Savannah doctor recommends high risk people still wear masks when traveling

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Masks optional - that is now the message for most major airlines and transportation hubs.

However, one local health leader is still encouraging anyone at high risk to wear a mask when traveling.

The mask up sign at City Hall in Savannah has been down for months, but other places are just starting to take down their signs as masks are now optional at transportation hubs and places like airplanes, trains and buses.

The Coastal Health District says that public transportation was always such a concern for transmitting COVID because there are a lot of people pushed into a tight area that are all sharing air.

Prior to the decision from the federal judge ruled a mask mandate could no longer be enforced on public transportation, the CDC had just extended the mask mandate to May 3.

Dr. Lawton Davis from the Coastal Health District says he was hoping to make it just a few more weeks before pulling back the restrictions.

“It probably would have been in my opinion worth waiting but the handwriting has been on the wall and we will just have to make sure those people who are at high risk or are going to visit someone who is high risk have access to high quality masks and know that it is okay to still wear a mask,” Dr. Davis said.

Dr. Davis says the biggest concern right now is the BA.2 strain of Omicron. It appears to be the most transmissible of any previous variants.

Even though COVID numbers are trending down locally, Dr. Davis says fewer people are getting tested and many of them are taking at home tests, so the numbers being reported compared to actual cases are hard to pin point right now.

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