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Flying and flu symptoms


frankydiver
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Most folk I know who have flown recently have had colds or covid either on or shortly after their return. 
I’ve heard that clean air is circulated  less often nowadays since the smoking ban, when the scrubbers were working overtime. Whether there’s any truth in that I have no idea. 

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Long before covid I almost always went down with a bad cold or sinus/respiratory bug about 2 or 3 days after flying.  You are stuck in a glorified giant cigar tube with several hundred other peoples respiratory droplets with all their viral loads.   It is an inbuilt hazard of flying.

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1 hour ago, frankydiver said:

Has anyone been abroad recently and developed flu or Covid symptoms soon after?.If so I think it’s with the air con on the plane . Any thoughts on this .

Yes. I caught covid on the way out to Rhodes last year. 

It’s not a biggy - the way to avoid covid these days is to just not test for it.

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26 minutes ago, Gordon R said:

At first glance, you could be forgiven for describing this as flippant. That said, it is one of the most sensible comments on the whole subject. 🙂

 

Some considerate people would test to see if they have Covid rather than a cold so they could take steps to avoid spreading it to frends, famaly, and people that are at high risk from Covid :hmm:

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1 hour ago, ordnance said:

Some considerate people would test to see if they have Covid rather than a cold so they could take steps to avoid spreading it to frends, famaly, and people that are at high risk from Covid :hmm:

Oh please! When oh when is all this going to end! 
The vulnerable can be vaccinated if they’re that worried, just like they are vaccinated against the flu, which can be just as dangerous to them as can covid. However, no one tests for flu. 
We really do need to get a grip and move on. 

Edited by Scully
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No it's not the air con. The air on a plane is HEPA filtered and the air change rate is quite high so actually one of the best environments. The issue is that when you travel you come in close contact with a lot more people. So statistically you are much more likely to be near somebody with COVID. Additional, when in a plane the the pressure is very low and the air is kept very dry to protect the airplane. That means you mucus membranes dry out so your natural defences are reduced.

 

Also In Response to the above. A mask is no guarantee of achieving anything. There are lots of infection routes and very little control over the type of mask and how effectively they wear it. Better to wear an N95 yourself ways your and and don't touch your eyes mouth or nose.

Also I should add. Hygiene in a plane is terrible with all those people touching the same surfaces. So keep washing your hands.

7 minutes ago, Scully said:

Oh please! When oh when is all this going to end! 
The vulnerable can be vaccinated if they’re that worried, just like they are vaccinated against the flu, which can be just as dangerous to them as can flu, which incidentally, no one tests for. 
We really do need to get a grip and move on. 

Scully I agree with you but what people should have learnt is that if you don't feel well, stay away from people regardless of what it is. No need for the stuff upper lip only to make all your friends and family I'll with what ever you have and therefore ruin everybody else's holiday or day generally.

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19 minutes ago, Newbie to this said:

Surely if they just wear a mask when around someone with symptoms, they will be fine 

What about people that have no visible symptoms :hmm:people can do what they want, maybe its just me if i had Covid i would want to try and keep it to myself. To  do that i would need to know i had it. 

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21 minutes ago, Scully said:

Oh please! When oh when is all this going to end! 
The vulnerable can be vaccinated if they’re that worried, just like they are vaccinated against the flu, which can be just as dangerous to them as can covid. However, no one tests for flu. 
We really do need to get a grip and move on. 

From what i can see people are moving on and life in the UK is more or less back to normal. It just makes sense to me if a person has a viral infection and there is a quick and easy test why not take it, if it could help you not spread it to frends, famaly, and others. 

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9 hours ago, ordnance said:

What about people that have no visible symptoms people can do what they want, maybe its just me if i had Covid i would want to try and keep it to myself. To  do that i would need to know i had it. 

How would you know you had covid, if you are asymptomatic :hmm:

Are you suggesting healthy people should wear a mask just in case!

Maybe those who are vulnerable should take some self responsibility, instead of expecting others to suffer for them.

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17 minutes ago, walshie said:

The air on a plane is probably cleaner than most air conditioned offices. I guess the reason you might be "more likely" to catch something is because of the number of people in a small space rather than the a/c. 

Exactly that.  https://www.webmd.com/men/news/20020723/why-we-catch-colds-during-flights

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5 hours ago, Newbie to this said:

How would you know you had covid, if you are asymptomatic :hmm:

Are you suggesting healthy people should wear a mask just in case!

Maybe those who are vulnerable should take some self responsibility, instead of expecting others to suffer for them.

I did not say anyone should wear a mask, I said that it would be common courtesy if somewone had Covid to wear a mask. As for people that are who are vulnerable they are taking self responsibility but there are things out of their control health care appointments for example, I doint think its to big a ask for in that type of settings for masks to be worn. PS You have a low suffering threshold if wearing a mask has you suffering :hmm:

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7 minutes ago, ordnance said:

I did not say anyone should wear a mask, I said that it would be common courtesy if somewone had Covid to wear a mask.

 

PS You have a low suffering threshold if wearing a mask has you suffering :hmm:

Unfortunately the science is in due to the many studies over the last few years, masks, even commercial (non fitted) n95 masks, do just about ZERO to prevent the spread of airborne diseases such as COVID or the flu whether worn by an infected person, an uninfected person or both.

Whilst n95 and surgical masks can catch significant amounts of aerosols for the first few minutes (ignoring poor fit), once the masks are saturated they become less effective but significantly if you are masked and next to an infected person, the masks might slow down the viral loading you are absorbing but this is only measured in minutes, hence the poor overall performance of masks.

An infected person breathes out some 5000 COVID particles per breath, a cough or sneeze could be as many as  200 million (and most of which shoots out the gaps in the mask) and it is estimated that it only takes 1000 to 2000 COVID particles to cause an infection and which can be absorbed by 10 min face to face talking with an infected person even when both wearing masks.

Sitting in an aeroplane for a couple of hours almost guarantees a high infection rate, and even if everyone was masked it would make little difference.

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