Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

You don't always have to wear a mask outside. Experts share 'really simple' ways to know when you need one and when you don't.

You don't always have to wear a mask outside. Experts share 'really simple' ways to know when you need one and when you don't.

It's not hard to figure out when to wear a mask outside, so "be informed and empowered to make the right decision" for yourself, experts say.

Don Milton is as serious as they come about wearing masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19 from person to person.

As one of the world's leading experts on how viruses spread through the air, it makes sense that he's adopted a conservative stance during the pandemic — he sports an N95 (the "gold standard" for masks) on his trips to the grocery store, for example.

But these days, when Milton goes for a bike ride around College Park and the University of Maryland, where he is a professor of environmental health and medicine, his mask remains out of sight. It's tucked into a pocket in the back of his cycling jersey.

He doesn't worry much about the fact that his strenuous exercise might be generating lots of aerosols (very light, floating particles) in the fresh air around him, because he's riding solo. And besides, he knows that outdoors, there is infinite ventilation, in case someone were to ever ride up behind him.

"Hopefully, you can educate people, and we can do things that make sense," he said.

Milton's own rule for outdoor mask-wearing is simple and clear: "In a place where you might be close to other people, or where you might run into somebody you know and you might stop and want to talk to them for a while and one of you is going to be up or down wind of the other person, then you should probably have a mask on," he told Insider.

Though Milton knows well that the risk of transmitting the virus outside is far lower than indoors, he stresses it's still not zero.

"Barbecues last summer were showing up in the Maryland contact tracing data as a risk, something that people were reporting having done that were infected," he said. "If you're going to be close to other people outdoors and everybody is not vaccinated, then you certainly need to be wearing masks."

Public health experts agree: there are simple rules for when we need to wear a mask outside and when we don't
A restaurant during the COVID-19 pandemic.


Leana Wen, an emergency physician and public health professor at George Washington University, spoke to Insider about her own outdoor masking rule while out on an evening walk, unmasked.

"I think we can make this really simple," Wen said. "If you are outdoors and you can keep at least six feet away from others, you don't need to wear a mask."

Wen and Milton are joining a growing number of public health experts around the globe in saying: outdoor mask mandates have never made much sense, and only serve to erode trust and respect for public health precautions.

Muge Cevik, an infectious disease researcher and science communicator at the University of St Andrews, told Insider that fewer than one in ten reported COVID-19 cases involve outdoor transmission, "and those are typically associated with prolonged close interactions, or settings where people mix both indoors and outdoors," she said in an email.

"People make complex decisions regarding risks every day and should be informed and empowered to make the right decision for themselves for outdoor masks," she added.



"People have common sense, and we don't need for laws to be so overly broad," Wen said. "What Israel has done in lifting the mask mandates after a large number of people have been vaccinated and the number of infections is much lower, I think that's probably where we will end up going."

When Wen spots a neighbor up the street, she either quickly puts her mask on, or she crosses the street. This is a simple "common courtesy" during a pandemic, she says.

"If there is a chance that you could be within six feet of others, you should bring a mask with you, and wear that mask if you cannot keep physical distancing."

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×