Tag Archives for coronavirus.
A RAND Corporation study looks at travel patterns to estimate “China’s reported COVID-19 caseload was undercounted by a factor of nearly 40.”
In fact based on outbound air passenger numbers, to have just an even (50/50) chance of COVID spreading to Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, and the United States – as it had by January 22 – you’d need an infection rate 37 times greater than China officially reports.
American Airlines CEO Doug Parker told employees this week that his airline will soon copy others (such as United) that are requiring passengers to complete health screening questions as part of the check-in process, to keep people with COVID-19 off of planes.
The biggest challenge with how easily SARS-CoV-2 spreads is that pre-symptomatic people are perhaps the most likely to infect others. Some studies suggest that people shed the most virus in the two days leading up to symptoms. So taking temperatures, convincing people to stay home when sick, only goes so far. That’s why healthy people are asked to wear masks, because they may be infecting others without realizing it.
Another big problem though is that even people who test positive for the virus aren’t staying home. Some are hiding their diagnosis, and still traveling.
Air travel hit bottom April 14, with just 87,534 people clearing TSA security checkpoints in the United States. TSA data shows that Monday, June 22 exceeded 600,000 people – for the first time since March 19.
The novel coronavirus has cast a shadow on the whole world since January, though not everyone realized it until late February or early March. It’s led to a deeper recession than we’ve seen in any of our lifetimes, and one of the industries hit the absolute hardest has been travel.
The good news, though, is that we’re not that far away from a real recovery – in travel and for the world.
They claim they can offer “no cases of COVID-19 contamination” through “100 percent monitoring of people and goods before boarding” and strict health protocols. There are great protocols, but there are two problems that are stoppers.
Florida reported that 260 out of 500 employees at Orlando International Airport (MCO) tested positive for the novel coronavirus. They did widespread testing at the airport as a result of a handful of cases there, followed up by contact tracing. The 52% positivity rate is huge, but – without more information about the specific roles involved – makes sense for indoor air conditioned environment.
Just yesterday I reported that 3 of the world’s 5 largest airlines right now are in China as the country gets life back to normal and its aviation sector returns to something more like normal ahead of the rest of the world.
Now, though, flights to and from Beijing are being cancelled en masse on Wednesday – 1,255 flights, or 70% of the total scheduled for the day – as the government tries to contain a new COVID-19 outbreak.
In the spirit of understanding just how countries that are working to ‘crush’ the virus are approaching opening, and the hoops they’re requiring people to go through, I was fascinated by the “fast lane” jointly announced by Singapore and China to provide for essential business and official travel without a 14 day quarantine.
Calling is a “Fast Lane” is like calling a dump truck a sports car.
There are reports across social media of flights where the majority of passengers aren’t wearing masks, even though masks are ostensibly required by nearly all U.S. airlines. It isn’t just people forgetting, or not bothering, there are many people voicing strong objection online to be required to don a mask. And I’d like to better understand the reasons why.
You’re going to take the mask off to eat and drink, but why not put it back on when you aren’t doing those things? What’s the actual reason, and why is that reason more compelling than potentially reducing the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus? I appreciate comments, especially from those who are opposed to mask wearing on planes.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
