Did you get Covid-19 on a flight? / Spread of Coronavirus on a plane
May 24, 2020, 4:33 pm
#31
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Case studies of spread on planes
So far not too m any accounts of spread of C19 on planes but a couple of cases of SARS spread on planes.
On one plane, a 72-year-old infected man with a cough in seat 14-E of a flight from Hong Kong to Beijing ended up passing SARS to 18 passengers and two flight attendants. The flight was about three hours long. While those seated at the very front and very back of the plane were safe, those infected included those within several rows of the man, including on the other side of the aisle.
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A plane with a SARS-infected person in 2003. The black seat represents the index case, while those shaded in gray were infected on the plane. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...21#bib13)Other planes studied, however, did not have that level of transmission. As researchers studied the introduction of SARS to France, a nearly 15-hour flight from Hanoi to Paris infected only two of the 69 people aboard. On two other flights with an infected SARS passenger, only one person out of 561 people was infected. Both of those flights were shorter, though, just 90 minutes long.
A recent opinion piece in The Washington Post from Joseph Allen, a professor of exposure assessment science at Harvard, asserted that “You don’t get sick on airplanes any more than anywhere else,” because the ventilation system requirements for airplanes meet or exceed CDC regulations for COVID-19 rooms in hospitals.
Lessons:
• Don’t go on a plane with a cough. Everyone should wear a mask.
• If there is someone with a cough, those viral particles can likely travel more than 6 feet, but probably not throughout the plane.
• The odds of an outbreak on any individual plane trip are low.
https://www.sltrib.com/news/2020/05/23/your-guide-how/
Article outlines cases in other scenarios like bars, stores, etc.
Planes
We don’t have any direct studies on COVID-19’s transmission on airplanes, but we do have some on a related coronavirus: SARS-CoV-1.On one plane, a 72-year-old infected man with a cough in seat 14-E of a flight from Hong Kong to Beijing ended up passing SARS to 18 passengers and two flight attendants. The flight was about three hours long. While those seated at the very front and very back of the plane were safe, those infected included those within several rows of the man, including on the other side of the aisle.
A plane with a SARS-infected person in 2003. The black seat represents the index case, while those shaded in gray were infected on the plane. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...21#bib13)Other planes studied, however, did not have that level of transmission. As researchers studied the introduction of SARS to France, a nearly 15-hour flight from Hanoi to Paris infected only two of the 69 people aboard. On two other flights with an infected SARS passenger, only one person out of 561 people was infected. Both of those flights were shorter, though, just 90 minutes long.A recent opinion piece in The Washington Post from Joseph Allen, a professor of exposure assessment science at Harvard, asserted that “You don’t get sick on airplanes any more than anywhere else,” because the ventilation system requirements for airplanes meet or exceed CDC regulations for COVID-19 rooms in hospitals.
Lessons:
• Don’t go on a plane with a cough. Everyone should wear a mask.
• If there is someone with a cough, those viral particles can likely travel more than 6 feet, but probably not throughout the plane.
• The odds of an outbreak on any individual plane trip are low.
Article outlines cases in other scenarios like bars, stores, etc.
May 25, 2020, 6:28 pm
#33
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And before you get to planes, I guess there are other risks you have to survive, such as TSA lines at CLT over this weekend.
https://viewfromthewing.com/airport-...-memorial-day/
https://viewfromthewing.com/airport-...-memorial-day/
Jul 16, 2020, 4:25 pm
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Covid 19 infection rate: air travel - perhaps since beginning of summer season?
Any global or regional or country statistics out there about passengers catching covid-19 by flying (either at the airports or the airplanes?) - since maybe June - when safety measures have been ongoing at airports and at airplanes?
This is a different question than which flights around the world have shown to have covid 19 positve passengers travelling on board?
This is a different question than which flights around the world have shown to have covid 19 positve passengers travelling on board?
Jul 17, 2020, 2:21 am
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There is a study published about transmission in plane based on a sample of one flight. You can find all info in the fact-based thread in this forum.
Jul 17, 2020, 4:06 pm
#36
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That one post is #31 - it talks about SARS transmission in that flight.
As the SARs and COVIC 19 virus are both coronaviruses - it is implied that similar transmission in flights with covid 19 positive passengers.
Jul 17, 2020, 4:49 pm
#37
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Dr. Bogoch was on one of the Canadian news networks last night and said,
"the risk isn't zero, but it's very small."
Here's an interview with him from a couple weeks ago....
https://barrie.ctvnews.ca/interview-...goch-1.5013115Madison: WestJet and Air Canada are selling middle seats again, what are your thoughts on this?
Dr. Bogoch: It's Interesting. When we look at the infection transmission on an airplane, especially with an infection like this, its surprisingly not as common as what people might believe, clearly if we put more people into a crowded space, the risk goes up, but I don't think it goes up that significantly. You still have to put on a mask, you still have to practise hand hygiene, but the way that the airplanes are cleaned and the way that airflow is conducted in an airplane significantly lowers the risk of infection.
"the risk isn't zero, but it's very small."
Here's an interview with him from a couple weeks ago....
https://barrie.ctvnews.ca/interview-...goch-1.5013115Madison: WestJet and Air Canada are selling middle seats again, what are your thoughts on this?
Dr. Bogoch: It's Interesting. When we look at the infection transmission on an airplane, especially with an infection like this, its surprisingly not as common as what people might believe, clearly if we put more people into a crowded space, the risk goes up, but I don't think it goes up that significantly. You still have to put on a mask, you still have to practise hand hygiene, but the way that the airplanes are cleaned and the way that airflow is conducted in an airplane significantly lowers the risk of infection.
Jul 18, 2020, 1:01 am
#38
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That one post is #31 - it talks about SARS transmission in that flight.
As the SARs and COVIC 19 virus are both coronaviruses - it is implied that similar transmission in flights with covid 19 positive passengers.
As the SARs and COVIC 19 virus are both coronaviruses - it is implied that similar transmission in flights with covid 19 positive passengers.
Jul 19, 2020, 9:38 am
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Flights with empty middle seats decrease COVID risk 79%, study says
https://fortune.com/2020/07/16/coron...-middle-seats/
“If you plan to fly during the pandemic, you're better off choosing an airline with a policy of keeping the middle seat empty. Such a policy lowers the risk of contracting COVID from 1 in 4,400 to 1 in 7,300, according to a new academic study.
That estimate comes from Arnold Barnett, a statistics professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management. His findings—which suggest a "no middle seats" flight reduces risk by 79%—also note that the risk of dying from catching COVID on a flight are less than 1 in half a million.”
The linked article is at: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...826v2.full.pdf (not peer reviewed)
https://fortune.com/2020/07/16/coron...-middle-seats/
“If you plan to fly during the pandemic, you're better off choosing an airline with a policy of keeping the middle seat empty. Such a policy lowers the risk of contracting COVID from 1 in 4,400 to 1 in 7,300, according to a new academic study.
That estimate comes from Arnold Barnett, a statistics professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management. His findings—which suggest a "no middle seats" flight reduces risk by 79%—also note that the risk of dying from catching COVID on a flight are less than 1 in half a million.”
The linked article is at: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...826v2.full.pdf (not peer reviewed)
Jul 20, 2020, 6:21 pm
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Flights with empty middle seats decrease COVID risk 79%, study says
https://fortune.com/2020/07/16/coron...-middle-seats/
“If you plan to fly during the pandemic, you're better off choosing an airline with a policy of keeping the middle seat empty. Such a policy lowers the risk of contracting COVID from 1 in 4,400 to 1 in 7,300, according to a new academic study.
That estimate comes from Arnold Barnett, a statistics professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management. His findings—which suggest a "no middle seats" flight reduces risk by 79%—also note that the risk of dying from catching COVID on a flight are less than 1 in half a million.”
The linked article is at: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...826v2.full.pdf (not peer reviewed)
https://fortune.com/2020/07/16/coron...-middle-seats/
“If you plan to fly during the pandemic, you're better off choosing an airline with a policy of keeping the middle seat empty. Such a policy lowers the risk of contracting COVID from 1 in 4,400 to 1 in 7,300, according to a new academic study.
That estimate comes from Arnold Barnett, a statistics professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management. His findings—which suggest a "no middle seats" flight reduces risk by 79%—also note that the risk of dying from catching COVID on a flight are less than 1 in half a million.”
The linked article is at: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...826v2.full.pdf (not peer reviewed)
Does anyone see how they conclude that 1/4400 to 1/7300 is a 79% reduction? If the numbers were changed to 1/4000 and 1/8000 (to make it easy to see) the risk wold be reduced by half, or 50% because you're twice as likely to be infected if the odds are 1/4000 compared to 1/8000.
Jul 21, 2020, 5:52 am
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Does anyone see how they conclude that 1/4400 to 1/7300 is a 79% reduction? If the numbers were changed to 1/4000 and 1/8000 (to make it easy to see) the risk wold be reduced by half, or 50% because you're twice as likely to be infected if the odds are 1/4000 compared to 1/8000.
But it's either dubious math, or poorly written journalism.
Jul 26, 2020, 5:29 pm
#42
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I did see this citation (not published yet in peer reviewed article)
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Comment on this paper
In-flight Transmission Cluster of COVID-19: A Retrospective Case Series
View ORCID ProfileNaibin Yang, Yuefei Shen, Chunwei Shi, Ada Hoi Yan Ma, Xie Zhang, Xiaomin Jian, Liping Wang, Jiejun Shi, Chunyang Wu, Guoxiang Li, Yuan Fu, Keyin Wang, Mingqin Lu, Guoqing Qiandoi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.28.20040097
This article is a preprint and has not been peer-reviewed [what does this mean?]. It reports new medical research that has yet to be evaluated and so should not be used to guide clinical practice.
Abstract
Objectives: No data were available about in-flight transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Here, we report an in-flight transmission cluster of COVID-19 and describe the clinical characteristics of these patients. Methods: After a flight, laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 was reported in 12 patients. Ten patients were admitted to the designated hospital. Data were collected from 25th January to 28th February 2020. Clinical information was retrospectively collected. Results: All patients are passengers without flight attendants. The median age was 33 years, and 70% were females. None was admitted to intensive care unit, and no patients succumbed through 28th February. The median incubation period was 3.0 days and from illness onset to hospital admission was 2 days. The most common symptom was fever. Two patients were asymptomatic and negative for chest CT scan throughout the disease course. On admission, initial RT-PCR were positive in 9 patients, however initial chest CT were positive in only half patients. The median lung total severity score of chest CT was 6. Notably, Crazy-Paving pattern, pleural effusion, and ground-glass nodules were also seen. Conclusion: It is potential for COVID-19 transmission by airplane, but the symptoms are mild. Passengers and attendants must be protected during the flight.Last edited by FlyerGoldII; Jul 26, 2020 at 5:43 pm
Jul 26, 2020, 5:33 pm
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Also this CMAJ (Canadian Medical Assocation Journal) suggests that transmission is minimal
Lack of COVID-19 transmission on an international flight
Kevin L. Schwartz, Michelle Murti, Michael Finkelstein, Jerome A. Leis, Alanna Fitzgerald-Husek, Laura Bourns, Hamidah Meghani, Andrea Saunders, Vanessa Allen and Barbara Yaffe
CMAJ April 14, 2020 192 (15) E410; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.75015In response to the CMAJ news article, “Communication, transparency key as Canada faces new coronavirus threat,”1 we would like to share the public health response to the first Canadian cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Case details have been published.2 The patients travelled from Wuhan to Guangzhou, then Guangzhou to Toronto, Canada, arriving on Jan. 22, 2020. The index patient was symptomatic with dry cough during the flight. His wife developed cough on Jan. 23. Both sets of throat and nasopharyngeal swabs collected were positive for COVID-19.
Lack of COVID-19 transmission on an international flight
Kevin L. Schwartz, Michelle Murti, Michael Finkelstein, Jerome A. Leis, Alanna Fitzgerald-Husek, Laura Bourns, Hamidah Meghani, Andrea Saunders, Vanessa Allen and Barbara Yaffe
CMAJ April 14, 2020 192 (15) E410; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.75015In response to the CMAJ news article, “Communication, transparency key as Canada faces new coronavirus threat,”1 we would like to share the public health response to the first Canadian cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Case details have been published.2 The patients travelled from Wuhan to Guangzhou, then Guangzhou to Toronto, Canada, arriving on Jan. 22, 2020. The index patient was symptomatic with dry cough during the flight. His wife developed cough on Jan. 23. Both sets of throat and nasopharyngeal swabs collected were positive for COVID-19.
Last edited by NewbieRunner; Jul 27, 2020 at 9:23 am Reason: Copyright material
Jul 26, 2020, 5:38 pm
#44
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An updated version of that article published today in Canada's Globe and Mail
CORONAVIRUS INFORMATION
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What are my chances of catching COVID-19 if I take a flight?
PAUL TAYLOR
SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL
PUBLISHED 7 HOURS AGOUPDATED JULY 26, 2020
45 COMMENTS
SHARE
THE QUESTION:
I need to travel to see a sick relative. What are my chances of catching COVID-19 if I go via airplane?
THE ANSWER:
Most people assume that being cooped up in a commercial airliner is an extremely risky place to be during a pandemic. After all, passengers are in close proximity to a bunch of strangers for many hours. And there’s no doubt that infected travellers have been largely responsible for rapidly spreading SARS-CoV-2 – the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 – around the planet.
But your odds of catching the virus while onboard a plane may be actually less than you think. Frequent air exchanges, combined with safety precautions such as wearing face masks, can significantly reduce the chances of the virus being transmitted from person to person, according to infectious disease specialists.
“I think the risk of getting COVID-19 in flight is quite negligible,” says Dr. Jerome Leis, medical director of infection prevention and control at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.
He says that despite the large number of cases and frequent travel worldwide, there is very little documented evidence that people have contracted the virus during a flight.
Leis points to the example of Canada’s first two confirmed cases of COVID-19. The married couple travelled from Wuhan – the original epicentre of the outbreak – to Guangzhou, China, where they boarded a plane to Toronto and arrived back in Canada on Jan. 22.
(Link to full article: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life...take-a-flight/)
Paul Taylor is a Patient Navigation Adviser at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. He is a former Health Editor of The Globe and Mail. Find him on Twitter @epaultaylor and online at Sunnybrook’s Your Health Matters.
FOLLOW RELATED TOPICS
CORONAVIRUS INFORMATION
The Zero Canada Project provides resources to help you make the most of staying home.
Visit the hub
What are my chances of catching COVID-19 if I take a flight?
PAUL TAYLOR
SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL
PUBLISHED 7 HOURS AGOUPDATED JULY 26, 2020
45 COMMENTS
SHARE
THE QUESTION:
I need to travel to see a sick relative. What are my chances of catching COVID-19 if I go via airplane?
THE ANSWER:
Most people assume that being cooped up in a commercial airliner is an extremely risky place to be during a pandemic. After all, passengers are in close proximity to a bunch of strangers for many hours. And there’s no doubt that infected travellers have been largely responsible for rapidly spreading SARS-CoV-2 – the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 – around the planet.
But your odds of catching the virus while onboard a plane may be actually less than you think. Frequent air exchanges, combined with safety precautions such as wearing face masks, can significantly reduce the chances of the virus being transmitted from person to person, according to infectious disease specialists.
“I think the risk of getting COVID-19 in flight is quite negligible,” says Dr. Jerome Leis, medical director of infection prevention and control at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.
He says that despite the large number of cases and frequent travel worldwide, there is very little documented evidence that people have contracted the virus during a flight.
Leis points to the example of Canada’s first two confirmed cases of COVID-19. The married couple travelled from Wuhan – the original epicentre of the outbreak – to Guangzhou, China, where they boarded a plane to Toronto and arrived back in Canada on Jan. 22.
(Link to full article: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life...take-a-flight/)
Paul Taylor is a Patient Navigation Adviser at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. He is a former Health Editor of The Globe and Mail. Find him on Twitter @epaultaylor and online at Sunnybrook’s Your Health Matters.
FOLLOW RELATED TOPICS
Last edited by NewbieRunner; Jul 27, 2020 at 9:18 am Reason: Copyright material
Jul 27, 2020, 9:37 am
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