional for travelers in most places across the US. On Monday, the Transportation Security Administration said it will no longer enforce a federal mask requirement on public transportation and in transit hubs nationwide. 

The TSA's announcement came after a federal judge in Florida ruled the mask mandate was unlawful, arguing that it "exceeded the CDC's statutory authority." 

But leading public health experts told Insider why they will continue masking up when on planes, despite the rule change.

"I am concerned that removing this mask mandate does increase the risks of transmission at a time when we're seeing a surge in the BA.2 variant," Leonard Marcus, co-director of the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative at Harvard, said. "My hope was that by being cautious for another two weeks, while we're in the middle of this potential surge, we would be better on the other end, and that the chances that we could relax the mask mandate safely would be different two weeks from now."

Airplanes do have high quality air filtration systems — but they're not always on, and they don't protect you from everything

Air filtration systems are sometimes turned off when planes are on the ground.

Shutterstock

Gigi Gronvall, an epidemiologist and Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said she'll keep wearing her mask on planes and in other public indoor spaces, despite the Florida ruling. 

"Definitely, the highest risk is when you're getting on the plane and getting off it," Gronvall said.

Any time that large groups of people from different places are congregating indoors without masks or tests during the pandemic has the potential to be a high-risk COVID-spreading event. People may be infectious with very few symptoms, or totally unaware they have COVID, spreading it to others unknowingly. And, with maskless air travel, people can spread more contagious variants into new geographic areas more quickly, which is what seems to be happening in Europe already.

Marcus, like Gronvall, said the mask order relaxation isn't going to derail his travel plans, but it's also not going to change his behavior while traveling. 

"I'm flying next week," he said. "I will be wearing an N95 mask, and I'll be wearing another mask over it, to keep it real tight."

Marcus, and his team at the Aviation Public Health Initiative, recently assembled a set of two expert briefs on how to stay safe from COVID-19 at the airport. Their recommendations included masking, as well as other disease mitigation measures like recommending airlines leave the ventilation systems on planes running, even during boarding and de-planing.

"To reduce the risks of disease transmission, there should be multiple layers of protection for both the crew and passengers," Marcus said. "My recommendation to travelers and to crew is to continue wearing the masks. The protections that we get are reduced now, because there are probably going to be a lot of people not wearing masks."

Ventilation systems on planes work well in flight, but "if you have somebody who's sitting in the row in front of you who's coughing, the air handling system's not gonna help you with that," Gronvall said. 

"I definitely appreciate that wearing a mask on planes is not as great as not wearing one," she added, acknowledging the inconvenience, while also stressing "it's just something to keep the viruses to yourself, it shouldn't be as big a deal as it is."

Tips for vulnerable people preparing for a maskless flight

Gronvall said she was worried that the new ruling could "make it really hard" to bring masks back "if there is another variant that is much more severe." 

She said it's "really unfair that people have to take on this burden to try to protect themselves," especially children under 5 years old who can't be vaccinated, or immunocompromised patients who can't derive good protection from vaccines. 

"It's so frustrating that we don't have a vaccine for people under five at this point," Gronvall said. 

Former US Surgeon General Jerome Adams said on Twitter "this isn't just about planes," either, imagining the risks that immunocompromised people like cancer patients might have to take when boarding a poorly-ventilated bus to seek treatment. Mask mandates on public transport are also especially beneficial to the workers, who are exposed to travelers all day.

Gronvall suggests that people who are worried about the mask change make a testing plan, be vigilant about their ventilation, get good quality masks, and consider where they might get access to monoclonal antibodies or antiviral pills if they do test positive. (The federal government has a test-to-treat website online.) 

"It's just not a great situation," she said. "People have to think more carefully about how they can reduce their own risks." 

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