Originally Posted by
N830MH
Yes, it might be too late for the passengers who does not onboard the aircraft more than 15 minutes. The gate door will be closed before the aircraft is takeoff. If they doesn't show up at the gate on-time.
I think there are two separate and important factors
1. How the risk of transmission changes with time.
The risk of transmission often depends on how close one is seated to the passenger (see TB cases), so perhaps for those nearby people it's a binary "not too late / too late" situation. For everyone else, though, their risk might grow as the sick person increases their fever/ cough, and each time the sick person moves around and uses the facilities. So the last half hour could be far more important than the first half hour.
2. How the
perception of risk changes when you know there's a sick person on board.
Of course there can always be a sick person that no one else knows about. But by the end of a flight, if a plane is being held and you know exactly who/where the sick person is, you will want to get away from them. Being held with a known sick person and not allowed to move away from them, and not being given protection, that's not good.