Masking only at the start and end of every flight will do a lot to keep you safe | Hacker News Reader

Masking only at the start and end of every flight will do a lot to keep you safe

theatlantic.com

18 pointspseudolus5 comments

Just to be clear, this is a recommendation based on an assumption of benefits of in-flight air ventilation. It does make sense that you may be more at risk for airborne pathogens while the ventilation is disabled (usually on the tarmac) but the title is misleading without any studies whatsoever to back the claim.

What studies do you want? There are multiple studies linking air flow to probability of being infected with COVID. It's all but settled science now. Do you need a study that specifically looks at people on a plane to be convinced?

The fact is that air on an airplane is exchanged much more frequently than air in any building. You're not at very much risk unless people sitting in your immediate vicinity are infected and contagious.

The article is written as though its sharing scientifically backed best practices rather than as an opinion piece. That should come with a much higher bar for how the claim is backed up.

There's a totally reasonable opinion piece here if the author chose to go that route. Mention how they were curious how airplane ventilation worked, found out its usually disabled on the ground, and that it seems like a reasonable trade off to mask up on the tarmac just in case.

Going the route of claiming its absolutely going to work needs more than a few out of context quotes from professors and those in the industry. Heck, even just sharing the existing studies of airplane ventilation efficacy would be a start.

What studies do I want? For a claim so specific, I'd want to see studies of airline ventilation efficacy with a plane full of people breathing hot air all flight, not just general specs of air exchange rates and type of filter used. I'd also want to see a comparison of no masks vs masks on the ground vs masks all flight. I'm really not sure how we could have such an apparently clear benefit of masks whilw the plane is stopped without more specific data than ventilation specs and anecdotes.

Well, I hope you're experienced at writing grants and conducting studies, then, because there doesn't seem to be much interest in doing that work. Given the background work on air filtration, and the known specs of airplane ventilation systems vs those of buildings, I don't honestly see why that work is even worth doing. What would you expect to come of it, except to satisfy some internet pedants, anyway?

I really hate these kind of pseudo philosophical science-y advice articles. They do almost only do harm and rarely help anyone. I will not help the people who are afraid to get sick - they will wear a mask regardless, not the COVID-tired people - they just see more fearmongering and it won't help against the antivaxxers - they will ridicule it and point out that there is no research basis, just a thought experiment.

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