If you’re planning to travel this summer and you’re flying for the first time since the pandemic hit, you might be feeling a bit nervous.
But one expert says despite airlines once again filling up the planes to full capacity, flying is a relatively safe activity, especially if you’re vaccinated.
Dr. Kim Prather is the director of the NSF Center for Aerosol Impacts on Chemistry of the Environment and professor at the University of California, San Diego.
She herself recently flew up to the Bay Area.
“I am vaccinated, so what did I do? I wore a good mask. I had an N-95 and that was probably overkill, quite honestly,” Dr. Prather told KCBS Radio. “I could have worn a well-fitting double layered cloth mask in my situation and been fine.”
That is largely because the air on planes is completely replaced relatively often, and planes are one of the few settings where the CDC says masks are still required for everyone.
“The air is well filtered – really well filtered once you’re in the air. It’s the boarding and going off the plane that they turn off that filtration a lot of times, and that’s when things are the highest risk, I would say.”
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But like any activity, there is no way to completely eliminate risk, especially since people do take their masks off occasionally to eat or drink.
Dr. Prather says if you are on a short flight, consider waiting to eat and drink until you’re off the plane so that you don’t have to worry about it. For longer flights, try to wait until the food or beverage service has died down and fewer people are eating or drinking.
“On my flight, nobody took off their mask. That’s when things get a little weird because they’re still required on planes, but if you eat or drink you’re going to take off your mask… if you aren’t vaccinated then you’ll have to think about it.”
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