Farenthold JR flew in from College yesterday and saw several masks at IAH.

Clearly CO should waive cancelation penalties and change fees for all flights 'till the pandemic is over. Or at least this weekend because I have some flights I want to change for free.;)

Qatar Airways issued a press release saying all crew flying from its three US gateways, New York, Houston, and Wash DC will have to wear masks and get flu shots. They must wear the masks in all US cities and the entire flight :rolleyes:

Ciao,
FH

VP Joe Biden is recommending that people stay off subways and planes. Have flight to SAN (via IAH) on May 11th. I did get a mask at the drug store but not sure if it is the right type. More like a dust filter type.

Where can you get surgical masks?

Biden
 

I fell out of my chair this morning when I saw Biden recommend people to stay away from mass-transit and planes. Nothing like your VP to set-off some additional panic :)

As far as the masks, you can get them from your local pharmacy. And you can earn OnePass miles if you get them from drugstore.com through the Shop OnePass link. And I'm sure they're at other retailers too.

I've seen a box of the blue masks that healthcare professionals wear go for about $10/box of 50.

I think this is a common mis-conception. I asked a Japanese national about this, and she told me that at least as far as she was concerned, the reason to wear a mask when sick is that your immune system is weakened and you want to try to reduce the chances of picking up another bug that will make you even more sick. She specifically said she didn't care one bit about preventing others from catching whatever she had.

I've read several articles, including the ones from the CDC and major news sources. The cheap dust masks don't really help, unless someone just happens to sneeze or cough on you. More helpful is frequent hand washing and not sticking your fingers in your eyes, things we should all be doing anyway.

+1

What you need is N95 surgical mask. Google it and you will find many websites sell it.

CX FAs are fighting to wear masks and are not being allowed to. I've seen masks scattered throughout China but were prevalent in HKG.

Just flew the CO 58 to AMS and well I did see several people wearing masks.

I am a surgical specialtist and can tell you that the only benefit these masks have in preventing the spread of any disease is preventing the wearer from touching their mouth or picking their nose, otherwise it serves no clinical purpose and will not filter out any bacteria or virus.

Most of the people that were wearing them were Japanese and a few small town-wide loaders in their 60's. One poor lady even had her mask on backwards and upside down, with the nose crimp on her chin.

Pathetic really.

20,000 + people die every year from the "normal" flu, but no one seems to react to those numbers, so what's going on with this pig stuff?

The N95 (or N100) is NOT a surgical mask, it is classed as a respirator by NIOSH and OSHA. As has been pointed out earlier in the thread, surgical masks are useless for protection against a virus.

Proper use of an N95 requires a 'FIT Test' and sizing (they come in different sizes) as well as training in donning and removal. Please note that the Fit Test and training need to be redone if you wear a different Model then you were originally Fit tested and trained with.

If you are an employer and require your employees to wear them, you must have a medical screening done per OSHA 29CFR1910.134. This Regulation also covers Fit Testing and training.

Many people have difficulty breathing, particularly while physically active when wearing an N95 or N100 respirator.

In a medical environment, the main use of the N95 is protection against TB in a closed space such as an ambulance.

In field use, patient's home or ambulance, the recommended procedue for using an N95 is to place it on the patient to prevent large droplets from being dispersed if they sneeze or cough. If they can't tolerate the N95 due to difficulty breathing through it, we use an oxygen mask which also prevents large droplet dispersion.

Untrained people will almost always contaminate themselves when removing an N95. We dispose of them as we remove them and take a new one if we need another. Can you carrry enough of them to do do that with? Do you want to spend the $?

The real transmission threat is from a contaminated surface since the virus can live for up to 24 hours. Avoid touching places where large droplets from a sneeze or cough could have landed, an if you do, wash your hands or use an alcohol based gel.

Avoid touching your nose, mouth and eyes without prior hand washing.

I saw some guy wear it on the NYC bus. Though he had it around his ears and under his chin. don't think that'll work........

The other day - I got a package with 2 masks from CVS.

CVS brand, say N-95 Grade Face Masks (advance protection), 95% efficient against airborne viruses*. Filters out dust, bacteria, and pollen. Extremely durable yet soft shell offers comfort and protection, latex free. CVS Brand - 2 masks were $5.49.

The * says - from the Center for Disease Control website: http://www.cdc.gov

The side panel says "N-95 respirators have 2 advantages over simple cloth or surgical masks: they are 95% efficient at filtering particles and have an extremely durable yet soft shell that offers comfort and protection.

So I guess these are not the normal cheap dust masks. They had to get them from the back.

There is always that 5% off. But when I fly in another 10 days I will take them. What do you think?

The masks are wrapped in sealed plastic. They say MEDLINE, NON24506, NIOSH N95.

Wheelchair pusher at IAH was wearing his on top of his head!