Reduce risk of coronavirus when flying
Experts publish guide to help minimize exposure
On some JSX flights, customers will notice a sign of the COVID-19 times. The regional airline installed removable, clear plastic barriers similar to sneeze guards to separate the rows of its Embraer 135 aircraft, according to the Arizona Republic, which is a part of the USA TODAY Network.
It’s one of the things JSX Chief Operating Officer Randy McKinney said the airline is testing as it looks for ways to make people feel safe flying during the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s a people-centric issue, and we have to think of crew members as well as customers,” McKinney said.
Paloma Beamer is an associate professor of environmental health science at the University of Arizona College of Public Health and president of the International Society of Exposure Science, a field that studies how to minimize exposure to health risks in the environment.
Working with Kacey Ernst, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Arizona, she published a guide on what to consider when deciding whether to board a plane and ways to reduce the risk.
Travelers should consider how many surfaces could have the virus and make sure those are disinfected. Those include tray tables, arm rests, seat belts and the seat itself, bathroom doors or seats in waiting areas.
“Even though we personally wouldn’t fly, we can think about precautions that one could take,” Beamer said.
Here are some of their recommendations to help limit exposure:
• Practice social distancing and good hygiene. Wash your hands. Bring hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes to clean surfaces. Consider bringing a ziplock bag to put your ID in until you have a chance to disinfect it after it’s handled by airport personnel.
• Consider connecting flights. Beamer said shorter flights, rather than one long one, would limit the time in the vicinity of a possibly infected person in a nearby seat. You’re also less likely to need to use the bathroom, which will reduce the amount of time spent in the aisle.
• Sit by the window. Selecting the window seat reduces the amount of people sitting around you, and you’re farther from people in the aisle.
• Wear a mask. “Requiring face masks is another example of an engineering control because you’re trying to stop (the virus) as much as possible as close to the source, which is the infected person,” Beamer said.
• Open the air vent. Most planes have filters that remove 99.9% of particles from the air while bringing in outside air. Beamer said the added turbulence from the filtered air will push the nonfiltered air away.