How to reduce risk in a mask-optional world: CDC’s top COVID-19 doctor has tips for travelers

Your bags are packed, you’re ready to go. You’re standing there, outside your door. And you’re thinking, “If I catch COVID-19 on this trip, I could get seriously ill or die.”

You got a fresh N95 respirator for the trip. And you were counting on most of your fellow travelers to cover their noses and mouths too: the driver of your ride-share, the people in the airport, and passengers packed tightly inside the plane.

But this week, a federal judge in Tampa, Florida, issued an order that voided the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s mask mandate for those on public transportation. The U.S. Justice Department is appealing the decision at the CDC’s behest. Until the issue is sorted out in court, most commercial airlines, airports, bus lines and public transit systems have stopped requiring travelers and employees to mask up.

That means you’re likely to be surrounded by maskless faces.

Now what do you do? Dr. John Brooks, the CDC’s chief medical officer for the COVID-19 response, has some practical advice.