With the promise of a brighter new year ahead, many of us have begun thinking about travel plans. If you’ve just booked a vacation, or are thinking about it, you may be wondering, how safe is it to fly right now?
Covid-19 numbers are higher than ever, and we know it will take time for vaccine distribution to have an impact. The CDC is cautioning people to avoid travel, but of course many are weighing the risk factors and making the decision to take a trip anyway.
Or maybe you must travel for work or personal reasons – or you’re just thinking ahead. I’m not here to judge. Regardless of your situation, you’re probably concerned about what type of risk flying represents to your health.
Before I flew for the first time since the pandemic began, I was extremely concerned. After doing quite a bit of research, I felt more comfortable making the decision to fly.
Even before Covid, we’ve all heard someone say that they “always” get sick after they travel, or they “picked up a cold on the plane.” In fact, there is quite a bit of evidence that suggests that airplanes actually DON’T make you sick
It turns out that the air inside an airplane is as clean as that inside an operating room. The air in the cabin is constantly flowing from above down to return vents below your seats. Half the air is vented outside and the other half is passed through HEPA filtration systems that filter out 99.97% of particles. In fact, the entire air volume of the cabin is changed over every 2-4 minutes.
So then why DOES it seem like you often get sick after traveling? Well, think about all the other activities you do when you fly – you probably take other forms of public transportation, stand in long lines, and experience a different climate. You are surrounded by strangers at all times – and often indoors, especially when you dine in restaurants. You may stay in unfamiliar surroundings, overeat or eat unhealthy food, experience jet-lag or altered sleep. These are all factors that can affect your immune system at the same time they expose you to germs. It may not be the plane to blame. Of course, this calls in to question whether you should travel at ALL – but that’s a topic for another blog post.
The first time we traveled out of state post-pandemic, we decided to drive. We chose that option for a host of reasons, but the biggest was to try to limit our exposure to Covid as much as possible. But driving brings its own set of risks that in my opinion, are harder to control.
Because of the length of our drive, we needed to spend the night at a hotel midway to our destination (Walt Disney World). We encountered guests in the lobby while we were checking in. They ignored the sign at the front door stating that masks were required, came in un-masked and stood right behind us. The front desk clerk chose not to say anything (and neither did we – they looked like the kind of people you don’t want to mess with), but it was nerve-wracking.
We chose drive-throughs for our meals along the way, but we naturally had to stop for gas and restroom breaks multiple times each day. I’m not sure if it was the areas we were driving through or some other reason, but we saw more mask-less patrons at gas stations than we’d seen all summer at home. We may have been better off at an airport with security enforcing the mask rule.
According studies cited by International Air Transport Association, less than 100 cases of Covid-19 have been linked to air travel out of the more than 1.2 billion passengers that flew in 2020. Now, that number is likely low as contact tracing has not always been reliable. But even if the actual number is 100 times that, you’ve still less than one case for every million travelers.
I personally felt reassured enough by the data I was reading to go ahead and take the flight – but I wanted to make sure that I was taking every precaution I could. Here are some things you can do to mitigate your risks:
- Break up longer flights. Normally, I search for non-stop flights, but the longer you are exposed to a contagious person, the more your risk goes up.
- Fly Delta if you can. Currently, Delta is the only domestic carrier that is still keeping middle seats open (at least through March 30th). Barring that, choose less popular flight times.
- Find an empty gate nearby yours to wait so you can distance yourself from other passengers in the airport.
- Wear the best mask you can. In fact, wear two – that’s what I did. Four layers of material can provide up to 80-90% filtration. Your mask should have at least two layers, be well fitting with no gaps and no breathing valves. While purchasing n95 masks isn’t recommended as the supply should be reserved for healthcare workers, you may have some laying around your house that you could use.
- There is evidence that face shields can help prevent respiratory droplets from entering your eyes. I didn’t wear one, but you may want to consider it – just know that it isn’t a replacement for a mask.
- Try to avoid leaving your seat if at all possible. Go to the restroom before you board. Moving around puts you closer to others on the plane.
- Bring sanitizer and disinfecting wipes. Wipe down your armrests, seatbelt, tray and the air vent nozzle above your head.
- Avoid eating or drinking on the plane (or slip a straw up under your mask). Any time you have your mask off to eat or drink, you are increasing your risk.
- Get tested and/or quarantine before and after travel to lower the risk of exposing others should you have been exposed.
We are in a rapidly changing situation and I will do my best to keep you informed of changing travel protocols, health passports and travel advisories. Whether or not you choose to travel now or in the upcoming months is a personal decision that shouldn’t be made lightly. I am not claiming to be an expert on infectious disease or risk analysis, so please do your own research before you make the decision to travel.
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