PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Risk of contracting virus on airplanes - perspective
Old 13th Sep 2020, 23:10
  #87 (permalink)  
grizzled
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Itinerant
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I agree that testing has shown that far UVC poses little, if any, risk to humans. Which means it is likely to make a big difference in sanitization of surfaces in any given environment. That will, in turn, likely reduce the numbers of COVID-19 infections from that type of exposure.
But there's the rub... As we gather more information about COVID's most common (preferred) methods of transmission, it is now clear that COVID "spreads from person to person, most commonly through respiratory droplets (e.g., generated by coughing, sneezing, laughing, singing, shouting or talking) during close interactions (i.e., within 2 metres)". Therefore, though far UVC wil provide some mitigation it will not directly address the direct transmission of the disease from one individual to another.

Add in the fact that people "who have COVID-19 may have few to no symptoms, or symptoms may be mild" and one realizes that (until an effective vaccine is available and widely used), the attitudes and actions of individuals -- and corporations such as airlines -- will do more to limit the spread than any other element.

Note: The phrases in quotation marks are from the latest information on the official government of Canada COVID website.

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