EASA has now issued 28 pages of guidelines on COVID-19 Aviation Health Safety Protocol

It includes the following nuggets:

So there will be no getting away from it on any European airline. Better have a large supply of masks ready for any long-haul trips!

The document also says airlines should have a supply on board.

I‘m not sure this is fully thought through - at the airport you‘re supposed to keep your 1.5m distance, but on board that‘s no longer required.

Which argument? :D

Antivax say that vaccination can be harmful to their health. Same as you saying that wearing a mask can be harmful to your health.

Not wearing a mask has definitely become a political statement (see DJT's visit at the Ford plant in Michigan or Illinois' reptesentative Bailey's behaviour in the State Assembly).

Worrying, isn't it ?

You can't compare vaccination which is scientifically proved to be beneficial with general face mask wearing, which is not. Efficiency of vaccination is a fact, efficiency of face masks (worn by general public) is an opinion at best, or religion at worst.

You are twisting my words. Many antivax don't say that vaccine doesn't work, they claim that it can be harmful to their health or that of their babies.

Exactly what you you claimed when saying that wearing a mask can be harmful to your health.

Quote from CNN today : "The message from Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator, could not have been any clearer. Wearing a face mask is critical to reducing the spread of coronavirus, especially since many carriers don't even know they're contagious, she said yesterday."

then

"Birx said there was "clear scientific evidence" to show that masks prevent droplets from one person reaching another. Experience from countries that enforced mandatory face covering early on backs that up. In the Czech Republic, one such place, people were allowed today to go outside without a mask for the first time in two months. The central European country, with a population size similar to the US state of Georgia, has recorded 315 Covid-19 deaths so far."

Dr Brix is an apolitical renowned specialist, praised by Dr Fauci. You cannot accuse her of lying to please her "boss", the the "boss" himself resisting if not advocating not wearing one.

Do you think Dr Brix advice is nonsensical? That she promotes unproven techniques for whichever sake?

He literally gave you links from a medical journal showing how wearing a mask can potentially be harmful to your health. There's documented proof about masks having potential issues which could lead to wearing them being self-defeating. There is no actual documented proof that vaccines cause health issues if administered properly.

Wearing a mask protect others. If you come to my vicinity without a mask, you will be a threat to me.

In some U.S. states, feeling threatened is a good enough justification to shoot someone and walk away free from the courtroom (if you are arrested then charged in the first place).

So be careful if you go to one of those places without wearing a mask.

Not wearing a mask has unfortunately become a political Trumpian statement. This is sad, as this is a health issue, not a political one.

Public health specialists agree that wearing masks is beneficial. Yes, there are some drawbacks such as overconfidence by the wearer, but this is where educating the public improves the overall already favourable benefit/risk (or advantage / disadvantage) ratio.

Can't wait to see seat-back pockets and floors littered with used, discarded facemasks after an 11hr intercontinental flight.

If a passenger has to change a mask every four hours that means you'll have to fly longhaul with a box of disposable ones or have multiple homemade ones. This is becoming more laughably hilarious everyday. :rolleyes:

Hilarious?

I am confident that the friends and families of the 100.000 Covid US victims will not join you in laughter.

Is there anything else which makes you laugh in this world? The gorier, the funnier to you I presume. If so, please refrain from sharing. Your post is offensive enough.

Then walk away. There is no proof, just your opinion and you can't really expect people to change their behaviour - and possibly damage their own health - because you're scared. To determine whether compulsory masks should be a public policy, we need to take both positive and negative effects into the account. Even if there will be a proof thas masks have some benefits, we still need to ensure we won't cause more damage.

Let's be honest, no one is going to do that. Most people will wear one dirty mask for the whole flight, if not several days, they will touch it all the time, store it in the seatpocket while they eat and so on... These experiments with face masks have been tried in various European locations by now and I always see people using them wrong. Some just don't store it properly and keep touching it, others go to even bigger extremes. Yesterday I saw a guy in a pub who kept his mask on the table, spilled some beer over it, kept it drowning in that puddle of beer and then put it on his face when he went to order another drink. Yum!

I think that's called not wasting beer.

Finnish Report: Little or no benefit to widespread mask use
 

"Research has shown that widespread use of face masks have little or no effect on reducing the spread of upper respiratory infections, according to a report presented a government-appointed working group led by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (MSAH) on Friday. "There is no scientific evidence for its use," Emerita Professor Marjukka Mäkelä said at a press briefing to unveil the report. The report was commissioned by the government to determine if there were grounds to recommend the widespread use of masks to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus. It looked at commercial mouth and nose coverings for use by members of the public as well as home-made masks."

Source

Johan

This concurs with advice given to me by a very highly qualified relative.

Indeed, but the airline industry and aviation authorities have to tread carefully and strike a very delicate balance. My feeling is that they are getting it wrong. By taking all sorts of risk mitigating measures, many on scientifically shaky grounds or simply pointless, they think they are reassuring those reluctant to travel, whereas in fact the are conveying the message that flying is really very risky, and is something that can only safely be undertaken if one treats all other human beings that are still breathing as dangerous sources of contagion. Those already scared out of their wits will not travel regardless (and given the current popularity of irrational politics of fear, their idea of a safe world may be years away), whereas those who are keen may well be put off by silly rules and regulations that are supposedly there to protect them. This mask nonsense is exhibit #1 in this regard.

Johan