https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/undefinedWouldn’t it be great if congress mandated humane seat width and seat pitch as a requirement for government subsidization. Maybe the silver lining will be reduced seat density offset by increase in ticket prices. Not sure about the math but 1/3 more seat room offset by 1/3 higher ticket prices, or whatever the ratio should be, seems reasonable to me.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/undefinedIf they could invent a face mask allowing social distancing down to two feet then we could kill many birds with one stone.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/undefinedThen we eliminate middle seat bookings except for family members filling a row. Eliminate recline (to keep pax' heads spaced evenly!).
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/undefined1. Substantial passenger loads can be sustained.
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/undefined2. No more arm rest fights.
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/undefined3. No more passenger of size conflicts.
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/undefined4. No more need to gate check carryons.
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/undefined5. Unfortunately it would be necessary to resort to astronaut style food, like instant breakfast and soda straws.

In what world do seats recline enough for there to be any perceivable benefit to this?

They just have to give everyone face masks and a few sets of disposable gloves. Keep them on at all times except for eating. Maybe stagger the meal service on longer flights over a longer period of time so everyone's mask isn't off at the same time. Have lots of wet wipes/clorox wipes available.

For mass transit it will be about reducing risk as much as possible without bankrupting the provider (in this case, airlines). You take your chances if you fly. It's going to be this way anyway for the next 18 months or so after shelter in place restrictions are gradually lifted. Those most at risk will have to be more cautious. The rest of us will have to do what we can while at the same time allowing some sort of normality to return.

This disease is highly infectious and contagious, so the shelter in place precautions at the moment are saving lives. If it was left to run rampant we'd have bodies piled up more than we have already. The comment a few up about the death rate from flu being the same just isn't an accurate statement at this time. If we let it go, a lot more people would have died vs the common seasonal flu.

One advantage of mandating things like blocking the middle seats is that it would level the playing field for social distancing for all airines. Companies would no longer be able to expect that their employees on business trips choose a less expensive flight with less social distancing compared with a more expensive flight with more social distancing.

Rightly or wrongly, most of the travelling public chose on price alone so it's unlikely to happen.

Here's a question for everyone who takes everything "social distancing" as bible. Would you take a plane ride with someone who knowingly has it, but is 6 feet away? All of your slowing the spread and flattening the curve are all useful for the big picture. Be reasonable about your reality though.

UK budget airline EasyJet has announced that when it resumes services, they will initially be blocking the middle seats on their flights.

I wouldn't mind if the middle seats were blocked off permanently. The airlines would have to fly more planes to serve the demand when it goes back to normal in a year

This includes most companies, which pay for employee business trips only for the cheapest air fare.

If the cost of removing, storing, and replacing seats is less than the cost of the fuel saved flying them around, then airlines will remove them. Given current fuel prices, that's unlikely.

Why would they want to prevent me from sitting next to my wife?

The CDC estimates that in the entire flu season (from October 1 though April 4) there were 24,000 - 62,000 flu deaths. As of yesterday, there were more than that coronavirus deaths, and the number of the latter is still increasing (estimated to hit 3,000/day by the end of May, and that doesn't take into account all the idiots who are breaking or ending quarantines).

12,000 / 45,000,000 = 0.0267%

Estimates for this year are 39 million - 56 million illnesses, 24,000 - 62,000 flu deaths. At the low end for both, that's 0.0615%. At the high end for both, that's 1.1%. At the middle of the range for both, that's 0.09%. I'd say the New York Times numbers are quite reasonable, a lot better than your "five times" claim.

Based on resolved cases, SARS-COV-2 is a lot more deadly.

It's not like the extra time before someone catches it might mean a better treatment is available, or that the slowing down of infections means hospitals won't get overloaded. Not at all. /sarcasm

What counts is the cost of the cases of SARS-COV-2 that were avoided due to the action.

In general, seats don't come out as singles. They're manufactured and fitted in pairs, triples, quadruples etc. To remove middle seats airlines would require manufacturers to start from scratch and design and qualify new individual seats which is not a short term project and unlikely to happen given what we currently know about Covid.