IATA: Risk of COVID-19 transmission inflight is low
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) demonstrated the low incidence of inflight COVID-19 transmission with an updated tally of published cases. Since the start of 2020 there have been 44 cases of COVID-19 reported in which transmission is thought to have been associated with a flight journey (inclusive of confirmed, probable and potential cases). Over the same period some 1.2 billion passengers have traveled.
“The risk of a passenger contracting COVID-19 while onboard appears very low. With only 44 identified potential cases of flight-related transmission among 1.2 billion travelers, that’s one case for every 27 million travelers. We recognize that this may be an underestimate but even if 90% of the cases were un-reported, it would be one case for every 2.7 million travelers. We think these figures are extremely reassuring. Furthermore, the vast majority of published cases occurred before the wearing of face coverings inflight became widespread,” said Dr. David Powell, IATA’s Medical Advisor.New insight into why the numbers are so low has come from the joint
publication by Airbus, Boeing and Embraer of separate computational
fluid dynamics (CFD) research conducted by each manufacturer in their
aircraft. While methodologies differed slightly, each detailed
simulation confirmed that aircraft airflow systems do control the
movement of particles in the cabin, limiting the spread of viruses. Data
from the simulations yielded similar results:
- Aircraft airflow
systems, High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters, the natural barrier of
the seatback, the downward flow of air, and high rates of air exchange
efficiently reduce the risk of disease transmission on board in normal times.
- The addition of mask-wearing amid pandemic concerns adds a further and significant extra layer of protection, which makes being seated in close proximity in an aircraft cabin safer than most other indoor environments.
Full article here: https://centreforaviation.com/members/direct-news/research-points-to-low-risk-for-covid-19-transmission-inflight-540140
