Is It Safe To Take A Flight During The COVID-19 Pandemic?

Public health experts say staying home is the best way to protect yourself and others from coronavirus. But if, beyond the restrictions imposed by the various governments, getting on a plane is inevitable and necessary, it is It is important to know how to reduce the risk of exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, responsible for the generation of the disease already known around the world, COVID-19.

The truth is, flights are getting more congested and more and more airlines are planning to stop blocking and deactivating seats to accommodate the growing number of passengers.

As of early 2021, Southwest joined United and American Airlines in enabling the sale of all available tickets. For its part, JetBlue has reduced the number of stranded seats and, like Delta and Alaska, plans to remove all restrictions this year.

The airline industry says flying is safe and points to an industry-funded report that the risk of contagion on airplanes is very low if everyone is wearing a chin strap.because the devices have good ventilation and powerful air filters.

But the Centers for Disaster Control and Prevention (CDC, for its acronym in English) point out that sitting within 2 meters of another person, sometimes for hours, can increase the risk of contagion. And while airlines continue to require passengers to wear face masks, there is no guarantee that everyone will comply. More than 1,000 people who refused to wear masks have been kicked from US airline flights.

Flying also means spending time in lines for security checks at airports and in boarding areas., where you might also come into contact with other people.

In an early April travel update, the CDC relaxed their guidelines on national and international travel for vaccinated people, saying fully vaccinated travelers “can travel safely to the United States,” but noted that there is a potentially very high risk when it comes to international travel, due to the variations that occur in different countries such as Brazil, UK and South Africa.

However, the body continues to advise against non-essential travel due to the increasing increase in viral infections. The data is not minor, because, according to data provided by Johns Hopkins University, the number of active cases stands at 56 million people worldwide, who are currently suffering from the disease. The figure in Argentina according to the Ministry of Health corresponds to 258,000 active positive cases throughout the country.

Globally, daily new cases of COVID-19 increased for the sixth consecutive week through April 6, according to World Health Organization statistics, with more than 4 million new cases and 71,000 deaths weekly.

According to Linsey Marr, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech University, “there are three factors to consider: the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in the population, the jugular and ventilation“.

If the prevalence of the virus -In epidemiology, we speak of the proportion of individuals in a group or a population who present a certain characteristic or a certain event which is generally expressed as a fraction, as a percentage or as a number of cases per 10,000 or 100,000 people – she is tall, according to Marr, “there is a good chance that a person in this location will be infected inside an airplane“.

Likewise, for the expert who studies the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 by air or aerosol, “we are still learning the effectiveness of vaccines against variants of the virus and how long they can protect. people”.

Studies of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna inoculants show that they only protect 90% against the coronavirus, not 95%, as shown in clinical trials. Translated into reality, it means, For every million fully vaccinated people who fly, around 100,000 could continue to be infected. In this sense, the role of the mask takes on a primordial role, since “the agent at the origin of the disease can remain in the air for an hour thanks to microscopic respiratory drops called aerosols”, specifies the specialist of the environmental engineering.

That is why Those who are vaccinated may still receive COVID-19 and pass it on to others, alert the CDC. In March 2020, they claimed that an unmasked and asymptomatic passenger had infected 12 colleagues who were in the same sector of the plane, including two seated in economy class and a crew member on a 10-hour international flight.

The risk of transmission on board during long flights is real, said the CDC’s investigation, because “not only can they lead to the importation of COVID-19 cases with different variants, but they can also create the conditions for overcast events to be generated after the fact.”

However, a report from Harvard University published in October 2020 concluded that the risk of catching the novel coronavirus from an airplane is rare, as long as people are covered in masks, the airport takes security measures and the planes are equipped with HEPA filters, i.e. for high efficiency air particles or particle arrestor high efficiency for its acronyms in English. HEPA filters are designed to remove 99.97% of dust, pollen, mold, bacteria and other airborne particles.

The problem is that not all planes have this type of filter. Private leisure jets and many small planes rented by companies to transport their executives between meetings do not have HEPA filtration.

Regional airlines around the world can also use older piston-engine jets, turboprop, and aircraft originally built without HEPA filters to supplement their fleets, carrying thousands of travelers to regional destinations or beyond. large air terminals for making connections.

Many of these small planes, including regional planes, do not need HEPA filters to purify the cabin air because it is never recirculated – the air is constantly being renewed from outside the aircraft. During the flight. The air, often referred to as a “fresh air system”, is heated by the engines, destroying many impurities, before being cooled and entering the passenger compartment.

Regarding the third point raised by Marr, the expert in airborne COVID-19 transmission said that “When HEPA ventilation systems operate on an airplane, this filtration makes traveling on a large airplane safer than eating in a restaurant.“. The problem arises when the ventilation mechanisms are not guaranteed.

Recommendations include using the mask at all times, covering the nose, mouth, and chin, if possible. choose non-stop flights And in the opportunities that can be chosen for outdoor spaces, choose these environments and finally, on the way to airports, travel by car with the windows down, to promote cross ventilation.

KEEP READING: