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Although traveling might be the last thing on many people’s minds during a pandemic, others can’t help but wishing to get away from all the stress and anxiety that comes with quarantining at home. However, things are not the way they used to be, so traveling has now become more of a hassle. Whether you’re taking a plane or going on a road trip, there are several tips and advice to follow in order to enjoy your trip in the safest way possible.
Within the past few months, I have flown on an airplane and gone on a road trip, and I never so much experienced the mildest symptom related to COVID-19 and I never contracted the virus. I was very cautious each time, as it’s very important to travel as safely as possible and take safety measures, especially when you’re far from home.
Not every state in the U.S. mandates the use of masks in public spaces, however, according to the CDC, it is still recommended to wear a face covering of some sort over your mouth and nose while traveling.
When traveling by plane, the safest thing to do in my experience is to wear two masks. I recommend having an N95 on as the first layer with a regular disposable surgical mask or cloth face covering on top of it. According to the FDA, the N95 mask is “designed to achieve a very close facial fit and very efficient filtration of airborne particles.” It also has a filtration rate of “at least 95% of airborne particles,” (CDC).
Although the FDA recommends the general public not to use N95 masks as they want to reserve them for medical workers, they are now much more accessible than they were in the beginning of the pandemic and are a very good way to protect yourself against the virus.
To some people, wearing two layers of face coverings might be overkill, but the more you have on, the greater the chance you have of an infectious particle or droplet being filtered out. While they can be uncomfortable, it is worth it for the short amount of time you might need to wear them.
Another necessity to keep with you while traveling on an airplane is hand sanitizer. When you don’t have access to a bathroom to wash your hands, it is important to have a bottle of hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol with you at all times when you’re in public, especially in a highly populated facility such as an airport or airplane.
An additional item that might also help keep you safe is a pair of disposable gloves. When I traveled to Florida by plane a few months ago, I found that wearing a pair of disposable gloves made me feel a lot safer. The few times that I took them off, I would use hand sanitizer in between. I felt much more comfortable knowing that I was rarely touching anything that could have been contaminated by others with my bare hands.
When travelling by car on a road trip, there are similar safety precautions to follow. While, of course, you don’t need to wear a mask when you are driving your own car, it is still necessary to keep one with you when you need to stop for gas or to use the bathroom. As previously mentioned, not every state requires a mask to enter into public spaces, but you would feel much safer in any environment knowing that you’re wearing one. You might get some stares if you’re the only one in a mask, but you’re also making a smart decision.
After you pump gas into your car, you really want to make sure you clean your hands as thoroughly as possible using hand sanitizer. If you have access to a sink and hand soap, that would be the best option, but if not, then hand sanitizer is the next best thing; you don’t know how many other people used that same gas pump and what their own level of personal hygiene is!
Something that’s a little bit less important, but that I found to be useful are disposable toilet seat covers from Amazon. While most public restrooms are already equipped with disposable toilet seat covers, it’s good to know that you’ll always have them handy in case you go into a bathroom that doesn’t have any. It’s especially important during a pandemic not to touch anything in a public restroom that may contain germs, so having this as an extra precaution is always a plus.
In addition to all these tips, it’s important to always remember to keep your distance from other people in public spaces, with at least six feet between yourself and another person. You must also have some degree of patience because although we’d like to think that everyone wants to be as safe as possible, not everyone shares our views. The best thing to do is to keep yourself safe even when others don’t like to. If you follow all these tips, you will be on your way to a much-deserved yet safe trip to your destination.
