A record number of Covid-19 cases were traced back to an April 4 Vistara flight from New Delhi to Hong Kong. (Photo by Nasir Kachroo)
NurPhoto via Getty ImagesThere is a new record for the number of coronavirus infections traced back to a single commercial airline flight. A whopping 47 passengers who flew on Vistara flight 6395 from New Delhi to Hong Kong on April 4 have since tested positive for Covid-19. That number represents 25% of the 188 passengers on board.
All of the passengers on the Vistara flight had tested negative for the virus within 72 hours prior to departure, in keeping with Hong Kong’s travel requirements. Yet 25 travelers tested positive immediately after landing in Hong Kong, and a further 22 cases were discovered on day 12.
While this happened on the other side of the world, Americans should not assume it could never happen here — or that it hasn’t already happened. But we may never know. The United States has never implemented a contact tracing program for air travelers — even more than a year into the pandemic, and even as new variants pop up around the world.
One likely reason is that the airline industry has pushed back on government-mandated restrictions, while issuing its own research and implementing protocols it claims prove that flying is a low-risk activity.
Last October, the airline industry released a study that concluded the “risk of contracting the virus on board appears to be in the same category as being struck by lightning,” while another study, out the same month from the U.S. Department of Defense and United Airlines, found that airline passengers wearing masks are at extremely low risk of contracting Covid-19 on planes, even during packed flights, due to the aggressive air filtration and circulation systems on planes.
At the same time, multiple independent studies — from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Ireland, Vietnam and other countries — have found that Covid-19 can indeed spread on long-haul flights. In each case, researchers traced Covid-19 outbreaks back to one or more individuals who had recently flown on a commercial flight.
India’s Covid-19 infections have spiked recently due to a new, more infectious “double mutant” variant of the coronavirus. New variants are constantly appearing around the world, including recent new strains discovered in Tanzania and the Philippines. They are popping up here in the United States, too — most recently in Oregon.
In January, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that the United States would begin requiring passengers flying into the U.S. from other countries to show a recent negative coronavirus test before boarding. But the very next month, following pressure from the airline industry, the White House scuttled a proposal that would have required travelers to show negative Covid-19 tests before boarding domestic flights.
The CDC has no robust, transparent post-flight contact tracing operation in place, nor has it announced a plan to start one. In February, Airlines for America, the U.S. airline industry trade organization, issued a press release stating that its seven passenger airline members – Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines – pledged support for a voluntary international contact tracing program.
The key word is “voluntary.” The group suggested that airlines would ask travelers if they wished to submit their names, email addresses, physical addresses and phone numbers. If so, the airlines would pass the information to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). No action plan or dates were noted in the press release.
Countries with robust post-flight contact-tracing systems in place routinely find passengers who test positive after flying. An excellent example is our neighbor to the north.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Canadian government has maintained a publicly accessible database, which allows travelers to easily look up whether they were potentially exposed to Covid-19 on a recent flight. The data includes inbound and outbound international flights and all domestic flights.
As soon as Canadian health authorities receive a report that a recent traveler tested positive, the flight is entered into the database. This allows recent travelers to see if anyone on their flight tested positive and to watch for symptoms. Flights are removed from the database after two weeks, in keeping with Canada's mandatory 14-day quarantine period upon arrival.
From the onset of the coronavirus pandemic to now, the Canadian Public Health Agency’s contact-tracing effort has identified thousands of international and domestic flights. For the last recorded week, from April 10-16, the list includes 58 international flights and 57 domestic flights that carried at least one passenger who later tested positive after flying.
Watchers of the Canadian database will regularly see flights between the U.S. to Canada listed. In the last week, for example, positive Covid-19 cases were recorded for 16 flights from the United States to Canada and four flights from Canada to the United States. That means flights to or from the U.S. make up about a third (34%) of all the international flights on Canada’s list.
Among the 20 flights listed April 10-16, most were operated by U.S. legacy carriers — Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and United Airlines — along with one Qatar Airways flight and several Air Canada flights. These flights took off from or landed in airports all around the country, including Detroit, Charlotte, Dallas, New York, Denver, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, Newark and Atlanta.
It’s only logical for travelers who fly within the United States to assume that some of their fellow passengers may indeed test positive for Covid-19 after the flight has landed and everyone has gone their separate ways. The difference between here and Canada is that air travelers in the United States have no way of ever knowing.
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