Boo Weekley said:
Rapier108 said:
Boo Weekley said:
KorbinDallas said:
How many cases has Italy exported? Time to stop flights yet?
I want to know, on average, how many people would likely eventually be infected from one person with Corona Virus flying coach? You come into direct contact with the food/bev cart people, who come into direct contact with probably 3/4 of the plain. Not looking good for the people directly next to you. I prob won't be flying for a while...
Transmission of airborne diseases on commercial aircraft has been shown to be very low due to the air circulation system's HEPA filters. This has been true for the flu, SARS, MERS, etc.
But can't this be spread pretty easily by physical contact? Think about how many people you come into contact with indirectly through the flight attendants passing our snacks/drinks and taking trash. The Virus would have to be pretty resilient, but isn't this one supposed to be?
The flu is pretty resilient on surfaces, and it loves to float in the air. Can't say how tough SARS and MERS are, but I would guess they're not wimps that die off in 20 seconds.
The people in the most danger would be someone sitting right next to the person, and perhaps a row in front.
I'd be more worried about picking up the a virus while hanging around the airport, with thousands of people all over the place, than on the flight itself.
Given we haven't seen people who were on the flights that brought the first few cases (not the evacuation flights) to the US having gotten sick, it would seem to support the risk is low. Enough time has passed where someone infected on one or more of those flights would be sick now.
This is all based on what I know about how aircraft ventilation systems are designed. The manufactures and airlines have gone to great lengths to design or retrofit aircraft to reduce the risk of disease transmission aboard as much as possible.
"If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without blood shed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves." - Sir Winston Churchill