gengar

What a ridiculous post. The people in this thread critical of B6's policy are the ones actually thinking about others, because the point is that people shouldn't get on planes thinking that they'll be protecting other people just because they have a piece of cloth on their faces.

People that care about not infecting others should at the very minimum be wearing a surgical mask - but that is NOT the policy B6 has adopted.

Long Distance

It's so simple, wear a mask anytime you are outside of your home. Thank you JetBlue for this policy. Now, for at least the next few months please stop selling middle seats.

DLSuites

Jet Blue was not the first to make flyers wear masks. Usually, Jet Blue follows the other airlines in decision making. I have it on good authority that Jet Blue announced it first but it was the idea of AA.

Brighton Line

Virus is not airborne, you can't give it to someone by breathing. It is attached to vapor particles that are expelled when you cough or sneeze unrestricted by a mask can travel very far. A mask protects OTHERS (non-N95) it forces the particles upwards and not forward and the particles disperse quicker. At 2:15 you can see the difference of a simulated cough with a mask.

Global Adventurer

I was wearing masks long before the coronavirus outbreak on airplanes, especially 10+ hour flights. Just my little experiment. The times I didn't wear it I got sick a few days later at my destination. When I wore it, never got sick. My last trip for instance, I flew emirates lax-dxb 16 hours no mask in November. Got sick as a dog about three days later. Flew back in February with a N95 and goggles I wore for the entire flight except 5 minutes max for meal times. I still haven't gotten sick. Been wearing N95s/goggles everyday no matter where I go. Another flight I recall several years ago when I wore a mask the entire trip sitting by a guy that was severely sick I never got sick, but on my return home I didn't wear it and got sick within a week. It's just something I started noticing. I have an upcoming trip next month and I'll be wearing my other respirator a P100 and goggles on the outbound and inbound. Since the duration is less than 5 hours I won't be eating or drinking anything. I shouldn't get sick either. That's my goal.

dtremit

It was mentioned in one article I read that JetBlue will have a limited stock of masks available for people who forget to bring one or can't find one to buy. Sadly I can't find the article again.

I strongly suspect JetBlue isn't able to *source* enough masks to provide one to everyone right now.

Come on, now. You know the "unrestricted breathing" thing is just to avoid liability for the idiot who puts a plastic shopping bag over his face

But where do you propose "people who care" buy those masks? Good luck with that.

tphuang

They tested 3000 people. Also a couple of weeks before that, they did antibody testing on asymptotic women giving birth in NYC hospital and found something like 15% of them with antibodies.

I don't think you should expect this to be full proof but more of a consideration for others.

The vast majority of transmission are via droplets. There is a reason why outdoor transmission is minimal.

""In 111 people infected by either coronavirus, influenza virus or rhinovirus, masks reduced detectable virus in respiratory droplets and aerosols for seasonal coronaviruses, and in respiratory droplets for influenza virus,"
I'm confused on why you think that study did not support that masks reduced respiratory droplets.
Are non-surgical mask less effective than surgical mask? I'm sure. But I'd much rather that people wearing some kind of mask than nothing at all.

I walk around my neighborhood and people are all sort of creative in wearing different types of mask. Some people are just covering with piece of clothing, but most people seem to wear masks or even N95 looking masks. I wear surgical masks walking around. If i'm flying, I'm going to wear N95 mask that I have at home.

Frankly, pictures from recent flights show that vast majority of people already wear masks on flights. I'm really not sure why people are so against it here. Nobody is saying its fool proof. More should be done to ensure safety everyone. But I'd rather see everyone wear mask than 10% of people not wearing masks.

telloh

Exactly. We all remember how Jetblue copied Delta and United by imitating the model of Song and Ted.

gengar

That's precisely why B6's policy is security theater - not just because most people can't get surgical masks, but because they actually state that passengers shouldn't be wearing them.


There's no justification for your attempt to misrepresent my statements; I made the distinction between surgical masks and B6's "face coverings" very clear already.

tphuang

JetBlue simply stated what CDC said. And I don't think CDC's guided "mask/cloth" is that bad.
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsnano.0c03252
Based on this, even a high thread count cotton cloth (2 layers) could effectively filter out particles about as well as surgical mask. In some cases, the hybrid cloth could work even better than that.

For me, it's just important everyone puts a mask on. Even if it only filters out 40% of the virus, that's better than nothing.

MikeBOS

I will be one of the earlier people back in the air; I fly 2x/month BOS-SFO r/t (paid Mint/Business so decently high margin for the airlines) for work, and will be resuming as soon as guidelines permit. Normally I split my trips between JetBlue and United, but with this difference in policy will be ditching United and flying only JetBlue until either social distancing is completely removed or United adopts a similar policy. This is a sensible change that makes a meaningful positive difference in safety, even if it's not perfect.

strife

I wonder if Jet Blue will allow N95 masks with exhalation valves to satisfy the policy. Some grocery stores local to me attempted to enforce a face covering policy under the guise of protecting others and preventing asymptomatic transmission but allowed people to wear N95 masks with exhalation valves. This really shows how silly and sanctimonious yet completely worthless many of these face covering policies are.

Global Adventurer

I have several of those types of respirators I switch out every seven days. When I'm outside doing my daily walk I use it as designed. But, when I know I'm going to be inside closed spaces I put a very thin dust mask inside, like a coffee filter cut to size. It has two purposes, it seriously keeps the inside of the respirator very clean and it diffuses my exhaled breath and totally prevents the valve from opening, and therefore, my germs are never exposed to anyone and outside germs have almost no accidental chance of coming in through the valve.
In edit: adhering duct tape to the inside is a permanent fix also.

RWPrincess

I don't understand how anyone can go to an airport at this point and not already be wearing a face covering of some sort. JetBlue doesn't owe anyone anything. Many states have also mandated face coverings now but are not handing them out free. My local Target requires them and doesn't even sell them at the moment. The only way we get past this situation once and for all is if we all collectively do the right thing and that includes wearing masks in public for the foreseeable future.