"I think, in this case, it's striking the right balance," Kuritzkes said of international guidelines. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's web page that outlines international travel requirements. without having a negative test, so there are some burdens that are imposed on the traveling public," he said. "You can't go to most countries unless you're vaccinated or have a negative test and you can't come back to the U.S. Kuritzkes noted that there are mandates for people traveling internationally. What are your tips for international travel? "I think being really careful with any mask removal during flights is going to be really important," he said. The biggest risk for an in-flight outbreak is during mealtime on longer flights, Hamer noted, because people are generally being served around the same time. "People should wear a good mask and wear it for the whole time they're on a plane, anytime they're in a crowd, waiting to line up to board the plane, any public transportation that they might take to and from the airline." "I advise people who are traveling by air, bus or train to wear a good, well-fitting mask that has good filtration," Doron said. The doctors' safety advice is simple: wear a mask. They may rebook you to try and limit the number of outgoing flights and so if we do something - if there's a mandate to require vaccination of every passenger - that would exacerbate that situation." How can I fly safely? "You never know, when you make a reservation, whether it's going to stay as that reservation. "It is an issue and it's actually generated problems," Hamer said. Other airlines had relatively minor cancellations. The airline said bad weather and air traffic control issues in Florida kicked off the problems, which snowballed due to its own staffing shortfall, particularly a lack of backup pilots and flight attendants to step in when things go wrong. The Dallas-based carrier has canceled well over 2,000 flights coast to coast since Saturday, creating a domino effect at airports across the country. Hamer, who sits on the Flight Safety Foundation, a private nonprofit whose mission is to enhance education and improve flight safety, pointed to a turbulent past few days for Southwest Airlines. "Trying to move it to the passengers - it's going to lead to a lot of challenges and I think a lot of unhappy consumers and some further losses to the airline industry, which has really suffered quite a bit in the last year and a half," Hamer said of a vaccine mandate. What problems could arise if a vaccine mandate is put in place for passengers? Hamer agreed that it is "really important" for forward-facing airline personnel to get vaccinated due to the high volume of interaction and contact with others inherent in the job. "And so, while I certainly think it's essential that public facing employees - like airline employees, flight attendants, the people who are working at the check-in counters, pilots and the like need to be vaccinated - it makes it more challenging to impose a mandate on the traveling public." And we know that even before the vaccines became available, that compared to other kinds of gatherings, air travel and turned out to be remarkably safer than one might have anticipated," Kuritzkes said. "I think one of the issues that makes air travels slightly different is that there is a clear and forcible mask mandate. However, the doctors noted that mask mandates already in place on airlines are an effective way to reduce transmission. "On a scientific level, it is true that when you have a gathering of people in close quarters and they're all vaccinated, the risk is less." "There has been some miscommunication about the idea that vaccinated people can transmit as much as unvaccinated people - that's not true and that's been disproven within multiple studies," Doron said. Shira Doron, of Tufts Medical Center, said the question of whether or not to require a vaccine in that setting is an ethical discussion that "needs to be had." The panel of doctors pointed out that the risk of transmission is always less when people are vaccinated. Daniel Kuritzkes of Brigham and Women's Hospital agreed that airline personnel should be vaccinated, but warned that a similar mandate for passengers could be problematic.ĭr. Should there be a vaccine mandate for domestic flights?īoston Medical Center's Dr. Get Boston local news, weather forecasts, lifestyle and entertainment stories to your inbox.
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