This is the time when you are more likely to be infected with COVID-19 on airplanes

• Recent research has shown that there is a 59% higher risk of virus transmission during a one-hour meal.
• Now people are calling for airlines to offer tiered meals.
• Some airlines require a test 72 hours before departure.

For all the fear associated with flying during the Covid-19 pandemic, there is now research to support concerns about some of the flying experience that could increase the risk of Covid-19 transmission on airplanes.

Recent research has shown that the risk of virus transmission during a one-hour meal on 12-hour trips is 59% higher than the risk of an entire flight.

The study comes from researchers at the University of Greenwich in London (h / t WSJ). They found that if all passengers wore full masks during the 12-hour flight, the likelihood of infection would decrease slightly depending on the mask – 73% for high-potency masks and 32% for low-potency masks.

While wearing masks has been a problem for some passengers on board flights, as seen in viral videos, the real threat is food and drink being served at the same time. During the meal service, every passenger has the opportunity to eat and this can increase the possible spread, even if the risk of the virus spreading overseas is small.

Researchers in the study, published in the Journal of Travel Medicine, urged airlines to consider staggered meal times.

If a meal service is required, airlines should keep meal times to a minimum and consider alternating meal service so that only half of the passengers (who are not adjacent) within a row of seats are fed at a time. In this way, the passengers wear masks on either side of the sensitive passenger who is being fed, thereby reducing the impact on the maximum likelihood of infection associated with the passenger next to the index passenger. Of course, this increases the time it takes to distribute food, but it reduces the maximum likelihood of infection.

Test before boarding

Another method that could eliminate the likelihood of contracting COVID-19 on a flight is for airlines to require passengers to submit a negative test before departure.

A separate study by Delta Air Lines, Mayo Clinic, and the Georgia Department of Health found that of nearly 10,000 passengers who tested negative 72 hours before flying between the United States and Italy, only five tested positive for the coronavirus.

“We will live with COVID-19 variants for some time to come. This real-world data – not simulation models – can be used by governments around the world as a blueprint for requiring vaccinations and testing instead of quarantines in order to reopen borders for international travel, ”said Dr. Henry Ting, Delta Chief Health Officer, in a press release, “Air travel risk varies based on drop and vaccination rates at the point of departure and destination, masking and other factors. However, the data gathered from this study show that routine use of a single molecular test within 72 hours of international travel for unvaccinated individuals significantly reduces the risk of COVID-19 exposure and transmission while traveling by air.

More about COVID-19: