Question: How do you feel about flying? Is it safer than driving? Less safe? How about for children? Would you fly with your children right now to a place that has a downward trend? I hear things about the air actually being cleaner on airplanes and then I hear the opposite?
Answer: We talked about flying in our Q&A of 5/16, but it’s worth a revisit since there’s a bit more information now and we’re all still trying to figure out how to live our lives during pandemic times.
- How do you feel about flying?: When it comes to my feelings about flying, if I can avoid it, I will — but I feel that way about most activities that put me into contact with groups of people.
- Is it safer than driving? Less safe?: When it comes to flying vs. driving, I think it really depends on a host of factors that depend on your given circumstances. If you can make a long drive within a day and get to your destination, I recommend taking that route. You’ll be exposed to far fewer people, which means it will be safer than flying. But, if we’re talking about a cross-country trip with lots of stops, the calculus might be different as you’ll have more opportunities for exposure (and likely some mental health challenges if traveling with small kids).
- How about for children?: When it comes to traveling with kiddos, the good news is that data continues to accumulate that the coronavirus tends to be mild in children. For example, just last week Lancet published a study, COVID-19 in children and adolescents in Europe: a multinational, multicentre cohort study, which confirms previous reports from China that COVID-19 is generally mild in children and infants. That said, we do see instances of severe disease in children — it’s far more rare than in adults, but it does happen. So if you are traveling with kids, be sure to be extra vigilant — cleaning spaces, washing hands, keeping distance, wearing masks, avoiding touching stuff and faces.
- Would you fly with your children right now to a place that has a downward trend?: I don’t have reason to fly anywhere these days, so I’m avoiding it. But I did take a road trip down to Nashville a few weeks ago and I plan to take another road trip to a Georgia beach in August, both with my little boy. We talked about the risk/reward calculation in our Q&A of 5/16 and I think it still holds today. And when it comes to flying, here’s a bit more updated information:
- Dr. Erin Bromage (who wrote a helpful blog post in May about risk that we discussed in Q&A of 5/12) has another helpful blog post he updated in early June, “Flying in the Age of COVID” that offers a great overview and advice based on his knowledge and experience flying with his family to Australia in March.
- As I understand it and as CDC reports, the risk of flying is largely from the rigmarole surrounding flying — checking in, security, lining up to get on the plane, etc — and not the flight itself.
- In fact, BBC reported a few days ago, “Although many people might think that sitting in a confined space for long periods would inevitably spread infections, the chief engineer at aerospace giant Airbus insists that is not the case. Jean-Brice Dumont argues that the way modern aircraft are designed means that the air is intrinsically very clean. “Every two to three minutes, mathematically, all the air is renewed,” he says. “That means 20 to 30 times per hour, the air around you is completely renewed.” Put simply, air is collected from outside the aircraft, normally through the engine, and mixed with recycled air from the cabin. The recycled air, which is reused in part to keep temperature and humidity at the correct levels, is passed through HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filters that are similar to those used in hospitals.” Figure 1 from How It Works shows how air circulation in planes works.
Figure 1. Air Circulation in Airplanes (from How It Works)
