Holiday Travel.....to mask or not?

[Malcolm]

Should You Wear a Mask on a Plane This Holiday Season? We Asked the Experts (yahoo.com)
Should You Wear a Mask on a Plane This Holiday Season? We Asked the Experts
Masks on planes: It's a topic of conversation that has become more and more convoluted in the past year and change. But in the gauntlet of holiday air travel, one of the most challenging factors for fliers to contend with is avoiding getting sick in overcrowded terminals and jam-packed plane cabins.

The Christmas season is usually when outbreaks of all sorts of nasty bugs and viruses start peaking across the country. As of the first week of December, at least 15 states plus New York City are experiencing high or very high levels of respiratory illness activity, according to data from the CDC. Levels are elevated or increasing across most of the country, the organization says. Illnesses tracked by the CDC include COVID, influenza, and RSV, a virus that causes mild cold-like symptoms for most people, but can be serious for infants or older adults.
“The U.S. is experiencing elevated RSV activity, particularly among young children,” says the CDC’s report. “COVID-19 activity has continued to increase, especially in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions. Influenza activity continues to increase in most of the country with the southeast and south-central areas of the country reporting the highest levels of activity.”

So with all of those viruses circulating throughout the country—plus the crowds at airports and on board planes—will wearing masks on planes help travelers avoid illness this season?

Experts say that wearing a face mask is still a reliable way to help decrease your chances of catching COVID or another bug that could ruin your festive travel plans. “If you want to avoid a respiratory viral infection, then you should wear a mask, and perform hand hygiene frequently,” says Dr. Bernard Camins, medical director for infection prevention at the Mount Sinai Health System.

Although wearing a mask in a crowd of people who might be freely coughing and sneezing into the air isn’t a perfect solution, it’s still worth pursuing if you want an extra layer of personal protection. “Ideally, in order to prevent transmission of respiratory viral infections more effectively, everyone should wear a mask. Unfortunately, that is unlikely to happen.”

Instead, the best shot at mitigating viral exposure is to choose the right type of mask. If you’re still wearing them, ditch the cloth face coverings—which Camins says aren’t very effective—for something medical-grade. “If one decides to wear a mask, they should choose a well-fitting effective mask,” Camins says. He recommends an N95 and KN95 mask, which are thought of as a gold-standard face covering, thanks to their high-filtration ability and snug fit over the nose and mouth. These top-notch masks “are still easy to find nowadays,” Camins says.

If for some reason you can’t access an N95, don’t rule out plain surgical masks: They can help stop some viral infections. “Surgical masks can still protect against flu, RSV, and even COVID; although KN95 and N95 masks are more protective,” Camins says. But they can’t filter out everything. “Surgical masks are ineffective against rhinovirus, the virus that causes the common cold.” However, there are also some simple tweaks you could make to surgical masks to increase their effectiveness. “Double masking with a surgical mask and a cloth mask on top of it—to keep the surgical mask close to the face—can provide similar protection to KN95 masks,” says Camins.

Even if you are the only one on the plane wearing a mask, it will cut down on your risk of exposure. But you shouldn’t worry too much if your gut instinct is to eschew a face covering. Sure your chances of contracting an infection would jump, but it wouldn’t be totally reckless. For those who choose to go maskless “the risk is definitely higher, but probably similar to attending large indoor gatherings—like being in a restaurant,” Camins says.

And while it can feel tempting to strip off a mask in the airport for a few deep breaths before you’re crowded into the plane cheek-by-jowl with other passengers, Camins says it’s a good idea to keep the face covering on through most points of the journey. “Airports can get pretty crowded, so it can increase the risk of contracting a respiratory viral infection,” he says. “The air on planes is filtered so while one is in the air, the risk is lower than when the plane is on the ground.”

Of course, face coverings are only one way to avoid catching an illness. “Masking should not be your only mitigating strategy,” Camins says. “Wash your hands frequently with an alcohol-based hand sanitizer or with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Cover your cough, meaning that you should wear a mask or cough into a tissue when around others.” By following those easy steps, you should be able to get off the plane and on your way to a merry holiday season, with no unwanted viruses tagging along for the ride.

[Jaydee]

Much to all our dismay, Covid has unfortunately returned.
 

I personally know of 4 cases in the past 3 weeks, all different locations.

 

 

[Malcolm]

We have kept up with our flu and covid shots and have avoided both infections.  Up to now have shopped unmasked  but if we were to travel by any public transportation we would  be masked

[Kip Powick]

About 3 weeks ago, after having my COVID booster and flu shot two weeks prior, I had a great week with RSV

That was 8 days of short sleep nites, so much so that I went to my office and rolled back the desk chair, feet on the desk and got 2 1/2 hours of sleep for 3 nites  through the adventure. Biggest problem was chest congestion which was eased by sitting up........went through every box of Kleenex in the house with coughing and spitting.

Yes........... if I was travelling this holiday season, in anything other than my car, I would be masked up with the best mask available, N95 of which  have 3 left.

 

[Specs]

$250 to $300 for the RSV shot according to my wife and the CBC

How to access the new RSV vaccine, and how much will it cost? Your questions answered | CBC News

Edited December 12, 2023 by Specs

[Kip Powick]

Will take time, I guess, sorta like the shingles shots.....we paid $200.00 each for those shots years ago and now they are free for us older generation.

RSV vaccinations may do the same thing for elders....hopefully 

[Malcolm]

1 hour ago, Kip Powick said:

Will take time, I guess, sorta like the shingles shots.....we paid $200.00 each for those shots years ago and now they are free for us older generation.

RSV vaccinations may do the same thing for elders....hopefully 

Maybe in time but right now:

There's an RSV vaccine available for older Albertans. But it's $300 a pop

The RSV shot, approved by Health Canada in August, is not publicly funded in Alberta

[mo32a]

I paid $120 for my RSV shot.

[Malcolm]

11 minutes ago, mo32a said:

I paid $120 for my RSV shot.

where? full price or?

[mo32a]

At a pharmacy in BC, half paid by my pharmacy benefit through Sunlife.

[Malcolm]

thanks.

[ILB]

Always great to see folks wearing masks.  Helps to identify who is up-to-date on their shots or not.

[Malcolm]

48 minutes ago, ILB said:

Always great to see folks wearing masks.  Helps to identify who is up-to-date on their shots or not.

Yes the majority of those not wearing masks are the same ones that did not want to vaccinate or wear a mask in 2022.  

[ILB]

Are you suggesting the vaccine doesn't work?  I was told it was safe and effective.

[Jaydee]

2 hours ago, ILB said:

Are you suggesting the vaccine doesn't work?  I was told it was safe and effective.

Did you or anyone you know catch covid after getting the ”Vaccine” version, 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or booster 1 or booster 2?  Do you think you have immunity? Is it effective in your opinion?

 

Edited December 13, 2023 by Jaydee

[boestar]

On 12/13/2023 at 5:53 PM, Jaydee said:

Did you or anyone you know catch covid after getting the ”Vaccine” version, 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or booster 1 or booster 2?  Do you think you have immunity? Is it effective in your opinion?

 

NO vaccine is 100% effective.  That was NEVER a claim by anyone.

[Turbofan]

3 hours ago, boestar said:

NO vaccine is 100% effective.  That was NEVER a claim by anyone.

100%

Well a few politicians may have breached your statement.  But no one with any scientific credibility.

Its unfortunate.  Even the uptake of the flu shot has dropped from pre Covid because of the fallacy that vaccines aren’t what these seem because they are not absolute. Hospitals stretched.   Every year the flu takes out a few in their mid to late fifties who are otherwise healthy.  It’s not common but happens.

It really is a process of risk mitigation.  Zero risk doesn’t exist.  Only more risk or less risk.

[Specs]

You can only build a vaccine against known variants.  If some new variant comes along there is no guarantee that the vaccine will work against that one.  It might, depending on how the virus mutated, but sometimes you'll be SOL.    Fortunately - the mutations we're seeing these days are a lot less lethal than the earlier ones with a virulence that seems closer to a influenza than the COVID strain that put millions in the hospital.   

[Turbofan]

1 hour ago, Specs said:

You can only build a vaccine against known variants.  If some new variant comes along there is no guarantee that the vaccine will work against that one.  It might, depending on how the virus mutated, but sometimes you'll be SOL.    Fortunately - the mutations we're seeing these days are a lot less lethal than the earlier ones with a virulence that seems closer to an influenza than the COVID strain that put millions in the hospital.   

 

You are of course correct but I don’t think that was Boestar’s point.  Maybe I got his point wrong

There is no guarantee a vaccine will be 100% effective even if it is spot on target.  In fact it won’t be and never has been.  This applies to all the childhood vaccines you and I received as well.  They were not 100% effective in everyone.  You or I could be the ones who are not protected from measles for example.  But this is when herd immunity comes into play.  And why if herd immunity breaks down, breakouts occur, and unsuspecting people ( not just the unvaccinated) become at risk.

Unfortunately the incorrect assumptions made about vaccines in the first place have led people to believe they were sold a load of BS about them. That has led to distrust and less vaccine uptake even of things like the flu shot.  That in turn has led to a run on ER’s at hospitals post pandemic.

Vaccines are all about risk mitigation at the individual and societal level.  There is no risk free choice.  Only more risk or less risk.

Completely 100% risk free and completely 100% effective has never existed.  Some of us are just shocked to find out and feel betrayed as a result.

 

 

[deicer]

1 hour ago, Turbofan said:

 

You are of course correct but I don’t think that was Boestar’s point.  Maybe I got his point wrong

There is no guarantee a vaccine will be 100% effective even if it is spot on target.  In fact it won’t be and never has been.  This applies to all the childhood vaccines you and I received as well.  They were not 100% effective in everyone.  You or I could be the ones who are not protected from measles for example.  But this is when herd immunity comes into play.  And why if herd immunity breaks down, breakouts occur, and unsuspecting people ( not just the unvaccinated) become at risk.

Unfortunately the incorrect assumptions made about vaccines in the first place have led people to believe they were sold a load of BS about them. That has led to distrust and less vaccine uptake even of things like the flu shot.  That in turn has led to a run on ER’s at hospitals post pandemic.

Vaccines are all about risk mitigation at the individual and societal level.  There is no risk free choice.  Only more risk or less risk.

Completely 100% risk free and completely 100% effective has never existed.  Some of us are just shocked to find out and feel betrayed as a result.

 

 

Regarding herd immunity.

When we all got the MMR vaccine as children, as well as smallpox and the other, a form of 'herd immunity' was achieved due to the global nature and speed of vaccination campaigns.

With that, it stopped the spread of the diseases even if it wasn't 100%.

The problem with covid is that the restricted uptake allowed the virus to spread fast and widely thereby allowing it to mutate quickly.  So even if we were to get a vaccine that was 'more' effective, covid is now like the common cold or flu.  Instead of being ahead of it, we are now chasing it with ever changing vaccines.

The opportunity was lost to keep the genie in the bottle.

https://www.who.int/news-room/spotlight/history-of-vaccination/history-of-measles-vaccination

https://www.who.int/news-room/spotlight/history-of-vaccination/history-of-smallpox-vaccination

 

[Malcolm]

3 hours ago, Turbofan said:

 

Yhey were not 100% effective in everyone.  You or I could be the ones who are not protected from measles for example.  But this is when herd immunity comes into play.  And why if herd immunity breaks down, breakouts occur, and unsuspecting people ( not just the unvaccinated) become at risk.

 

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Herd immunity, lockdowns and COVID-19 (who.int)

'Herd immunity', also known as 'population immunity', is the indirect protection from an infectious disease that happens when a population is immune either through vaccination or immunity developed through previous infection. WHO supports achieving 'herd immunity' through vaccination, not by allowing a disease to spread through any segment of the population, as this would result in unnecessary cases and deaths.

[boestar]

On 12/24/2023 at 3:00 PM, Malcolm said:

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Herd immunity, lockdowns and COVID-19 (who.int)

'Herd immunity', also known as 'population immunity', is the indirect protection from an infectious disease that happens when a population is immune either through vaccination or immunity developed through previous infection. WHO supports achieving 'herd immunity' through vaccination, not by allowing a disease to spread through any segment of the population, as this would result in unnecessary cases and deaths.

remember many years ago they had POX PARTIES to get your kid infected with chicken pox so you could control the when and how?  Well no one thought that was an issue.  until 50 years later when Shingles showed up which is far worse that the Chicken Pox even though it is the same virus sitting dormant until it gets you.

That was an attempt at herd immunity through infection with a nasty side effect.  Now we get vaccinated for Shingles and it isn't cheap. 

[Malcolm]

9 hours ago, boestar said:

remember many years ago they had POX PARTIES to get your kid infected with chicken pox so you could control the when and how?  Well no one thought that was an issue.  until 50 years later when Shingles showed up which is far worse that the Chicken Pox even though it is the same virus sitting dormant until it gets you.

That was an attempt at herd immunity through infection with a nasty side effect.  Now we get vaccinated for Shingles and it isn't cheap. 

Once again proves that vaccination works and herd immunity is questionable.

Shingles is a viral infection caused by the varicella-zoster virus (VZV). A person can only have shingles if they have had chicken pox. A person with shingles may transmit VZV, which can cause chickenpox in someone who has never had chickenpox or has not received the chickenpox

You can’t get shingles if you’ve never had chickenpox, but it’s important to recognize the risks associated with the disease.

Can You Get Shingles If You Never Had Chickenpox? (healthline.com)