The coronavirus does nothing to the scientific models with which we try to describe it. Moving in airplanes, for example, is completely different than previously thought. German virologists traced the fate of the passengers on the March flight from Tel Aviv to Frankfurt. It turned out that only 2 people got infected during the flight, although there were sick people on board. How it’s possible?
Most experts have argued so far that in the case of the coronavirus, like other viruses that attack the respiratory system, the infection zone in an airplane consists of 2 rows of seats in front of and behind the infected person. However, a study by virologists at Frankfurt University Hospital found otherwise. Its results were published on August 18 by the medical journal JAMA Network Open. What have we learned?
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They were infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus on board
Virologists examined people who made a 4-hour and 40-minute flight from Tel Aviv to Frankfurt in March. 102 passengers boarded the plane, including 24 tourists who had contact with a hotel manager in Israel who had been infected with COVID-19. The Israelis warned the Germans and they tested the tourists after landing. Seven tested positive right away and another seven tested positive a little later.
Four to five weeks after their arrival, virologists from the Frankfurt hospital contacted the remaining 78 passengers. 90 percent of them agreed to take part in the study. They told who they had contact with and what symptoms they noticed. A few have been tested.
The Germans concluded that only two passengers probably became infected during the flight. These were people sitting on the other side of the aisle compared to the seven tourists who tested positive at the airport.
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Interestingly, this does not agree with the current model, because, for example, a person sitting directly in front of two infected did not become infected.
– This person, occupying row 44, said that she had a long conversation with two passengers in a row of 45 – says Sandra Ciesek, head of the Institute of Medical Virology in Frankfurt, – I am even more surprised that she was not infected.
Two passengers sitting directly behind another infected tourist were also not infected with COVID-19.
“We were very surprised to discover only two possible transmissions,” said Sebastian Hoehl of the same Frankfurt institute. – The rate was much lower than expected, even though no one was wearing the mask. It’s reassuring.
However, not all passengers were examined, so it cannot be ruled out that someone else became infected.
However, the result of the study confirms that transmission of the virus in an airplane is possible if masks are not worn. It was also recalled that numerous studies of flights from Wuhan in China, taking place at the beginning of the pandemic, showed that wearing masks effectively eliminates transmission on board.
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