Wearing Masks On EK Flights
 

I fail to see how realistic it is to mandate masks in long haul flights which make up the majority of the EK network. You must eat and drink

Seems a bit much to mandate masks without a risk assessment, especially concerning long haul. And their efficacy? Well, it ranges from 'it helps a bit' to 'none at all' depending on the types of masks, but given on long haul no one is going to wear their mask permanently, I bring into question their effectiveness! Taking a mask on and off all the time is just as likely to transmit any residual bacteria/viruses that are on the mask onto and into the wearer. Essentially, unless you're wearing it all the time witthout taking it off once, it's rapidly reducing the effectiveness - and I doubt that effectiveness to begin with, given that the majority of face masks are not air tight at all. Are these discussions being had anywhere? All I see is one sided articles and no studies at all. It feels like we're living in a mad house of nonsense.

I urge the airline industry to come up with a decent, properly reviewed study that either proves or disproves the point of masks..

Everywhere, going by the media, let's not start one here?

For each doubter there will be a firm promoter, neither can prove the other wrong so we might as well just toss a coin. From the airlines point of view they must be seen to be taking as many possible precautions or someone will end up trying to sue them in the USA.

Whatever the current narrative is, that is the one you will hear

Few weeks back protests were bad and dangerous because it was right wingers in the US doing it, few weeks later protests became good and everyone forgot about coronavirus spreading through protests for some time

Masks were overkill few weeks back, now everyone and his Uncle swear how they protect you and others

I will wear it on flights if that's the rule, and there is no reason to believe why it will not be made into a rule in airlines even on long hauls, considering how in Dubai for example, the rule is to wear a mask whenever you you are outside your home, even if you are outdoors and no one is near you.

Masks were deemed as useless for protecting yourself from the virus. However, they protect others from you.

Honest question: do you sneeze/cough into your mask? Since I don't think adults are going around spitting at each other's face, surely you are most likely to spread diseases through coughing and sneezing. If you pull down the mask to sneeze into your elbow/hand, then what's the point of the mask? But sneezing/coughing into a mask also doesn't seem very sanitary (especially if you don't have another mask to switch)..

Based on nothing more than pure conjecture. And now the WHO is saying that asymptomatic cases aren't likely to spread the infection, despite that being the opposite for months. So only symptomatic individuals should wear them? East Asians have been doing it that way for decades when they have the cold/flu, but I am unaware of how effective that has been. But anyway, it's a segue I didn't intend to get into. I was merely frustrated with how things are going and don't wish to continue going too far off-topic.

In the end, it's not really up to us. If the airlines decide that mask wearing is a policy and will be enforced by crew (except for maybe meal times), then as with many things, we just have to comply. If you don't want to wear a mask, you don't have to fly. If it's absolutely necessary to travel, then wearing a mask should not stop you.

I would guess it would be for crew to police, EK would say they are providing so you have no reason not to use. If you choose not to, they may give you a polite warning and if you dont comply, I would expect them to treat it like an agressive passenger. If flying into UK or out, it's mandated you wear masks by goverment regulations so if all countrys do the same, I would expect EK to rely on the local law.

Based on the experience of China, S. Korea, Japan, and New Zealand. These countries mandated the wearing of masks and were able to get to a low infection rate.

https://www.medpagetoday.com/infecti.../covid19/86812

New Zealand has not mandated the wearing of masks - not now, and not during lockdown.

We have now gone 22 days with no new cases, and there are no active cases.

Not from airlines, but a study on a US military ship ... https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-a...14-p552fj.html

Not enough observations to really make a definitive statement, but I've gathered that crew aren't exactly enforcing wearing masks onboard. It seems that policing by other pax is happening a lot more!

"The article itself states the quality of evidence is "low", clinical outcomes are not addressed, and COVID-19 itself is not studied."

And in another study:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4420971/

'the results caution against the use of cloth masks. This is an important finding to inform occupational health and safety. Moisture retention, reuse of cloth masks and poor filtration may result in increased risk of infection'

The point of the cloth masks is to protect others from you. If everyone wears them, everyone is protected from each other.