Mask or no mask?

[Everskyward]

It's the other 99% that jump 10 feet, grab their kids while screaming and running towards the door everytime I react to pollen. I know we need to protect our health, but this is getting old

Haha, I can sympathize, although my allergies were only for the months of March and April. They are gone now. Unfortunately this was when everyone was hyper-sensitive to someone sneezing. I never though I had Covid, since one of my other symptoms is itchy, watering eyes, and that was never listed as an indicator. Besides, Allegra makes everything better. I usually try to go without taking anything, but I didn't want to feel like typhoid Mary. Of course, I was also touching my eyes multiple times an hour, which is something they advised not to do.

 

[EugeneR]

More like no airplane. Mine's still in annual.

Same here, been sitting in the shop for over a month now. The shop has been incredibly busy...

 

[woodchucker]

I would be curious to hear the viewpoint of anyone who used a mask solo. I assume this was a rental situation and you didn't want to get spittle and sneezix on the instruments or something?

I puzzle at solo drivers that I see wearing masks also. I feel way out of the loop on why that makes sense. I see the drivers with masks very often. (5% of drivers around here maybe?)

(I'm in the majority of "no masks" myself, have flown numerous times with CFIs, non-family non-pilots, and family/friends during this)

I don’t wear a mask when driving solo but I could speculate as to why someone would. Touching the mask introduces an opportunity to transmit any virus present on your mask to your hands. Masks are not meant to be touched once you have it on unless you can sanitize and wash your hands. I do not follow these guidelines strictly. I only wear a mask in public as a courtesy to others on the outside chance I’m carrying the virus.

 

[OneCharlieTango]

Speaking of confirmation bias, allow me to introduce a (by now, I'm sure, well circulated) an analogy:

View attachment 86245

Two quick observations: 1) A cloth mask to a virus isn't like pants to pee. It's more like fishnet stockings, accomplishing nothing while looking ridiculous.

2) Sticking with the pee analogy, consider the dude in the illustration is peeing on your feet. Would you rather be barefooted or wearing just socks? Socks would soak it up and keep it against your feet for much longer than it would take your bare feet to dry.

 

[Palmpilot]

Two quick observations: 1) A cloth mask to a virus isn't like pants to pee. It's more like fishnet stockings, accomplishing nothing while looking ridiculous....

Analogies aside, it appears that it would be an exaggeration if we were to assume that cloth masks accomplish "nothing."

https://healthnewshub.org/health-ne...s-surgical-mask-vs-n95-how-effective-is-each/

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/...h-mask-helps-fight-the-spread-of-coronavirus/

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsnano.0c03252

 

[Ghery]

So far every flight since this stuff started has been solo or with my wife. No masks so far. We'll see what happens later this month when I fly with my CFI for a flight review.