New videos have appeared showing passengers desperately trying to save the life of a man who died of COVID-19 on a United Airlines flight last week, as it reveals that they are not yet contacted by health officials nine days after the ordeal.
Isaias Hernandez, 69, died of coronavirus and acute respiratory failure on December 14 while traveling to LA from Orlando on AU Flight 591, a coroner confirmed on Tuesday.
Hernandez, who was from Los Angeles, went into cardiac arrest in the middle of the flight and died in a Louisiana hospital after the plane made an emergency landing in New Orleans.
A new video of the incident distributed on Wednesday shows fellow passengers who risk catching the virus themselves, while they desperately performed CPR on Hernandez for about 45 minutes.
Passenger Steven Chang, who was one of three CPR-trained professionals on board, was filmed giving the man chest compressions as he lay on the Boeing 737-900 aisle for other concerned passengers.
According to TMZ, Chang developed symptoms from the flight, but gave negative results for the virus.
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Shared video on Wednesday shows passenger Steven Chang performing CPR on 69-year-old Isaias Hernandez, who died of COVID-19 on a United flight from Orlando to Los Angeles on December 14
Chang was one of three CPR-trained passengers on board who tried to save Hernandez’s life by performing
It comes after another passenger, Tony Aldapa, an EMT who also helped save Hernandez’s life-saving procedure, revealed that he also began to show symptoms of COVID-19.
But none of the men – and none of the other nearby passengers – have been contacted by the CDC since then, despite the health authority saying it would work with local health officials to reach those who could be at risk. exposure or infection.
Tony Aldapa was filmed desperately performing CPR for 45 minutes on a fellow passenger who fell unconscious on United flight last week. He says he has symptoms from flying
United Airlines said it was not responsible for seeking medical advice and confirmed that it had already given the names of all 179 passengers to the CDC.
In a statement to DailyMail.com, the CDC said it sent passenger contact information to state and local health departments where they live for public health monitoring and contact tracking.
A spokesman also referred to the CDC’s website about the process, which explains how these agencies “then try to locate these passengers and inform them of their exposure and what to do.”
But why these agencies have not yet contacted passengers is not clear.
United Airlines also faced side effects from passengers who questioned how Hernandez was allowed on board after showing symptoms of the virus.
Some said that Hernandez’s wife was also heard in flight saying that she had lost her sense of taste and smell.
TMZ reports that a spokesman told the media that they are not medical professionals and that it is up to the CDC to contact those who may have been exposed.
Aldapa told CBS it feels like he was “hit by a train” after developing symptoms.
Aldapa was among the three passengers who helped perform the CPR on the 69-year-old man during the flight. These are seen above in another video of the incident
Aldapa, a U.S. Navy veteran, said the man’s wife later told him that her husband had suffered from COVID-19 symptoms before boarding the flight.
“I had a cough, my whole body still hurts, I had a headache,” he told the news station on Tuesday.
He was scheduled to receive the COVID-19 vaccine on Friday, as he is a key health worker, but is now in quarantine awaiting the results of his coronavirus test.
Aldapa, who is a U.S. Navy veteran, said the man’s wife later told him that her husband had suffered from COVID-19 symptoms before boarding the flight.
“She told me she had symptoms, that she was short of breath and she just wanted to bring him home and they planned to test her this week,” Aldapa said.
Aldapa said he did not administer word-of-mouth when performing CPR.
Passengers are asked before boarding a flight if they have tested positive for COVID-19 or if they have any symptoms.
United has since said the man acknowledged United’s “ready to fly” pandemic health checklist before boarding.
Aldapa said he knew the risks when he started performing CPR, but that his training had begun and that he would do it again if needed.
“It was just second nature to see someone in a bad place, trying to get them out of the wrong place,” Aldapa said.
“There were three of us who were basically doing a team of labels doing chest compressions, probably about 45 minutes.”
Aldapa, as well as another nurse and an intensive care nurse, helped the man during the flight.
Footage filmed by fellow passengers showed the trio offering the man chest compressions in the aisle after he stopped breathing for about an hour in flight.
The passengers say that the man was seen on the plane shaking and sweating and breathing hard even before the flight took off.
Once the plane landed, New Orleans firefighters boarded the flight and the man was rushed to a nearby hospital.
The flight continued to Los Angeles shortly thereafter.
Aldapa said United contacted him a few days ago to say it was providing CDC with information about the passengers of the flight.
United said they had been asked by the CDC to provide a list of passengers so the agency could work with local health officials to track contacts.
“We share the information requested with the (CDC) so that they can work with local health officials to contact any client that the CDC believes may be at risk for possible exposure or infection,” United said in a statement. a statement.
Aldapa said the CDC had not yet contacted him about following up with contacts, although the coroner’s office revealed that the cause of the man’s death was related to COVID-19.
In a statement, the CDC said it is “in the process of gathering information and is in accordance with our standard operating procedures to determine whether additional public health measures are needed.
“To protect the privacy of the individual, we do not provide this information to the public.”
Other passengers on board said the CDC had not contacted them yet.