United Flyer Dies of COVID-19 Aboard Aircraft
Joe Cortez December 22, 2020
Boeing 737, United Airlines
A coroner investigation confirmed a modern nightmares of flyers: A passenger boarded an United Airlines aircraft bearing the COVID-19 virus, and died from complications aboard the flight. A spokesperson for the carrier says the passenger falsified the pre-boarding questionnaire.
A coroner investigation confirmed a United Airlines passenger died aboard a flight earlier in December 2020 due to complications of COVID-19. Orlando NBC affiliate WESH-TV reports 69-year-old Isaias Hernandez died due to acute respiratory failure, secondary to COVID-19.
Death Initially Ruled Cardiac Event, Plane Change Did Not Take Place
According to accounts of the flight, Hernandez boarded United Flight 591, departing Orlando International Airport (MCO) for Los Angeles International Airport. As part of the airline’s “Ready-to-Fly” protocol, the flyer responded negatively when asked if he either currently had COVID-19, or was exposed to someone with the virus. A spokesperson from United later told WESH: “it is apparent he wrongly acknowledged this requirement.”
After takeoff, Hernandez collapsed and aid was administered. The flight was diverted to New Orleans, where paramedics removed the flyer from the aircraft. The flyer’s wife allegedly told the emergency workers that he presented for symptoms of the novel Coronavirus, including losing his sense of taste and smell.
Because the incident was originally ruled a cardiac event, flyers were allowed to continue aboard the same aircraft to Los Angeles. They were also given the option to deplane and take a later flight to their final destination. The airline told the television station: “A change in aircraft was not warranted.”
United says they have given passenger information to health authorities to let them know they could have been exposed to the virus, and potentially for contact tracing.
Second Death Attributed to COVID-19 Aboard a Commercial Flight
Hernandez’s death marks the second time a passenger died aboard a commercial flight due to complications from COVID-19. In July 2020, a woman flying aboard Spirit Airlines from Arizona to Dallas passed away after experiencing trouble breathing.
bemis: death certificates always list multiple causes. That's why almost none of the covid deaths have "covid" as the sole reason of death. Basically, you always die because your heart stops or because you stop breathing or because you lost a ton of blood. That's nearly always going to be mentioned on death certificates as the immediate cause, at least in the US. To that, they may add for example "pneumonia" as a cause. The real casues, like "covid" or "traffic accident" are often way down the list of causality. This often leads to misunderstandings on causes of death and may provide false reassurance (e.g. you can't use that to say that nearly no one actually dies from covid alone).
cscasi. I disagree with your suggestion that the airline be sued for negligence because they failed to suss out that one of their passengers was lying. And unless they are a flying ambulance, and in this case they were not, they are only in the transportation business, not the medical business. They can at best call on the phone for advice from appropriate sources, but even then, the quality of the advice given depends on the quality of the medical history they have to report, and that included a false report filed by the patient before he boarded. What is going to ensue from this debacle is that requests for volunteers to give CPR on board are going to go unanswered. The fact is, people who would truthfully answer 'yes' to any of those medical questions, aren't going to be flying in the first place.
bemis: I see you had a personal diatribe to post so you decided to do it here and very loosely tie it to COVID. Make no mistake - this man and his wife were 100% in the wrong and this woman should pay the price legally and financially for years to come. Period.
There's a "Dies due to Covid" and there's "Has a heart attack while having covid". Unfortunately, the way things are counted these days, these two distinct things are intentionally confused. And, the media have whipped the average person into a state of panic around Covid, despite the impacts to someone without any confounding factors not really being much worse than the flu. If someone with the flu had a heart attack on a place - a tragedy for the family, surely, but time to put together a lynch mob for the widow? People need some compassion, and a grounding in reality, not TV hype.
I understand that the person who volunteered and gave Mr. Hernandez CPR, was hunched over this person for a long period of time before he passed and that vomit and urine on himself and his clothes. A few days later this person came down with COVID. No telling how many other passengers may come down may have or may come down with COVID because of this person and his wife. It is obvious she knew because of what was reported in this article. It's a real shame. But, there are those among us who simply do not care about anyone else but themselves. Perhaps the airline can be sued for negligence. I hope at least the airline has reached out to the volunteer who got COVID because of trying to save Hernandez's life and offered to pay his medical costs as well as giving him some sort of benefit from the airline. Be carefyl out there. You have to look out for yourself and protect yourself as best you can when you travel.