Face Masks
by Wendy VanHatten
Recently we traveled to Denver. Travelers were good, everyone wore face masks, no trouble on the planes or in the airports, people were polite. It’s the new norm for traveling.
A few musings on face masks from that trip. If you have traveled, you know the feeling of sitting in the boarding area of the airport and on the plane for several hours. With a face mask on. Sure, you may remove it for a few minutes to eat the pretzels on the plane or sip the glass of water. But you are still wearing it for a long amount of time.
By the time you arrive, the face mask you put on at the beginning of your travel day will probably start to feel pretty nasty. At best it will smell like those pretzels you ate at 30,000 feet. Think about if you had an overnight flight or if your flight was cancelled and you have to wait for a new flight. Now you have been wearing that same face mask for more than several hours. What do you do? Bring several extra, clean face masks to change into. That seems simple, but sometimes we forget the simple things when traveling. If you are traveling with kids, remember to bring extras for them as well. Pack a couple in your carryon and some in your checked luggage.
Did you know a wet face mask can be less effective in the protection it provides? If you feel like your face mask is getting damp, change it out for a new one. Same goes if you have allergies and sneeze or cough into it.
If you have a reusable mask, the CDC recommends you store it in a sealed plastic bag until you can wash it. The quicker you wash the mask, the better it will be. If it gets moldy in the baggie, you should throw it away.
TSA is adding new guidelines to the type of face masks they will allow for air travel. If you are in doubt, check out their website at https://www.tsa.gov/.
Happy traveling.
