Thread by @tmprowell

The more I think about airlines abruptly allowing mask removal w/o warning—mid-flight for many—the angrier I get. People who are #immunocompromised had no choice not to travel or to upgrade their protection at that point. Some will go on to die. As an oncologist, I am enraged.

If you haven’t had #cancer or been a caregiver to someone with it, you don’t know how much people endure. I’m a breast oncologist. Our patients have breasts amputated, lose their fertility, go bald, risk nerve damage, infection, & more from chemo, because they want to live.

The fact that the airlines made a corporate decision to drop masks w/o warning—any airline could’ve chosen to give crew/passengers hrs or days of notice—disgusts me. For an industry that prides itself on safety, this is a fail.

@Delta @united @SouthwestAir @AmericanAir @JetBlue

I hope to see strong statements from our #oncology professional societies on the irresponsibility of the airlines’ response to this judicial ruling. The airlines placed people w/ cancer at unnecessary risk for the thrill of making a big announcement over the PA system.

Risk differs when all mask vs only the most vulnerable mask.
If 2 ppl speaking a few ft apart & 1 has #COVID19:
👉1 in surg😷=90% odds of infection in 1/2 hr
👉1 in N95😷=20% odds in 1 hr
👉Both in surg😷=30% odds in 1 hr
👉Both in N95😷=0.4% odds in 1 hr

doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2…

It's impractical to tell #immunosuppressed people not to fly. Even leaving aside travel for pleasure, people with cancer may have to fly for work. The #maskmandate helped to protect us all in a #pandemic, & especially those at higher risk.

People at increased risk can & should continue to #wearamask on public transportation. Others can & should too, but we've seen with the end of #maskmandates in other settings from businesses to schools that mask use falls off quickly when mandates are lifted.

I can't imagine hearing that wearing a simple item over part of my face for a couple hrs could prevent someone's hospitalization or death & then choosing not to do it. But sadly we have seen that many people make that very choice when there is no mandate.

And this 🧵 has been about air travel. What about all the people who depend on the bus or subway, where air quality is far poorer, to get to work or even to medical appts? They face a much higher risk of repeated #COVID19 exposures with no #maskmandate. We have failed them.

Surviving #cancer only to die of #Covid19 is a preventable tragedy that should be unacceptable to us all. If you’ve been told masks don’t work, you’ve been misinformed by someone, & I’m sorry about that. Look after each other, friends. You can save a life.