Open middle seats could reduce Covid exposure of unmasked passengers

View of the cockpit of a Delta flight between Minneapolis and Baltimore on April 25, 2020.

Sebastien Duval | AFP | Getty Images

Keeping middle seats open on aircraft could reduce passenger exposure to the virus that causes Covid-19 by more than half, according to a new study published Wednesday.

Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Kansas State University found in laboratory modeling that passenger exposure to SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19, on wide-body, narrow-body aircraft could be reduced by between 23 % and 57% if airlines leave the middle seats open – even if he doesn’t wear masks.

The study comes after airlines spent much of last year promoting intensified clean-up and on-board filtering procedures to calm passengers worried about flying during the pandemic. The demand for travel has returned somewhat as more people are vaccinated against Covid-19.

US airlines, including JetBlue Airways and Southwest Airlines, limited capacity on board their aircraft earlier in the pandemic, but have since abandoned the policy, citing hospital-level filtering and other safety measures as limiting the risk of exposure. Delta Air Lines plans to stop blocking the middle seats next month, the last American airline to make the switch. It broke its capacity caps over the Easter weekend, however, during a staff shortage that contributed to dozens of flight cancellations.

The researchers’ study did not examine the wearing of the mask on flights, which became a policy of the airline and the federal government during the pandemic.

However, they cited a case study from New Zealand that stated that “a virus aerosol is emitted from a masked infectious passenger, so distancing may be useful”.

They used a surrogate virus to replace SARS-CoV-2 in the air.

.Source