Like masks never existed: Flying out of Myrtle Beach’s airport in a post-COVID mandate world
I don’t know what I was really expecting to see at Myrtle Beach’s airport Saturday.
A federal judge in Florida had struck down the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s mask mandate for public transit just a few days before. I thought, maybe, half of the passengers would have masks on?
After all, just a few days prior to the ruling, the mask mandate was extended to May 3. South Carolina is also only 54% fully vaccinated, according to state health records, far below that of every single state to our north. North Carolina has fully vaccinated 60% of its residents. Vermont and Maine are near 80%. Coronavirus cases have also been rising in a few parts of the country, including Washington D.C., where 75% of residents are vaccinated, according to Reuters.
I was one of the few wearing a mask inside Myrtle Beach International Airport. Outside of security, maybe 10% of the travelers flowing in and out had masks on. Inside security, the number was even smaller. Out of hundreds of people inside, I saw maybe two dozen with masks on.
My assumption about mask wearing was based on what I had heard about other airports. Online, I’d heard stories about airports that had a wide range of mask wearing after the mandate ended, ranging from 30% to 70%.
But Myrtle Beach International isn’t just any airport. MYR is the airport that was at the center of a mask wearing drama just a few months ago.
The airport had managed to stand out as possibly the only airport in the nation where mask compliance among its employees — in particular local police officers — had become a serious problem. In emails obtained by The Sun News, the TSA even said they didn’t know of any other airport where there was a problem with law enforcement — role models in charge of upholding the nation’s laws — putting on masks.
The Sun News’ reporting resulted in TSA threatening the airport with thousands of dollars in fines if Horry County Police officers working at the airports didn’t mask up. The officers did. The airport also brought back the signs reminding anyone entering the airport to put on a mask, plastering them on every entrance.
However, little else changed. Even after The Sun News’ reporting, I still saw dozens of maskless passengers walking past airport employees and Horry County Police officers without either of these authorities saying a word. I also frequently saw maskless employees working at check-in stands or at one of the dozen retail businesses and eateries the airport has.
At the most, across dozens of visits to the airport in the last 12 months, I saw about 70% of the people at the airport wearing masks. At the least, maybe 50% — the amount of mask wearing I expected to see Saturday.
Now, the only reminders remaining at Myrtle Beach International Airport that COVID-19 ever existed are the plexiglass barriers the airport check-in workers and TSA officers work behind.
Myrtle Beach’s airport was also the last government-run place in the entire county that still required masks. Outside of the airport, it’s rare to see anyone wearing a mask, regardless of whether they are indoors at a restaurant, outdoors or in a packed concert.
When I consider it, the swift change is unsurprising. Horry County, which oversees the airport, ditched its mask mandate in October 2020, nearly six months before vaccines became widely available. Coastal cities like Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach got rid of their mask mandates the following spring and never brought them back, even as massive waves of COVID-19 were spawned by the delta and omicron variants, filling up our hospitals again and again.
These days, however, it’s not uncommon to hear that a local hospital has zero COVID-19 patients for the first time in years. Tidelands Health, which has administered more than 100,000 vaccine doses, was the first to achieve that feat last month.
“It is a welcome relief,” said Nathan Mattox, a nurse and director of the intensive care unit at Tidelands Waccamaw Community Hospital in Georgetown County. “To have COVID in the rearview mirror, it’s a nice place to be.”
The quick changes to environment in airports and on planes hasn’t come easily, though. On Monday, there was confusion about whether TSA was actually going to stop enforcing the mandate. The White House didn’t announce that TSA would end enforcement until several hours after the ruling dropped.
“Immediately, we urge calm & consistency in airports & on planes. The last thing we need for workers on the frontlines or passengers traveling today is confusion & chaos. Check the latest updates from airlines for specific travel requirements,” Association of Flight Attendants union tweeted Monday.
My trip started in an Uber with a maskless driver. Uber and Lyft both ditched their mask requirements this week after the mask ruling. The mask mandate had covered not only airports and planes but also trains, buses, taxis and ride-hailing services.
However, I can’t remember the last time I got into an Uber or Lyft in Myrtle Beach and saw my driver wearing a mask, anyway. I always wore mine, but I’ve generally avoided confrontations or asking anyone else to put on a mask. There have been too many instances of shouting matches, even violent fights, over the issue.
I walked into the airport and got in line to check a bag. Only one of the four Southwest employees working the counter was masked. As I waited, I heard a woman ask, “Do you still have to wear a mask on the plane?” She was told no and replied, “Well, good! Because I don’t have one anyway.”
I was taken aback to hear that. I can’t imagine even driving past an airport without a mask with me, let alone walking in to an airport for a flight without one at all.
Then again, when I asked someone at Dallas Love Field last year to put on a mask, she angrily questioned me, saying, “What, are you going to ticket me?”
I also once sat next to a woman on a plane who held a cup of water in her hand for 30 minutes to maintain her excuse for not putting on a mask.
It’s a difference of experiences.
I flew to Dallas. On the plane, the lack of mask wearing continued. Southwest and all other major airlines — United, Delta, American, Alaska, JetBlue and Spirit — dropped their mask mandates this week.
I was one of maybe a dozen people out of roughly 140 on the flight who had on a mask. I wondered, as I sat there, whether it really meant anything. The science has shown that unless you have a top-tier N95, wearing a mask is better at ensuring you don’t spread the coronavirus to others. The masks are less effective at ensuring you don’t breathe in the virus from others.
One story I read, from the Washington Post, compared asking your seat mate if they cared if you wore a mask to “smoking etiquette, like someone asking whether a person minds if they light up.”
Nevertheless, I do believe in the importance of mask wearing on public transit. It’s a place where there is almost no chance of maintaining six feet of distance from others, one of the most surefire ways of protecting yourself from the virus. On the plane, there wasn’t anyone sitting in the middle seat, next to me, but there were plenty of people who were that close together. They couldn’t maintain six inches of distance between themselves and others, let alone six feet.
I contemplated taking my mask off. In Myrtle Beach, people will look at you like you have three heads if you wear one into a restaurant. I just know a little bit too much about airline ventilation, my dad once worked for Boeing, and I can’t say I full trust it all yet. I also trust the CDC. So long as they recommend keeping a mask on for public transit, I’ll stick with it.
International Air Transport Association says air inside an airplane’s cabin is changed 20 to 30 times an hour. But, the air is half-fresh and half-filtered.
I agree with the sentiment expressed by Myrtle Beach’s top doctor, Tidelands Health’s Gerald Harmon, who is also the president of the American Medical Association.
“I don’t know who’s got that 12-year-old, that 10-year-old at home that is immunocompromised,” Harmon told me in March, noting that children under 5 still don’t have an approved vaccine they can take. “And if they go on public transportation or someplace where I’m next to them and I cough or sneeze and I’m not protected, can I have transmitted them unwittingly a deadly virus?”
Within six feet of me on my plane were not just one but two toddlers. Neither of them could be vaccinated. I hope that by putting a mask on I was helping protect them. I put on a mask for them. I also put on a mask to protect myself from COVID-19 on my visits home, when I spend time with my mom. She’s had cancer for three years now.
When I got off the plane in Dallas, it was an environment rather similar to Myrtle Beach. Few people wore masks. It was an astounding sight.
Every time I’ve come home for the last year, upwards of 80-90% of people had their masks on, without fail. The dichotomy with Myrtle Beach had always been striking. Now, it’s hard to tell Myrtle Beach International and Dallas Love Field apart.
I’m not trying to litigate the mask mandate, though it’s important to note that U.S. District Court Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle’s decision has been appealed by the Justice Department upon request of the CDC.
“It is CDC’s continuing assessment that at this time an order requiring masking in the indoor transportation corridor remains necessary for the public health,” the CDC said in a statement Wednesday. “CDC believes this is a lawful order, well within CDC’s legal authority to protect public health.”
What I will do, however, is try my best to ensure you, our readers, are as informed as possible on the state of mask wearing at the airport and on planes. Some of you will be relieved you can finally fly without having to wear a mask. COVID-19 fatigue is a very real thing. Others will be more anxious about whether it’s safe to get on a plane.
I can’t make that decision for you, but here are some tips from the CDC and public health experts to keep in mind.
- Are you flying to Boston or New York City? You’ll still need to wear a mask on the plane and in those cities’ airports: LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy International and Boston Logan International.
- Are you flying internationally? You might still need to put on a mask on the plane or at your destination, depending on the rules in the country you are visiting.
- Concerned about getting COVID-19 or immunocompromised? Then you should definitely keep wearing a mask, particularly an N95, which offers the most protection. Make sure the mask is well-fitted, too.
The CDC still recommends wearing masks, but the decision is now largely up to individual travelers.
I’ll still be wearing my mask until the CDC recommendation ends. Will you be wearing yours?
Do you have thoughts on the end of the mask mandate? Email travel reporter Chase Karacostas at ckaracostas@thesunnews.com to share your opinions.
This story was originally published April 25, 2022 at 2:45 PM.
