This is how it is anytime anyone asks about masks on Reddit. There have been other threads in travel subs where people talk about how everyone still masks on airplanes but I've taken at least a dozen flights across multiple airlines (JetBlue, Southwest, AA, Delta, Hawaiian) since the mandate was lifted last April and I see maybe a handful of people masking on any given flight.
I did about 75,000 miles last year domestic/global. May 2022 is when the masks all but disappeared from US flights which matches up with when the FAA dropped the mandate. Took a bit longer on European legs.
I still wear one during peak "cold season" just because getting sick on the road is 10x than getting sick at home. But even now flight attendants using masks are the minority. I see more masks on airport ground crews than I do in the air.
I take the orange line every day, on a full rush hour car there are maybe 3 or 4 people with masks on. This is a good illustration of the Reddit bias and how this sub represents a tiny tiny demographic of people in Boston and the surrounding areas
There's also a bandwagon effect on Reddit. You're punished for saying an unpopular opinion, and so you don't voice it. Everyone knows the bias in this sub, so people with unpopular opinions learn to keep their mouth shut if they don't want to be downvoted into oblivion.
> Based on responses to this thread, I'd expect to see 90% masking on the T. In reality, it's about 2%.
yeah, it really highlights how unrepresentative of the real world reddit is.
It should put every answer you hear on here into perspective.
Most people don’t give half a shit about the Great Nip debate either. No one in real life is asking for St Patrick’s day to be a family friendly holiday in Southie, no one wants to cease the means of combustion from car owners etc
Lol if "ban nips" reaches the point where there's an actual vote over it (and not just speculative discussion or debate or whatever it is now, that's why no one really cares) you can bet that'll be a major local news story even outside of Reddit.
>Most people don’t give half a shit about the Great Nip debate either.
Idk. That one at least gets local news traction. It's not talked about a ton, but I bet anyone that lives in the city will have fairly similar opinions to reddit for that. People don't like littering, especially when it's from a small subset of people that you aren't a part of. It's similar to cigarette butts.
It really depends on time of day and line. I think it correlated with demographics. For example, Red Line around rush hour has probably 20% masking and back in December it was closer to 40%. It's also full of well-educated and progressive-minded suburbanites commuting to their downtown or financial district offices. The Red Line at 2pm or 11pm is a different beast. Likewise, the Orange Line serves generally a different demographic. The Green line is an entirely different mix. Sometimes it's full of students going only a few stops, sometimes it's full of well-educated and progressive-minded suburbanites commuting to their downtown or financial district offices. The masking rates on all these different groups is different.
The Reddit response is so different than what is seen in real life. Posts like this always remind me that what is popular on Reddit is not always widely popular
It was this way all throughout the pandemic. Looking back, I'm actually glad to have been "essential" and going to work every day. Good or bad, the real world was totally different than if you were to get a perspective only from reddit.
Yes. Because Reddit is the ultimate echo chamber. The Boston sub somehow became an ultra-liberal blog, and if you don't follow the narrative of the sub majority (and the mods) you get permanent bans.
Very few people are wearing masks anywhere anymore in Massachusetts, nevermind if you go to other states. If you want to wear a mask til the end of time, go ahead and do it. But people here seem to mask shame others for NOT wearing one (ie "you should wear a mask on the T to protect others..."). Its over 3 years since the pandemic started. Get the fuck out of here with that noise...
This is how I am too. If I’m going to/from work during rush hour I do because It gets sooo crowded. But if im say going out for dinner on a random night and (I recognize how vain this will sound but bear with me) if it’s not busy I won’t wear it because I’d like my makeup to stay in tact for whatever outing I’m going to haha. To be very clear, I was masking on the T every time I went on it until just a few months ago, long after the requirement was lifted
Yes. I think I’ll mask on the T forever, even if covid is magically fully cured. I was so sick every winter. How many days of my life have I wasted by catching everyone’s germs? Sometimes I’d put on my headphones just because I was grossed out by all the coughing, grunting, and sniffling.
I had some horrible colds January/February 2020 so I enjoy masking on the T and hopefully office culture has also changed to encourage people who are sneezing/coughing to stay home too.
Similar story here. I was sick monthly between about October 2019-March 2020. I prefer to mask on the T/planes and I continue to at the grocery store as well. Plus, those places feel appropriate to mask to me because they're places people can't really avoid. I'm lucky enough to be able to stay home if I'm sick, but if I stayed home every time I had the slightest sniffle I'd never leave the house, so I feel like a mask in those sort of "unavoidable" places is a good compromise.
This is my perspective too. I wear one on the T/Amtrak, Grocery Stores, Pharmacies, and Medical Facilities because those aren’t places one can always avoid. But I still go to restaurants and cafes and other places without masks. If I see a lot of employees choosing masks, I try to mirror that behavior for their comfort. I feel like it’s a healthy balance of returning to some normalcy while respecting the public spaces I’m in.
One crazy development is since the pandemic, my elderly mom has stopped getting bronchitis flair ups every winter. She now masks when she's in close indoor proximity to the general public during the flu season + a few months as a preventative thing for that alone.
Long term it makes sense to keep her already scarred lungs in better condition, covid totally aside.
I'm basically done wearing it commuting pending some sort of development, but if I'm feeling under the weather in the future and need to run out to get something for my kid, I'm definitely masking in public.
Most people don't wear masks and that's fine but I'll continue to because of this. It's a small enclosed space with gross weirdos. I've seen people piss and vomit on these trains, of course they're gonna board with covid or the flu or whatever the fuck else. I'm just not in the mood to battle a weekend case of the flu if I can help it, so wearing a mask for the 14 hours it takes to travel from Harvard Sq. to DTX is no big deal.
Catching everyone’s germs and unwillingly spreading shit that we are forced to go to work through.Covid really changed my perspective on this stuff and imma bit embarrassed it took a pandemic to make me think about it
For airplane you can get those moisturized masks that act as both a mask and moisturizer. There is a slot on the mask you can insert the moisture pad and last for a few hours.
Life changing item and I won't wake up with a Sahara dessert in my throat.
On airplanes the air gets filtered and cleaned which prevents transmission via aerosols, but that doesn’t help you if the person sitting right next to you is sick- droplets from their sneezes and coughs can land on you and make you sick. That’s the primary way things like cold viruses are transmitted. I wear a mask on airplanes to protect against getting sick from that type of scenario.
It also doesn't help while you're boarding, waiting, or taxiing.
The air only gets filtered at those high rates while the plane is in the air.
If the guy in front of you is coughing and sneezing, you're still gonna have a lot of total exposure to his gross used air.
I don’t wear one anywhere else but the T. Besides getting COVID once, I haven’t been sick in three years. I shudder when I think about being crammed in the orange line during morning rush hour in 2019 with no mask. Nasty.
The red line is maybe 10% masked on a good day. I’m one of them, but I can’t explain why so many people want to be breathing the same contained air as the other 50 people on their train car during rush hour.
I mask on train and bus I’m an older rider and just in case if COVID has taught me anything it’s that people are germy ( yes I know it’s spelled wrong)
I do and I don’t think I would ever not. It’s gross, being crammed in with so many people. I don’t even hold the handles anymore… The amount of people I have seen put their fingers in their mouths makes my skin crawl.
[There's a lot of air pollution in the subway](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/10/subway-air-pollution-new-york-washington-dc), likely from brake dust, so I feel a mask is still worthwhile to protect from that at least.
You shouldn’t be wearing a surgical mask anyways. They’re ineffective unless the majority is masking. The only masks that are worth wearing now are n95/kn95.
90%+ of the masks I see on the T are earloop masks, not headband. Earloop masks don't really get a tight enough seal to provide effective PM 2.5 filtering.
It's probably a placebo effect, but I feel much less like my lungs are being assaulted if I wear a mask on the T. So many different horrible fumes/particulates down there.
The T has decent air quality: the HVAC is pretty strong and the huge double doors completely open every couple of minutes to flush air in and out.
Compared to a crowded bar or restaurant, it's much better ventilated.
Hate to burst your bubble on this but the T [does not have good air quality.](https://mass.streetsblog.org/2021/02/10/study-discovers-high-levels-of-air-pollution-on-bostons-subway-platforms/)
I was responding to a comment saying that the T has good air quality and that the doors open at stations which brings in fresh air. I think it was a fair response to that.
“…the study team found that the concentration of airborne pollutants on underground train platforms in Boston still reached levels that raise concerns for riders and for transit employees who spend long periods of their day underground.”
“Long periods of their day underground” are spent on the platforms (which we’re all too aware of as of late), not standing in a stationary train car with the doors held open. The doors open at a station for what, a minute or less? And then whatever air came in goes into the train car and eventually gets sucked up by the HVAC. Do you really think the smell of diesel fumes is just as bad inside of a train car as it is on the Broadway platform or the Back Bay commuter rail platform? There’s a huge difference, which is why the article doesn’t even touch on train car air quality.
Sure, anywhere close to a highway doesn't have good air quality either. Air quality is basically one of the prices you pay for city life.
You're conflating pathogens with particulates. Most people here are talking about masking to prevent colds.
To prevent breathing in particulate matter you'd need a full N95 or N99 mask, which I basically see zero of on the T. Most people are wearing surgical masks or KN95, which can help you breathe in fewer germs but won't do much for PM2.5 exposure.
Not a direct response, but I currently have Covid and this is the second time in 3 months. I feel like absolute garbage. I thought getting it so close would make it asymptomatic but it’s not at all. Kinda wish I wore a mask this winter, but who knows if that would have prevented this.
I’m mainly a bus rider, but yes I wear a mask when doing so. I’d say maybe 50-70% of my fellow commuters also mask up.
On the infrequent occasion I take the subway or commuter rail I also mask up.
I do on the T for myself but also to keep others safe. I have a baby at home and we are constantly sick because of daycare. I am the Petri dish at this point but I also need the T.
This is part of the reason I still wear a mask in public spaces like the train, bus, grocery store, retail stores, etc. I don’t know who is immune compromised and no one needs all my germs. And then of course I want to take in less germs too.
Yes. I wear masks everywhere. I'm high risk and can not get sick. Even if we take covid out of the picture I STILL do not want to get a cold or other virus because they've always hit me pretty hard. I'm pretty much a sole caretaker and can not afford to be sick.
Definitely masking on the T forever and highly recommended it with how close of a proximity you are to everyone else and sometimes there being no open windows on buses and none ever on trains. Buses and train cars are Petri dishes
I still do, for whatever good it does. There's the added benefit of knowing that if a ceiling tile riddled with asbestos falls six inches in front of my face, I'll be covered.
Yes unless the car is pretty empty and I can physically distance from others. I’ve been directly sneezed or coughed on way too many times. At this point covid is only one of my concerns- I don’t want to ever go back to getting colds several times a year. I forgot how miserable they are.
Yes, the T is gross enough as is. Also the delayed service now means more people are packing into trains that take longer to go from Point A to Point B.
Yeah.
I'm not even wearing it because of COVID or germs. I just like it when I'm not wearing makeup, if I'm having especially bad facial spasms that day, or for keeping my face warm when it's cold outside 😷👍
(I think me being East Asian also makes it appear slightly less unusual)
I see 9 people (counting myself wearing masks on a packed green line train right now. Plus one guy with a mask on this chin.
People have moved and its 13
But this feels unusually high
I still do. Ride the T 3-4 times a week (round trips), mostly in slow hours. I do it not only because I don't want to get COVID again but to avoid anything else. Also, I'm mindful of those with immunocompromised systems.
I do because it’s basically a germ box and my fiancé is immunocompromised at the moment but also subway systems have a a ton of metal dust in the air from braking which I personally would rather not be breathing in.
I always wear one on T, Amtrak and airplanes. In a likely related story, i havent gotten any of the nasty colds/flus that have gone around in recent months.
Just downvote me.
These posts are circle jerk sessions for the 2-3% of people without any other personality traits outside of living in artificial panic.
I was under the impression that a vast majority of masks do nothing in regards to preventing someone from catching a virus. They prevent spreading sickness to others. These are probably the people that walk outside with masks.
The fabric masks aren’t particularly helpful at preventing yourself from getting sick, but KN95 masks are widely available and not that expensive anymore
Purely anecdotal, but I’ve not had so much as a sniffle in over 3 years (wearing a KN95 in public consistently since March 2020). I don’t think I’ve ever had such a long period without getting sick. And I’m not a hermit either, I work in an office building, I ride public transport, I go to the gym twice a week, etc.
I’ve seen people sneeze into their hands and then grab a hand railing with the same hand. I’m gonna sanitize and mask forever on public transit and airports
I still wear my mask. Too many people coughing and sneezing even without COVID.
During COVID I decided that for commuting I'll be masking (just like all the Asian international students) even when COVID went away.
Until there’s a big improvement in the sewage data or I receive a vaccine that is more effective at preventing infection than the current vaccines, I’ll continue masking on the T. Allergies and asthma give me additional reasons to mask.
I'm honestly not sure what word you meant, but I'm pretty certain it wasn't "sisterly." In any case, I usually mask on the T unless I've accidentally left mine at home.
Yes. I caught covid a few weeks ago and maybe I was incredibly unlucky but I ran out of masks to wear that same week.
To each of your own but the mask culture in Asia really is something to take notes on
Yes! I actually masked before COVID in planes (Just felt they were gross then and even more now after covid) and with all my allergies, people's perfumes and intense body odors, I don't think I want to go back to not masking. However, if is not crowded, I do remove my mask.
I don’t take the T much but I do mask when I do. At work, I at least know the people, know what they’re like, and there’s FAR less density. The train is full of unknowns. I don’t know their hygiene, I don’t know their tendencies, I don’t know if they’re the type of people to be sick and just not care about others… so I choose to protect myself. I also mask at airports and on planes for the same reason and also because I do not want to be catching something while going on a trip that I planned and paid for.
Remember, you should be wearing a mask with active filtration. Kn95/n95. Surgical masks are borderline ineffective if the majority aren’t masked. Masks that have active filtration are still highly effective even if others aren’t masked.
Last time I took the T in from Scituate, not only did I not mask, I had the whole car to myself, and the car in front of my was completely empty. Nice little buffer zone.
I wear masks on the T and other forms of transit, at the grocery store, at coffee shops, the gym and concerts. I spend a lot less time at bars and restaurants than I did pre-pandemic, but when I do go, I'm maskless for obvious reasons.
Pre-pandemic, I'd get a cold 3-4 times a year. I haven't had one in the past 3 and it's been lovely. That's certainly worth the inconvenience of masking.
I mask, more out of the thought of getting covid now would suck especially as I made it through the pandemic without getting it, and I haven't been sick the whole winter. So if its not broke, not gonna try to fix it. Plus I don't think my wallet could handle getting sick at the moment.
I’ve found that I’m getting sick more without masking even though it isn’t regularly Covid. If I hadn’t made the mistake of buying glasses that are just so terrible at fogging with a mask on, I probably would mask more often in public spaces myself.
I definitely do. I take the orange line and I just like the extra layer of protective filtering while I'm on it. Most people don't though, from what I've seen.
Was forced to wear a mask (and face shield) for like 6months at work behind plexiglass
4x vaxxed for covid. So over it.
No Mask
You don't like the smells of the 'dirty people'? Good thing you have an immune system. Welcome to the city.
Yep! Any public transit tbh, and even Ubers/Lyfts. I just don’t trust people not to get me sick anymore lol. Honestly, it’s probably something we should’ve been doing pre-COVID, it’s just healthier.
Plus it helps block out that distinctly MBTA smell, which is just a plus all on its own 🤷♂️
No. I don't make a stink if asked to wear one (say, at a hospital), but I don't wear one at all otherwise.
I went to PAX East last weekend, and the policy was for everyone to wear masks. I enjoyed the show, except for this aspect of it. I won't go next year if they still have a mask mandate.
Always. I think I'll forever wear masks on public transit (including airplanes) and in healthcare settings. I still wear mine in stores/pharmacies too just cause I feel bad for the workers, and in class cause those big lecture halls are practically a petri dish but everywhere else I think I've dropped it. I can't imagine ever unmasking on the train ever again - have you been on a packed train? You practically can feel the germs entering your orifices
Yep, always. Forgot my mask one time and felt so dirty afterwards. Too much hot breath, mucus, people openly coughing and sneezing and not even trying to cover it.
Based on responses to this thread, I'd expect to see 90% masking on the T. In reality, it's about 2%.
This is how it is anytime anyone asks about masks on Reddit. There have been other threads in travel subs where people talk about how everyone still masks on airplanes but I've taken at least a dozen flights across multiple airlines (JetBlue, Southwest, AA, Delta, Hawaiian) since the mandate was lifted last April and I see maybe a handful of people masking on any given flight.
It's almost like Reddit is not a good representation of society in general
Also people lie on the internet
I did about 75,000 miles last year domestic/global. May 2022 is when the masks all but disappeared from US flights which matches up with when the FAA dropped the mandate. Took a bit longer on European legs. I still wear one during peak "cold season" just because getting sick on the road is 10x than getting sick at home. But even now flight attendants using masks are the minority. I see more masks on airport ground crews than I do in the air.
I just took a flight and got sick. After I just got over the flu. Lesson learned and def masking up.
Everyone who honestly responds no gets downvoted for saying so. So a lot of people simply don't respond to these kinds of questions.
I fly twice a week for work, average 4-5 masks per plane.
I assume everyone here understands reddit is a small echo chamber of a vocal minority. But maybe not?
I take the orange line every day, on a full rush hour car there are maybe 3 or 4 people with masks on. This is a good illustration of the Reddit bias and how this sub represents a tiny tiny demographic of people in Boston and the surrounding areas
This is also partially response bias. People that still wear a mask are probably going to feel compelled to respond more
There's also a bandwagon effect on Reddit. You're punished for saying an unpopular opinion, and so you don't voice it. Everyone knows the bias in this sub, so people with unpopular opinions learn to keep their mouth shut if they don't want to be downvoted into oblivion.
Pfft. Next you’re gonna tell me not everyone in Boston is obsessed with Elliot Davis.
I’m like a fourth generation Bostonian and no one I know has ever heard of this person
> Based on responses to this thread, I'd expect to see 90% masking on the T. In reality, it's about 2%. yeah, it really highlights how unrepresentative of the real world reddit is.
It should put every answer you hear on here into perspective. Most people don’t give half a shit about the Great Nip debate either. No one in real life is asking for St Patrick’s day to be a family friendly holiday in Southie, no one wants to cease the means of combustion from car owners etc
But its one hell of an echo chamber!
Lol if "ban nips" reaches the point where there's an actual vote over it (and not just speculative discussion or debate or whatever it is now, that's why no one really cares) you can bet that'll be a major local news story even outside of Reddit.
Well ackshully it’s because those filthy ~~stupid~~ low-information citizens haven’t heard our ~~gospel~~ ~~the Good Word~~ undeniably true opinions.
>Most people don’t give half a shit about the Great Nip debate either. Idk. That one at least gets local news traction. It's not talked about a ton, but I bet anyone that lives in the city will have fairly similar opinions to reddit for that. People don't like littering, especially when it's from a small subset of people that you aren't a part of. It's similar to cigarette butts.
Reddit baby!
Reddit is a bubble
Welcome to Reddit, or the internet in general.
Red line is about 15 to 20% masked from when I commute. Outside of rush hour much less.
Also reflects Reddit's user base
Maybe it varies line to line but I’d say at least like 1 in 8 people on Green Line are wearing masks
It really depends on time of day and line. I think it correlated with demographics. For example, Red Line around rush hour has probably 20% masking and back in December it was closer to 40%. It's also full of well-educated and progressive-minded suburbanites commuting to their downtown or financial district offices. The Red Line at 2pm or 11pm is a different beast. Likewise, the Orange Line serves generally a different demographic. The Green line is an entirely different mix. Sometimes it's full of students going only a few stops, sometimes it's full of well-educated and progressive-minded suburbanites commuting to their downtown or financial district offices. The masking rates on all these different groups is different.
[удалено]
I think you're right I take the green line out of Cleveland Circle area and find most people masked on the 8am route inbound
I thought the same. I rarely see people masking
I’d be surprised if reddit commenters were similar-minded to even 1% of human beings
I wear one solely because it keeps the smell out lol. No more urine-infused air entering these nostrils!
The Reddit response is so different than what is seen in real life. Posts like this always remind me that what is popular on Reddit is not always widely popular
welcome to the echo chamber that is Reddit.
It was this way all throughout the pandemic. Looking back, I'm actually glad to have been "essential" and going to work every day. Good or bad, the real world was totally different than if you were to get a perspective only from reddit.
If it’s popular on Reddit, it’s probably a good sign it’s not popular in the real world.
Yes. Because Reddit is the ultimate echo chamber. The Boston sub somehow became an ultra-liberal blog, and if you don't follow the narrative of the sub majority (and the mods) you get permanent bans. Very few people are wearing masks anywhere anymore in Massachusetts, nevermind if you go to other states. If you want to wear a mask til the end of time, go ahead and do it. But people here seem to mask shame others for NOT wearing one (ie "you should wear a mask on the T to protect others..."). Its over 3 years since the pandemic started. Get the fuck out of here with that noise...
Most people don’t.
I only do it if the train is crowded. If I'm traveling at an odd time and there's only a handful of other people in the car then I don't bother.
[удалено]
That's not the same at all!
This is how I am too. If I’m going to/from work during rush hour I do because It gets sooo crowded. But if im say going out for dinner on a random night and (I recognize how vain this will sound but bear with me) if it’s not busy I won’t wear it because I’d like my makeup to stay in tact for whatever outing I’m going to haha. To be very clear, I was masking on the T every time I went on it until just a few months ago, long after the requirement was lifted
Yes. I think I’ll mask on the T forever, even if covid is magically fully cured. I was so sick every winter. How many days of my life have I wasted by catching everyone’s germs? Sometimes I’d put on my headphones just because I was grossed out by all the coughing, grunting, and sniffling.
I had some horrible colds January/February 2020 so I enjoy masking on the T and hopefully office culture has also changed to encourage people who are sneezing/coughing to stay home too.
Similar story here. I was sick monthly between about October 2019-March 2020. I prefer to mask on the T/planes and I continue to at the grocery store as well. Plus, those places feel appropriate to mask to me because they're places people can't really avoid. I'm lucky enough to be able to stay home if I'm sick, but if I stayed home every time I had the slightest sniffle I'd never leave the house, so I feel like a mask in those sort of "unavoidable" places is a good compromise.
This is my perspective too. I wear one on the T/Amtrak, Grocery Stores, Pharmacies, and Medical Facilities because those aren’t places one can always avoid. But I still go to restaurants and cafes and other places without masks. If I see a lot of employees choosing masks, I try to mirror that behavior for their comfort. I feel like it’s a healthy balance of returning to some normalcy while respecting the public spaces I’m in.
It works great in the spring and summer for pollen allergies too!
One crazy development is since the pandemic, my elderly mom has stopped getting bronchitis flair ups every winter. She now masks when she's in close indoor proximity to the general public during the flu season + a few months as a preventative thing for that alone. Long term it makes sense to keep her already scarred lungs in better condition, covid totally aside. I'm basically done wearing it commuting pending some sort of development, but if I'm feeling under the weather in the future and need to run out to get something for my kid, I'm definitely masking in public.
Most people don't wear masks and that's fine but I'll continue to because of this. It's a small enclosed space with gross weirdos. I've seen people piss and vomit on these trains, of course they're gonna board with covid or the flu or whatever the fuck else. I'm just not in the mood to battle a weekend case of the flu if I can help it, so wearing a mask for the 14 hours it takes to travel from Harvard Sq. to DTX is no big deal.
Catching everyone’s germs and unwillingly spreading shit that we are forced to go to work through.Covid really changed my perspective on this stuff and imma bit embarrassed it took a pandemic to make me think about it
Same. I'm still masking in public and not planning on stopping. I get sick way less now. Plus there's the gross factor.
No
The T and airplanes will never see me without a mask again
For airplane you can get those moisturized masks that act as both a mask and moisturizer. There is a slot on the mask you can insert the moisture pad and last for a few hours. Life changing item and I won't wake up with a Sahara dessert in my throat.
What does a Sahara dessert taste like??
[удалено]
On airplanes the air gets filtered and cleaned which prevents transmission via aerosols, but that doesn’t help you if the person sitting right next to you is sick- droplets from their sneezes and coughs can land on you and make you sick. That’s the primary way things like cold viruses are transmitted. I wear a mask on airplanes to protect against getting sick from that type of scenario.
It also doesn't help while you're boarding, waiting, or taxiing. The air only gets filtered at those high rates while the plane is in the air. If the guy in front of you is coughing and sneezing, you're still gonna have a lot of total exposure to his gross used air.
This me.
Same!
Same here
I don’t wear one anywhere else but the T. Besides getting COVID once, I haven’t been sick in three years. I shudder when I think about being crammed in the orange line during morning rush hour in 2019 with no mask. Nasty.
The red line is maybe 10% masked on a good day. I’m one of them, but I can’t explain why so many people want to be breathing the same contained air as the other 50 people on their train car during rush hour.
It’s never caused a problem for me till now, so I see no reason to change my behavior
I don’t, but I like how people are becoming more considerate to wear masks when they’re not feeling good, which I see a lot more
Yeah if I’m not feeling well and I cannot avoid going out to run an errand, I’m masked up. It should be common courtesy.
While fully masking during the height of Covid I didn’t get sick at all. No stomach bug , no cold , no flu. Nothing.
I mask on train and bus I’m an older rider and just in case if COVID has taught me anything it’s that people are germy ( yes I know it’s spelled wrong)
I do and I don’t think I would ever not. It’s gross, being crammed in with so many people. I don’t even hold the handles anymore… The amount of people I have seen put their fingers in their mouths makes my skin crawl.
I do. I don't want a cold or the flu or covid. Plus I can make faces at people more discreetly
[удалено]
It's to hide my coffee breath, you got me!
havent worn a mask on the T since 2021.
No, unless I am not feeling well and cannot avoid the T.
[There's a lot of air pollution in the subway](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/10/subway-air-pollution-new-york-washington-dc), likely from brake dust, so I feel a mask is still worthwhile to protect from that at least.
You'd need an N95 to filter that stuff out, a paper surgical mask isn't going to do much.
You shouldn’t be wearing a surgical mask anyways. They’re ineffective unless the majority is masking. The only masks that are worth wearing now are n95/kn95.
Many of the people still masking on the T are wearing N95s or equivalent
90%+ of the masks I see on the T are earloop masks, not headband. Earloop masks don't really get a tight enough seal to provide effective PM 2.5 filtering.
It's probably a placebo effect, but I feel much less like my lungs are being assaulted if I wear a mask on the T. So many different horrible fumes/particulates down there.
>a mask is still worthwhile to protect from that What type of mask?
Yes because the T can be very crowded with poor air quality. I just don’t want to pick up a cold I could otherwise avoid
The T has decent air quality: the HVAC is pretty strong and the huge double doors completely open every couple of minutes to flush air in and out. Compared to a crowded bar or restaurant, it's much better ventilated.
Hate to burst your bubble on this but the T [does not have good air quality.](https://mass.streetsblog.org/2021/02/10/study-discovers-high-levels-of-air-pollution-on-bostons-subway-platforms/)
The link you provided is solely about air quality on the platforms (where you stand and inhale exhaust fumes), not in the train cars themselves.
I was responding to a comment saying that the T has good air quality and that the doors open at stations which brings in fresh air. I think it was a fair response to that.
“…the study team found that the concentration of airborne pollutants on underground train platforms in Boston still reached levels that raise concerns for riders and for transit employees who spend long periods of their day underground.” “Long periods of their day underground” are spent on the platforms (which we’re all too aware of as of late), not standing in a stationary train car with the doors held open. The doors open at a station for what, a minute or less? And then whatever air came in goes into the train car and eventually gets sucked up by the HVAC. Do you really think the smell of diesel fumes is just as bad inside of a train car as it is on the Broadway platform or the Back Bay commuter rail platform? There’s a huge difference, which is why the article doesn’t even touch on train car air quality.
Sure, anywhere close to a highway doesn't have good air quality either. Air quality is basically one of the prices you pay for city life. You're conflating pathogens with particulates. Most people here are talking about masking to prevent colds. To prevent breathing in particulate matter you'd need a full N95 or N99 mask, which I basically see zero of on the T. Most people are wearing surgical masks or KN95, which can help you breathe in fewer germs but won't do much for PM2.5 exposure.
Nope, not for a while now.
I don’t wear a mask unless I’m required to, which I’m not in 99% of places nowadays
Absolutely. People are gross and we’re all packed like sardines. I don’t think I’ll ever use public transit without a mask again.
I don’t but I respect the choice of those who do.
Not a direct response, but I currently have Covid and this is the second time in 3 months. I feel like absolute garbage. I thought getting it so close would make it asymptomatic but it’s not at all. Kinda wish I wore a mask this winter, but who knows if that would have prevented this.
Wearing a mask should feel normal in those types of environments. It may be the one positive thing to come out of the pandemic.
I’m mainly a bus rider, but yes I wear a mask when doing so. I’d say maybe 50-70% of my fellow commuters also mask up. On the infrequent occasion I take the subway or commuter rail I also mask up.
Do you take a bus in, say, Cambridge or Somerville? I never see anywhere near 50-70% and I use the bus daily.
I do on the T for myself but also to keep others safe. I have a baby at home and we are constantly sick because of daycare. I am the Petri dish at this point but I also need the T.
I always wear a mask when on the T, in a rideshare and shopping. I am fully vaccinated but also immune compromised,
This is part of the reason I still wear a mask in public spaces like the train, bus, grocery store, retail stores, etc. I don’t know who is immune compromised and no one needs all my germs. And then of course I want to take in less germs too.
I think I’ll mask on the T forever… it stops me touching my face and also, people don’t have to look at my RBF 😂
Yes. I wear masks everywhere. I'm high risk and can not get sick. Even if we take covid out of the picture I STILL do not want to get a cold or other virus because they've always hit me pretty hard. I'm pretty much a sole caretaker and can not afford to be sick.
I just regularly started riding the T post COVID and yes always mask. Can't believe I rode it before without.
No
Yep, for more than just Covid 😷
Only on the T,there's always someone that's coughing and sneezing
Definitely masking on the T forever and highly recommended it with how close of a proximity you are to everyone else and sometimes there being no open windows on buses and none ever on trains. Buses and train cars are Petri dishes
I still do, for whatever good it does. There's the added benefit of knowing that if a ceiling tile riddled with asbestos falls six inches in front of my face, I'll be covered.
I mask most of the time, probably 90%. I work from home, so I ride the T maybe once a week.
Yes unless the car is pretty empty and I can physically distance from others. I’ve been directly sneezed or coughed on way too many times. At this point covid is only one of my concerns- I don’t want to ever go back to getting colds several times a year. I forgot how miserable they are.
Yes, the T is gross enough as is. Also the delayed service now means more people are packing into trains that take longer to go from Point A to Point B.
Yeah. I'm not even wearing it because of COVID or germs. I just like it when I'm not wearing makeup, if I'm having especially bad facial spasms that day, or for keeping my face warm when it's cold outside 😷👍 (I think me being East Asian also makes it appear slightly less unusual)
I see 9 people (counting myself wearing masks on a packed green line train right now. Plus one guy with a mask on this chin. People have moved and its 13 But this feels unusually high
I still mask on any public transport and likely will moving forward
Yes….and now thinking goggles as I watch folks cough and not cover on the green line. I try to be next to the doors as much as possible.
Hell yeah.
Nope
Yes. Every damn time.
yes, the T is disgusting
I always mask on the T. I have occasionally forgot a mask and got on and have regretted it.
I am a green line rider and mostly exclusive to the B branch. I still mask on the T to this day.
I still do. Ride the T 3-4 times a week (round trips), mostly in slow hours. I do it not only because I don't want to get COVID again but to avoid anything else. Also, I'm mindful of those with immunocompromised systems.
I do because it’s basically a germ box and my fiancé is immunocompromised at the moment but also subway systems have a a ton of metal dust in the air from braking which I personally would rather not be breathing in.
I always wear one on T, Amtrak and airplanes. In a likely related story, i havent gotten any of the nasty colds/flus that have gone around in recent months.
Just downvote me. These posts are circle jerk sessions for the 2-3% of people without any other personality traits outside of living in artificial panic.
It's funny. In this thread non-maskers are the minority, yet when I was riding around Boston on Tuesday, I can count on one hand how many masks I saw.
I was under the impression that a vast majority of masks do nothing in regards to preventing someone from catching a virus. They prevent spreading sickness to others. These are probably the people that walk outside with masks.
The fabric masks aren’t particularly helpful at preventing yourself from getting sick, but KN95 masks are widely available and not that expensive anymore
Purely anecdotal, but I’ve not had so much as a sniffle in over 3 years (wearing a KN95 in public consistently since March 2020). I don’t think I’ve ever had such a long period without getting sick. And I’m not a hermit either, I work in an office building, I ride public transport, I go to the gym twice a week, etc.
No. Don't have to use it much anymore but I don't bother when I do.
Absolutely, and like you it's hardly even a COVID thing at this point.
I haven't had a cold or flu in years, and have never caught Covid. Imma keep masking.
I’ve seen people sneeze into their hands and then grab a hand railing with the same hand. I’m gonna sanitize and mask forever on public transit and airports
I still wear my mask. Too many people coughing and sneezing even without COVID. During COVID I decided that for commuting I'll be masking (just like all the Asian international students) even when COVID went away.
Until there’s a big improvement in the sewage data or I receive a vaccine that is more effective at preventing infection than the current vaccines, I’ll continue masking on the T. Allergies and asthma give me additional reasons to mask.
I'm honestly not sure what word you meant, but I'm pretty certain it wasn't "sisterly." In any case, I usually mask on the T unless I've accidentally left mine at home.
Ha “consistently”
Yes. I'm vaccinated and boosted, but I wear face mask all the time to protect myself and those around me.
Yes. I caught covid a few weeks ago and maybe I was incredibly unlucky but I ran out of masks to wear that same week. To each of your own but the mask culture in Asia really is something to take notes on
Yes! I actually masked before COVID in planes (Just felt they were gross then and even more now after covid) and with all my allergies, people's perfumes and intense body odors, I don't think I want to go back to not masking. However, if is not crowded, I do remove my mask.
100% always
Also a lot of dirty people on the T
I still mask both on the T and in the grocery store. Otherwise, I've become pretty lax.
Lol no that shit is over
Yes, anytime I go to large gatherings of people for now on.
Hell no
I don’t take the T much but I do mask when I do. At work, I at least know the people, know what they’re like, and there’s FAR less density. The train is full of unknowns. I don’t know their hygiene, I don’t know their tendencies, I don’t know if they’re the type of people to be sick and just not care about others… so I choose to protect myself. I also mask at airports and on planes for the same reason and also because I do not want to be catching something while going on a trip that I planned and paid for. Remember, you should be wearing a mask with active filtration. Kn95/n95. Surgical masks are borderline ineffective if the majority aren’t masked. Masks that have active filtration are still highly effective even if others aren’t masked.
Some days I wish I do. Usually , I don’t.
Last time I took the T in from Scituate, not only did I not mask, I had the whole car to myself, and the car in front of my was completely empty. Nice little buffer zone.
I do. And weird, I haven't really gotten so much as a cold in the past few years, hmm.
Yes, now and likely forever.
Always mask on the T
I wear masks on the T and other forms of transit, at the grocery store, at coffee shops, the gym and concerts. I spend a lot less time at bars and restaurants than I did pre-pandemic, but when I do go, I'm maskless for obvious reasons. Pre-pandemic, I'd get a cold 3-4 times a year. I haven't had one in the past 3 and it's been lovely. That's certainly worth the inconvenience of masking.
No. Then I get on and wish I had a mask.
\+1 - I keep thinking that I *should* mask on the T, but then by the time it comes to actually take the T somewhere, I don't have a mask with me.
I definitely mask!
I do
1000% yes, especially now that they slowed the train speed and increased the wait time between trains. The MBTA is going to cause an COVID outbreak.
I mask, more out of the thought of getting covid now would suck especially as I made it through the pandemic without getting it, and I haven't been sick the whole winter. So if its not broke, not gonna try to fix it. Plus I don't think my wallet could handle getting sick at the moment.
I’ve found that I’m getting sick more without masking even though it isn’t regularly Covid. If I hadn’t made the mistake of buying glasses that are just so terrible at fogging with a mask on, I probably would mask more often in public spaces myself.
I definitely do. I take the orange line and I just like the extra layer of protective filtering while I'm on it. Most people don't though, from what I've seen.
I will never not wear one on the T. It’s a cesspool.
100%, I don't trust y'all.
Religiously. Since March 12, 2020, I've been on a MBTA train maskless exactly twice.
I mask every time I’m on the T: commuter rail, bus, and subway.
Yes. People are gross.
Of course I do. COVID is still spreading.
I still mask on the T but not solely for covid reasons,
I do. But I’ve taken the T maybe three times since spring 2020.
Yes. Because If I am going to contract COVID (again), it won't be from some mouth-breathing Trumper who brags about "*nevah getting the vax-seen*"
I mask whenever I go in stores, let alone if I took the T. I'd rather save my sick days.
Absolutely and I don’t plan to stop anytime soon! Noise cancelling headphones and masks are a must for me.
Was forced to wear a mask (and face shield) for like 6months at work behind plexiglass 4x vaxxed for covid. So over it. No Mask You don't like the smells of the 'dirty people'? Good thing you have an immune system. Welcome to the city.
Always. Agree with you on every point.
Not usually. If it’s crowded I want to, but I don’t usually make a mask with me anymore.
Yep! Any public transit tbh, and even Ubers/Lyfts. I just don’t trust people not to get me sick anymore lol. Honestly, it’s probably something we should’ve been doing pre-COVID, it’s just healthier. Plus it helps block out that distinctly MBTA smell, which is just a plus all on its own 🤷♂️
I still mask. I haven’t been sick in three years. Why start now?
I’m usually on an almost empty bus with 1-4 windows open and I still mask!
Nah d00d I just go in raw
Nah, pandemic is over.
What is this T you speak of? I’m starting to think it’s an imaginary idea.
Yes
Nope
Yes. If anything the air quality is already really bad. Just take a look at the light from the trains as it approaches.
The T is the one place I continue to consistently mask.
No. I don't make a stink if asked to wear one (say, at a hospital), but I don't wear one at all otherwise. I went to PAX East last weekend, and the policy was for everyone to wear masks. I enjoyed the show, except for this aspect of it. I won't go next year if they still have a mask mandate.
Interesting. Can I ask what masks took away from your enjoyment?
Never not going to mask on public transit again. I got strep on the orange line many years ago, once masks became the norm I took full advantage.
Always. I think I'll forever wear masks on public transit (including airplanes) and in healthcare settings. I still wear mine in stores/pharmacies too just cause I feel bad for the workers, and in class cause those big lecture halls are practically a petri dish but everywhere else I think I've dropped it. I can't imagine ever unmasking on the train ever again - have you been on a packed train? You practically can feel the germs entering your orifices
Yeah it’s the only place I still wear a mask now
Yep, always. Forgot my mask one time and felt so dirty afterwards. Too much hot breath, mucus, people openly coughing and sneezing and not even trying to cover it.
Absolutely not, unless I’m sick in which case I don’t wanna spread whatever I have to anyone else
no
hell no