Originally Posted by
bocastephen
Long before coronavirus, I've had a N100 mask stuffed in my carry-on in case I was seated near someone with a cold or flu or other unidentified malady - on a number of multi-hour flights including TPAC, I wore my N100 for the duration, so there is really no excuse for someone refusing to wear a fabric mask. I removed mine for eating/drinking and it was on for the duration of the flight.
I was wearing n95 masks on trips in January and February and into March when SF went into lockdown. I got some funny looks, but it was clear to me what was coming and that it was going to be totally out of control. The idea of sitting next to a person with covid-19 breathing in everything they were exhaling w/o a mask just seemed stupid to me. It was clear by mid-January to anyone paying attention how horribly contagious and easily spread covid-19 was.
All I can say is that United and Co. (including Delta) are playing with fire. Foreign airlines are requiring and enforcing mask wearing, and of the right type (not n95s with vents or cloth masks with no filtration). One person gets on a plane with covid-19, infects 10-15 or even 5 people, and contract tracing links them to a flight on airline X, airline X is finished, done, ended, BKR, if someone was not wearing a mask, or was jammed in middle seat. Dao will look like a walk in the park compared to an airline being a Covid-19 infection cluster.