Everyone should do what they're comfortable doing. IMHO, if you're sat next to someone on a plane for a couple of hours, and they have Covid, it won't matter who is wearing a mask, you'll receive enough viral load to contract the disease. Whether you actually get it or not will depend on your immune system and its ability to deal with this pathogen, be that through vaccination, previous exposure or a natural ability to fight it. The further away you are from someone with it, the less likely you are to contract the disease. Masks may offer some protection to others depending on how well the mask is worn and the length of the flight. The longer the flight, the more likely it will spread. If someone doesn't want to travel in that kind of environment, I can understand that. It has, however, always been the same and we've always had diseases that are transmitted in just the same way that are just as unpleasant. I don't care if someone gets vaccinated or they don't, it's their choice, and it appears to make little if any difference to how well you can pass it on to others. I don't care if people wear masks or not. The theory behind why they should work is sound, as are some of the tests in laboratory conditions, but in real life they've demonstrably had little or no effect on the spread of the disease. Travelling while ill, however, while coughing and spluttering, or with a temperature, that will pass on whatever you have to many others, be that a Covid virus or a different strain of a respiratory disease. We have a personal responsibility not to, but I doubt we have the will. Who will cancel their holiday, or their business trip, because they have a cough? We will do things that won't make much difference, we will all wear masks while watching the infection rate shoot through the roof, and condemn those that don't, but will we do something that really inconveniences us? Would we cancel two weeks in the sun and potentially lose a couple of grand when we know for certain we're poorly and we will infect someone else, particularly if it's not Covid. But all respiratory diseases kill.
I think the "research" which suggested it was highly transmissible from surfaces has been shown to be unrealistic in real world scenarios - i.e. the amount of virus you need in a concentrated area is unrealistic in everyday life, and for you to pick it up and them transfer it to yourself in sufficient quantities to catch it is statistically almost impossible.
I was on Central and Northern lines on Monday and I'd say it was 90% mask wearing. This was mid morning to mid-afternoon.
As that Twitter on efficacy told us, if you take a R of 2, if you start with 1 infection after 20 iterations you have 200,000 infected. If you change R to just 1.9 after 20 iterations you have 100,000 infections. Small changes can have huge effects. Doing something is better than doing nothing.
Can't disagree with any of that. We felt a lot safer in the car even with hotel stops and the ferry was like a ghost ship so easy to avoid close contact (The two P&O Hull Rotterdam car Ferries are amongst the largest in the World and on our journey were less than on third full). Boarding and leaving was very easy to avoid 'bottlenevks and close contact. Ryanair A320s on the other hand and boarding....!
To say I see so few masks being worn these days we are doing better than the rest of the UK that has far more restrictions. Europe is a mess right now. Germany have loads of restrictions but have had a record high for cases four days in a row.
Germany may have more restrictions / preventative measures but they also have lower vaccination coverage. That's why they will be having a tough time. The booster programme and jabbing kids will help to take us in the opposite direction.
