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Qantas currently requires all its international passengers to prove that they are vaccinated against COVID-19, but there is no air or government vaccination warrant on domestic flights.
Masks are still mandatory on public transportation in NSW and Victoria.
James Goodwin, executive director of the Australian Airports Association, said the end of terminal mask mandates “would help airport staff by allowing them to carry out their busy duties without having to control ‘use of masks’.
“Masks have long been not required in supermarkets, shopping malls and many other inland public areas, so this now aligns airports with these places and avoids confusion for travelers,” he said.
Epidemiologists had conflicting responses to changes to masking rules for long-haul flights, but agreed it was the right time to lift the requirement to take them to airport terminals.
The director of the epidemiological modeling unit at Monash University, Associate Professor James Trauer, said international flights were among the most risky environments, so he believed it would be safer to keep the mandate in place. .
Associate Professor James Trauer.
“Aircraft cabins are an especially high-risk environment because of the recirculated air,” Trauer said. “You also have people very close by, and you probably have some people with COVID … it’s probably one of the last places you would remove the requirements.”
Deakin University Professor of Epidemiology Professor Catherine Bennett stressed that people could still wear masks if they wanted to be careful on planes and advised them to wear N95 masks.
But he said it made sense to remove the mask requirement in environments that are no longer considered high risk. He said the HEPA air filters used in aircraft cabins were extremely effective in improving ventilation.
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“I think people will probably still choose to wear masks, but they don’t wear masks all the time, while they eat, or they can slip while they sleep, so it’s not a perfect control.” she said.
Bennett said it made sense to eliminate mask requirements at airport terminals, where the risk of COVID-19 transmission was similar to a mall.
“If you are stuck in a queue for a long time or wait in a terminal in a crowded living area, the advice would be to wear a mask; bring a mask with you, “Bennett said.” But that doesn’t mean you have to have a single rule for the whole terminal. There are people who, for example, will have a cup of coffee without anyone else around. “
Trauer agreed that wearing masks to terminals was no longer crucial.
“We can withdraw some of the measures that are designed to reduce community transmission because we are moving quickly to an endemic state, which means people will tend to become infected every two to three years,” he said.
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