On Monday, the mandate for passengers to wear masks on airplanes, in airports and on public transportation was lifted after a federal judge in Florida struck down the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s authority.

The ruling has been met with celebration from some ⁠— as many passengers on planes have cheered and shed their masks after flight crews announced the decision ⁠— and apprehension from others who have expressed on social media anxieties of covid spreading faster without travelers wearing masks.

Some airlines and public transit agencies, including the Port Authority of Allegheny County, have stopped requiring passengers to wear masks. But as national covid cases increase again, many travelers are unsure what to do.

The Tribune-Review consulted Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert and critical care and emergency medicine physician based in Pittsburgh. He said there are details about how covid spreads when traveling, such as differences between in-flight filtration systems and airport filtration, but overall he doesn’t disagree with the timing of the mandate lifting.

Question: What advice would you give to airline travelers now that many airlines are lifting their mask mandates? Are there certain times in the flight process that are more important to mask?

Answer: When the airplane is actually flying there are a lot of air exchanges and filtration going on and that would be an extremely low-risk situation for transmission of covid-19. Aspects of the flight where the filtration and circulation is not operating at that same level would be higher risk for each individual, who has to think about what level of risk is tolerable to them and make a decision. Many people don’t wear masks from much higher risk activities.

Q: Do you think that lifting the travel mask mandate was done at the right time?

A: I do not have any concern over the timing. The Biden administration was set to have this expire in early May anyway. We are at a point where the covid-19 cases are largely decoupled or delinked from hospitalizations and there is widespread availability of medical countermeasures. Masks are not required by the government for many more higher risk activities.

Q: Is there a difference in risk of spread waiting in the airport compared to boarding the plane and being in flight?

A: Risks of spread are higher when not in the presence of the airplane’s filtration and circulation system.

Q: Port Authority also lifted its mask mandate for riders. Can you assess the risk of riding Pittsburgh’s public transit system without masks? How is this different from flying?

A: Because Pittsburgh’s public transit system does not have the same circulation infiltration ability of an airplane, the risk is going to be higher than with flying. However, I do think it’s a manageable risk and just because the Port Authority doesn’t require people to wear masks doesn’t mean they are forbidden from doing so if they are uncomfortable or at a higher risk for severe complications.

Q: For those people who do want to continue to wear masks while traveling, any advice? Are they being overly cautious?

A: As we move through the next phases of this pandemic, individuals are going to have to begin to learn how to calculate risk and decide what measures they want to take regarding covid-19. Each person has a unique risk tolerance and risk factors for severe disease. It is not one size fits all.

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