Air travelers can now choose not to wear a mask, for the first time in about two years. At the Anchorage airport, that's left some people celebrating, some worried about their health and many somewhere in the middle
-Ed Houston waits for a flight to Seattle after spending weeks on the Bering Sea. He says he’ll wear a mask on his flight until he’s more confident that COVID numbers are going down.
“It was a little concerning that some people that maybe seem sick and should have been wearing it, but I feel like I’m healthy enough myself,” he said. Standing nearby was another traveler, Rain VanDenBerg, who wore a mask. She has Type 1 diabetes, which could increase the risk of serious complications from COVID-19.
Wearing a mask mitigates the risk of COVID-19 spread, and airplanes have good air filters, said state epidemiologist Dr. Joe McLaughlin. Still, he said, filters aren’t failsafe. They normally aren’t even turned on until the plane is ready to taxi.“That’s another potential risk, especially when you’re talking about people who are in closer proximity to you,” he said.
“I’m actually flying to the Lower 48 in June, and I will be wearing either an N95 or a KN95,” he said, referring to the most protective types of masks available.
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