FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Could BA innovate themselves out of the Lockdown
Old Apr 13, 2020, 3:22 pm
  #11  
navylad
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: London, UK
Programs: BAEC GGL/GFl, HH Diamond, BW Diamond, Virgin Voyages Deep Blue Extra, Blue Peter Badge Holder
Posts: 3,933
Let me expand on my answer a little...

Flying is not the same as having cancer surgery, where screening is being combined with isolation and procedures strictly performed on the basis of benefit and real significant risk and although screening does reduce the risk, it certainly doesn’t eliminate it. I have grave concerns that such a suggestion would unduly reassure passengers and would result in greater spread on the disease.

Contact tracing apps don’t work prospectively; they work retrospectively; anyone who is positive should be isolating so people don’t come into contact with theme. What the contact tracing apps do this far, including the one in development by NHS X is to allow for easier contact tracing after someone is shown to be positive- this could be anything up to 2 weeks later (depending on what paper you read the media is around 4 days and mean around 5.1 days, but 25% take longer than a week).

As has been discussed in the Number 10 press briefings, restrictions to travel don’t significantly effect the R value of the spread on modelling and I don’t see spending millions on tests, Whig wouldn’t have effective specificity and sensitivity in the use that you suggest, would providing a significant litigation risk to the airline and would likely result in increased cases due to reduction in compliance to the known effective measures.

Undrrdtanding that the suggestion was of course well meaning, but I think this would be a sure way to end any airline IMHO.

As for the talk of lack of ‘exit strategy’, I’m certain that the modelling for exit is ongoing, and this work continues as more data is gathered, particularly as other counties withdrawn elements of their lockdown, but the Gov rightly, in my opinion, doesn’t want to provide a confusing public health message at present. If you look at the reports by the Covid-19 research group at Imperial, you can see clear evidence of this.

Last edited by navylad; Apr 13, 2020 at 3:50 pm
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