During Umrah, pilgrims have a vital role in sustaining public health through practicing preventative measures such as personal hygiene, catching coughs and sneezes, hand washing with water and soap or sanitizers, wearing face masks (and doing so properly), and subsequent waste disposal of materials in sanitary bins [5,7]. Face mask use was considered an affordable and effective method to control the exposure to pathogens in high-risk environments, to reduce the risk of transmittable infectious diseases including COVID-19 [11], and to protect from the inhalation of aerosols containing organic and inorganic particulates [12]. More recent studies cast doubt on the effectiveness of masks for preventing infection transmission, with some studies reporting over 90% of pilgrims experiencing respiratory tract infections (RTI), suggesting preventative measures are needed [13,14,15,16,17]. Hoang et al. (2019) conducted sequential systematic testing of 121 French pilgrims during Hajj 2018 [18]. Amongst their sample, 40.5% reported wearing a face mask, 55.4% washing hands more often, and 87.6% using disposable tissues. They found RTIs at the Hajj were as “a result of complex interactions between a number of respiratory viruses and bacteria” with 93.4% (n = 113/121) experiencing at least one respiratory infection despite preventative measures [18]. The same research team conducted a smaller study focused on COVID-19 at the 2020 Hajj, which had restricted attendance (n = 1000) with only Saudi nationals permitted [19]. The wearing of face masks was mandated with no public health emergency noted when the Hajj ended early August 2020 [19]. However, a recent systematic review of 21 studies by Liang et al. (2020) found “the risk of influenza, SARS, and COVID-19 infection were reduced by 45%, 74%, and 96% by wearing masks, respectively” [20]. The evidence is both contradictory and inconclusive [13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20].