How safe is flying now? Scientists answer

An epidemiologist and a professor of environmental health have thought about flying for "The Conversation" – not only as scientists, but also as mothers. They come to the conclusion that you yourself are not yet ready to get back on a plane.

Nevertheless, Kacey Ernst, Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Arizona and Paloma Beamer, Associate Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Arizona, how everyone can minimize their risk.

This is the risk of infection when flying

According to the scientists, the minimum distance of 1.5 meters on the plane cannot be maintained. They remind you that asymptomatic people can also transmit the novel coronavirus. The risk of infection also increases with the time spent together in a confined space and thus with how many droplets carrying the virus were suspended in the air.

Reading tip: You can read all the new developments on the outbreak of the corona virus in the news ticker

However, Christian Drosten, Director of Virology at the Berlin Charité, is less concerned about these infectious aerosols. In the NDR podcast, he said that aircraft know "that the aerosol risk is relatively low." Certainly the few rows in front of and behind a victim as well as the passengers to the left and right of it. "Otherwise you don't assume that the entire flight cabin would be affected by an aerosol."

Alexander Kekulé has a similar opinion. The director of the Institute for Medical Microbiology at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg sees no great risk of infection when flying, as he stated in the program "hard but fair". Provided that the air conditioning system that filters out viruses is switched on – even before and after landing. “If it is running, it is very, very unlikely that someone will get infected who is sitting more than a row away from me,” says Kekulé. However, anyone who gets close to an infected person is not necessarily protected. "If someone sits in front of or behind me and coughs at me all the time, there is a risk that I will become infected."

Secondly, Ernst and Beamer name the risk of infection from contaminated surfaces, i.e. shared armrests, the handle of the toilet door or folding table. Viruses could survive here for hours. Anyone who touches them and then touches their mouth, nose or eyes could get infected. However, experts like Drosten generally attribute only about ten percent of corona infections to such smear infections.