Flight attendant Rich Henderson has seen passengers “coughing up a lung and barely covering their mouth,” every time he’s flown in recent weeks. On a plane carrying approximately 200 people, Henderson, of the podcast and blog Two Guys on a Plane, said he typically sees fewer than 10 travelers wearing masks. While the veteran flight attendant (who preferred not to reveal which airline he works for) appreciates no longer having to enforce the former mask mandates (put into place during the pandemic) as a part of his job—a situation he described to Afar as one that created “tension between the crew and passengers”—the new reality isn’t exactly ideal either.
According to Thomas A. Russo, MD, professor of medicine and chief of infectious diseases at the University at Buffalo, we’re “in the midst of a really bad flu season,” and high-risk groups, especially, are at a disadvantage. It doesn’t help that “so many people have just stopped masking completely,” he noted.
So why have people stopped masking even though the practice has proved effective at reducing the spread of viruses? Well, comfort for one. Christina Ernst, president of VIP Alpine Tours, LLC, a travel agency based in Georgia, doesn’t like wearing masks while traveling because she finds them physically uncomfortable. “I find the fabric irritating, drying, and uncomfortable because of heat and moisture buildup,” she said. The frequent flier, however, recently developed two colds after long-haul travel by air and has thus resolved to start masking again, regardless of any physical discomfort.
Indeed, it’s critical to find a mask that’s comfortable, said Russo, though the physician doesn’t think this is the only reason so few people are masking these days. The shift is partly cultural and partly psychological. People worry about “being stigmatized,” Russo said.
Once mask mandates disappeared in April 2022 after a federal court ruling, so did the social norm around them, leaving masking as an optional choice rather than a collective agreement. Caitlin Moore, a behavioral health leader at a clinic in New Jersey said when the mask mandate was removed, “the social signal changed,” giving people the chance to exercise their freedom and take a “step towards normal life.”
In many countries in Asia, mask wearing existed prior to the pandemic because of air pollution and the cultural norm of prioritizing collective health over individual health. But in the United States and parts of Europe, people saw the novel mask requirement as an imposition and stopped wearing them “as soon as the external enforcement was removed,” explained Moore.
Behavioral scientist at Claremont Graduate University, Dr. Bree Heminway, agreed, stating, “If you walk onto a plane and most passengers are unmasked, that sends a signal that being unmasked is the norm.”
Add pandemic fatigue and the belief that vaccines alone offer enough protection, and many travelers have just shed the extra layer. “There is an element of habituation,” Moore said. “Masks as a visual and social cue lost their significance when the immediate threat was reduced.”
But vaccines alone don’t offer 100 percent protection. And many people travel while under the weather, as Henderson noted. Some travelers, reluctant to change their plans, “power through and get on a plane sick,” he said. “It’s frustrating because you’re potentially getting 200 people sick now just because you want to make it home.”
The possibility of getting sick because of a fellow traveler’s choices regarding their own health is enough to keep Hilary Azzaretti, president of Redhead Marketing & PR, masked on every flight. Azzaretti is often one of the few people wearing a mask when she flies, but she’s OK with it. “My motivation as a business owner is to stay healthy and not miss work. I also hate the idea of getting sick and not being able to enjoy a vacation.”
Staying up to date on vaccinations and masking is a “prudent strategy” to staying healthy, insists Russo, who added that although COVID isn’t as lethal as it once was, it’s still “extraordinarily dangerous.”
“A good-fitting, high-quality mask can meaningfully reduce exposure to exhaled respiratory particles from people sitting immediately around you,” explained Linsey Marr, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech.
Although aircraft HEPA (High-Efficiency Particulate Air) filters do a good job of literally cleaning the cabin’s air—it’s not 100 percent but both Delta Air Lines and JetBlue say it’s close to it—Marr pointed out that the particles “can spread a short distance before being sucked into the plane’s HEPA filtration system.”
While airplane air is cleaned more frequently than in most indoor spaces, Marr noted that proximity still matters most—especially during boarding, deplaning, and when sharing an armrest with someone who may be actively sick.
For travelers trying to gauge their risk in crowded airports and on long flights, the answer may be as simple as rebuilding that mask muscle memory.
