By Brian Trusdell (NEWSMAX)
The risk of contracting the novel coronavirus on an airline flight with infected passengers is relatively small, a study by German researchers claims.
The research letter published on the Journal of the American Medical Association’s Network Open, a monthly open access journal, analyzed a 102-passenger, 4½-hour flight from Tel Aviv, Israel, to Frankfurt, Germany, aboard a Boeing 737 on March 9, before strict mitigation protocols were adopted by airlines.
It discovered that seven, then unknowingly, infected members of a 24-person tour group transmitted the virus only to two other passengers, both of whom were seated within two rows.
“We discovered 2 likely SARS-CoV-2 transmissions on this flight, with 7 index cases,” according to the report written by researcher Dr. Sandra Ciesek of the Institute for Medical Virology at Goethe University in Frankfurt. “These transmissions may have also occurred before or after the flight.”
“The risk of transmission of droplet mediated infections on an aircraft depends on proximity to an index case and on other factors, such as movement of passengers and crew, fomites, and contact among passengers in the departure gate,” it also said.
Several days before the flight, the members of the tourist group unknowingly came in contact with a hotel manager who later tested positive for the novel coronavirus. When the plane landed, the tourist group was tested and seven tested positive: four displayed symptoms of coronavirus disease-19, or COVID-19, two were “pre-symptomatic” and one showed no symptoms.
Researchers then contacted 71 of the 78 other passengers on the flight and discovered two had tested positive. They attributed the ventilation system that circulated the air in the plane downward as a possible reason for limiting transmission of the virus.
“The airflow in the cabin from the ceiling to the floor and from the front to the rear may have been associated with a reduced transmission rate,” they said. “It could be speculated that the rate may have been reduced further had the passengers worn masks.”
Fox News quoted the chief of infectious diseases at Mount Sinai South Nassau in Hewlett, New York, Aaron Glatt, as saying with mitigation protocols in effect, chance of catching COVID-19 on an airplane is very small.
“Airplane trips, especially if they are of a longer duration, have the potential to transmit infection from an infected person to the people sitting in their immediate vicinity,” he said.
“The good news, however, is that even with no attempts to prevent spread, spread was limited to only those in close proximity. Plus, nowadays with a better understanding of viral transmission, and recognizing the importance of masking and social distancing as possible, the likelihood of transmitting COVID-19 to someone on an airplane is very low.”