How to Avoid Coronavirus on Flights: Forget Masks, Says Top Airline Doctor

[90DayFinancier 910]

By Kyunghee Park

https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2020-02-06/want-to-avoid-virus-forget-face-masks-top-airline-doctor-says

 

Forget face masks and rubber gloves. The best way to avoid the coronavirus is frequent hand washing, according to a medical adviser to the world’s airlines.

The virus can’t survive long on seats or armrests, so physical contact with another person carries the greatest risk of infection on a flight, said David Powell, a physician and medical adviser to the International Air Transport Association. Masks and gloves do a better job of spreading bugs than stopping them, he said.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

 

   Common sense is great, and hand washing is a big part of that, as are proper use of masks. Situational awareness still applies. It's an airborne virus in the same family as the common cold. If someone on a flight is sick with something like coronavirus, they are going to spread it with every cough and sneeze. Gloves, respiratory masks, and hand washing can't really help at that point. Once you get on a plane, you are leaving it up to fate.

 

  The best way to avoid coronavirus, and the only thing they really should be stressing, is avoiding flights if at all possible, and also avoiding crowded areas as much as possible.   

 

  

[ADW & JOP 146]

1 hour ago, 90DayFinancier said:

By Kyunghee Park

https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2020-02-06/want-to-avoid-virus-forget-face-masks-top-airline-doctor-says

 

Forget face masks and rubber gloves. The best way to avoid the coronavirus is frequent hand washing, according to a medical adviser to the world’s airlines.

The virus can’t survive long on seats or armrests, so physical contact with another person carries the greatest risk of infection on a flight, said David Powell, a physician and medical adviser to the International Air Transport Association. Masks and gloves do a better job of spreading bugs than stopping them, he said.

I can't agree with this more. I think there's a lot of misinformation regarding the use of surgical masks to prevent getting the coronavirus, and by extension, influenza. Many believe that they are at reduced risk of getting the virus by wearing a surgical mask. People get a false sense of security, not realizing that if someone coughs on you, the virus can land on your mask and when you manipulate the mask, it can get on your hands, putting people at risk of acquiring the virus. In healthcare, there is a "proper" way of putting on a one-time use mask and glove and removed in a step-wise, systematic fashion that includes handwashing before and after encounter a patient with infectious symptoms before disposing the equipment - this is not how the general public approaches it.

 

The best way to avoid getting sick with these viruses is handwashing before eating/touching your face. Put the phone away when you eat - washing your hands, then touching an infected surface, puts you at risk again.

 

[Cornflake 108]

Wearing mask is better than nothing. 

I'm not sure if you familiar with the fact that in China it's prohibited to go outside without a mask. 

[ADW & JOP 146]

10 minutes ago, Cornflake said:

Wearing mask is better than nothing. 

I'm not sure if you familiar with the fact that in China it's prohibited to go outside without a mask. 

Wearing a mask may reduce spreading the virus if you already have symptoms, ie if you cough and sneeze into a mask, it reduces spread to other people, and I am all for wearing a mask if you have these infectious symptoms.

But again, it creates a false sense of security for people who want to avoid getting these viruses. If anyone decides to wear a mask, make sure you wash your hands before you touch your mask, discard it, then wash your hands again.

 

Also, in first year medical school, an infectious control nurse did any experiment with several medical students. They sprayed a dye that simulated infectious material, asked them to go wash their hands, and then shined some kind of light on their hands to show how much of the dye remained on their hands. The medical students were well aware of the demonstration and most still came back with hands with residual dye. Make sure you scrub every part of your hands and rinse your hands well.

Edited February 6, 2020 by ADW & JOP

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

26 minutes ago, Cornflake said:

Wearing mask is better than nothing. 

I'm not sure if you familiar with the fact that in China it's prohibited to go outside without a mask. 

Wearing a mask is more about making people feel good about themselves than it is about preventing illness, at least as regards typical surgical masks.  If YOU are the sick one, then yes, this can help mitigate your spreading of viruses.

 

In order to obtain a small amount of protection from external viruses, one would need to properly wear a N95 mask or better.

[TBoneTX 45,292]

14 hours ago, ADW & JOP said:

Make sure you scrub every part of your hands and rinse your hands well.

One recommendation seems to be to scrub for the length of time it takes to hum "Happy Birthday" or "Yankee Doodle" twice.