I bring disinfectant wipes and wipe down the tray table, arm rests, seat belt, etc on the plane. People look at me goofy, but otherwise I doubt those things have been purposefully cleaned in the last year.
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We go to Spain and Croatia, a ferry or cruise ship will be just as risky.
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Prioritize and focus on wanted bugs only.
Same experience here. Just back from a bike trip in Portugal. Was fine going but ended up with a bug a few days after getting back.
I know I need to just where a mask in the airport and on the plane to deal with this. Just been avoiding it but it definitely makes sense to switch to using the mask.
I’ll just add that while you are actually ON a plane, your risk is relatively low…their air filtration systems are excellent and recirculate the air at a pretty high rate. Unless the person sitting right next to you is sick, of course…
But in the airport and during the boarding / deboarding process, your risk is higher. The systems aren’t going when you are boarding / deboarding and everyone is crammed together. Definite high risk scenario.
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One question regarding the N95 masks, do you just wear one and temporarily remove it to eat or drink, or replace it if removed as I’ve read it from one of suppliers?
If masking, and the flight is relatively short, I usually just forego the meal.
On longer trans-oceanic (or across the US), I’ll just pull the mask down when I take a bite or sip and then put it back. A bit of a hassle, but it works.
You’ll never get 100% protection, the goal is just to minimize your exposure as much as possible and hopefully avoid a high enough viral load to cause infection.
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I will pull it down to eat/drink. As long as it still sealing around my face and nose I consider it to be good enough.
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It depends on the plane. The RJ200’s don’t have a central filtering system, they just recirculate the cabin air. Small planes are gross. (Pre-pandemic I flew on United Express, and the previous ping pong to the destination, someone got sick in a seat, and they didn’t have enough time to clean it up before they ‘had to’ be back in the air. They threw a handful of that horrific smelling sawdust crap on it, and sent it back. So I get on, and by the time we landed again, several people had puked just from the smell of the absorbent crap. Such a nice flying experience. Just can’t say how damn glad I was to DUMP UNITED after that. MY GAWD!! What the hell are they doing? Have they no decency? Nope, it’s all about ‘pushing tin’.)
The physics of air movement in planes is complicated. At one point researchers were honestly recommending goggles WITH masks because of the potential for getting a high viral load in the edges of the eye, they are connected to the nasal cavity. I read the research that recommended people not ride bikes in groups, and they weren’t wrong, just over stated the viral load that someone could/would get. It’s all about how many virus particles you get where. Obviously the nose and mouth are larger areas of contact, and if you touch something covered in it, and touch your eyes, nose, mouth, you get a much higher load all at once.
I was on a flight where someone was coughing quite a bit, and the masks came out like flowers in a field. Warranted, likely… I’m just glad that so far the newer variants are not as deadly as the original ones were. That could change however.
Viruses are like teenagers, they want to spread, they want to infect, they want to breed, but it is fairly easy to keep your viral load low. Going back to masking on planes/trains/ships is not bad advice. I usually mask at our crowded grocery stores. Such a scrum of people.
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