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Health & Safety
Considering Whether Travel Is Safe: Do They Wear Face
When people travel, it’s virtually impossible to create or stay within a pandemicprotective bubble. After all, one of the lures of travel is its inherently social nature. Travelers find themselves meeting and interacting with strangers at airports, train stations and roadside rest stops; on ships, planes, trains and buses; and at accommodations, restaurants and other public places at their destinations. Why face masks matter Scientists generally agree that COVID-19 spreads from person to person, mainly through respiratory droplets that are released when people talk, cough, or sneeze. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, these droplets—which can travel a distance of around six feet— can land in the mouth and
noses of other people nearby or inhaled into their lungs, spreading infection. Of course, responsibility for protecting travelers and lessening the risk of infection is one that has to be shared among governments, industry and citizens. Both governments and almost every sector of the travel industry have been taking active steps to implement COVID-19 health and safety protocols. and employing new technologies to protect travelers and those who work in the industry. Travelers need to play their parts, too. They need to stay home if they have any signs or symptoms of illness; be cautious about travel if they are immunocompromised; avoid travel to “so-called” virus hotspots; and comply with what have been called
“blunt public health measures.” These include: maintaining social distance in public places; being diligent about hand-washing, using hand sanitizers, or as appropriate, using gloves; and wearing face coverings to protect others and themselves. Just wear the damn mask Whether close to home or traveling afar, the use of face masks helps us protect one another. “We are interconnected,” said Anthony S. Fauci, MD, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, at a recent briefing held by the White House Coronavirus Task Force. “The chances are that if you get infected [even without showing symptoms], you are going to infect someone else. We are all in this together.”
www.safetyandsecurityafrica.com | Jul-Sept 2020
