We know more science about the COVID vaccines and the CDC’s relaxed their masking guidelines in certain situations. So you might be wondering about the risks of getting sick with COVID-19.
We asked the experts: What’s the risk of getting COVID-19 from public transportation?
Their take: The risk of contracting COVID-19 is medium risk, if you’re fully vaccinated.
"That's always been the wild card throughout the pandemic in terms of risks of traveling via different modes of transportation, Dr. Joesph Khabbaza, a pulmonary critical care specialist at Cleveland Clinic, said.
"Risk for any type of public transportation still is significant because you're in close quarters with shared airspace and you may not have a lot of good ventilation. Now, this is not just something that is only for vaccinated or unvaccinated people," said Dr. Kelly Cawcutt, associate medical director of infection control and epidemiology at Nebraska Medical Center.
"It would be higher risk if you are not vaccinated and you were unmasked. You would have more time to be exposed to somebody who could potentially transmit Covid," Katie Cary, assistant vice president of infection prevention for HCA Continental Division, told Newsy.
"If you're unmasked on a train, if you're unmasked on a bus, if masking is not required in those settings, if you are unvaccinated, those risks are going to be relatively higher for each event," Dr. Joesph Khabbaza, a pulmonary critical care specialist at Cleveland Clinic, said.
For more answers on what is low, medium, or high risk, visit newsy.com/whatstherisk.
