Korean Research Shows How Corona Spread on Flights
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Airplane interior
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a new report that indicates the coronavirus can be spread by asymptomatic individuals to others on the same airline flight.
A study looked at cases of transmission in flight by patients with no symptoms.
Two flights, from Italy to South Korea, were studied by researchers. In each instance, the passengers were checked for symptoms prior to boarding. If there were any symptoms present, the passenger was not allowed on the flight, which takes 11 hours. Both before takeoff and during the flight, the crew observed tight infection control protocols from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
While on board, the passengers were required to wear N95 respiratory masks, except for during meals and bathroom breaks. Upon arrival in South Korea, the passengers and crew were quarantined for two weeks at a government facility where they were checked regularly for Covid-19.
The first day of quarantine, six of the 299 passengers tested positive and were hospitalized. Two weeks later they were without symptoms. On the fourteenth day of quarantine, one of the passengers who had tested negative came up positive. That passenger had worn a mask but had used a bathroom on the plane shared by one of the asymptomatic passengers. They were seated three rows apart. The research concluded the infection was gained in flight.
No flight crew or medical staff on the flight tested positive during quarantine.
The results of the second flight were similar, with three asymptomatic passengers testing positive early in quarantine, meaning they were likely already infected when they boarded, and a fourth passenger testing positive on day14, indicating the illness was transmitted from one of the ill passengers to the fourth passenger.
How the virus was transmitted on the plane is unclear, but contaminated surfaces are suspected.
The researchers concluded that wearing a mask, disinfecting hands after touching surfaces such as in the restroom that may be contaminated and physical distancing before boarding and after leaving the plane may help prevent spread of Covid-19.