CoVid-19 - what precautions can we take?

[xrayalpha]

With all the news on the latest coronavirus, I am concerned about the fear - and the impact on our business.

Note, my concern is the fear, not the actual virus. But to conquer the fear, we perhaps need to up our game on hygiene to what it really should be all year for things like flu and colds.

Also I don't want our flying school or airfield to be named and shamed as a "hotspot". So what can we do?

We already provide constant hot water for hand washing and disposable paper towels, as one would expect, but what else should we offer.

The biggest risk area I can see is trial flying lessons.

Aviation-specific risk items I can think of are snot on foam microphone windshields, bugs on shared cockpit items (i.e. flaps, control columns, brakes, radios, transponders etc) and general aircraft cleanliness such as panels, seats and doors. What else am I missing, and how does one mitigate?

Then there are the general things for any business like door handles, shaped pens, credit cards etc.

You may think I am being too cautious, but - as I say - even if it is just to conquer the sort of fear that has crippled the world's stock markets.....

[TheOddOne]

Hmmmmm...

Perhaps we will do exactly what we do against seasonal 'flu i.e. nothing!

I understand that CoVid-19 is less deadly than seasonal 'flu yet we don't take any precautions against that or any other contagion that might strike us down.
Having said that, I'm planning on getting one of those gel hand clean dispensers to position by the office door and some Dettox wipes for the interior of the aircraft, btween flights (assuming the weather will let us fly again before the virus has disappeared). . I guess a quick spray of shared headsets might be in order. Apparently, the virus doesn't survive very long outside the body. The downside is that the body doesn't create very good immunity to it, so it's possible to get better and then catch it again, unlike a particular strain of 'flu.

TOO

[BigEndBob]

I wish people would stay away if they have colds.
I told a guy years ago to go home when he came in to the flying school, because he said he was sat at home from work bored.
Only last Sunday i took a pupil up with his dad sneezing away in the back of the aircraft. Sure enough Monday it felt something coming on, but now passed.

[xrayalpha]

OK, as the government moves to the second phase of their plan, we have decided:

Sign on door and bit on website outlining our CV precautions.

All visitors to wash hands immediately on arrival
All visitors (incl friends and family) to sign in with arr and dep times
Disposable windmuffs on headsets. Passenger/student headsets cleaned between flights
Increased washing of various surfaces throughout the day.
No-one with cold/flu symptoms allowed (includes friends and relatives spectators) (thanks Big End Bob)

So, that's our plan. Happy to hear any suggestions.

[Three Mile Final]

Working at a bigger airfield (ends in KK) my precautions are lots of handwashing, lots of gel )make sure its over 60% C6 H12 OH)and Vicks First Defence three times per day. Avoid walking too close to anybody on the concourse and use gel after every (mostly in advertent but caused by muscle memory) touch of a handrail, escalator handrail or banister rail, lift pushbutton or door handle.

If I get to use an aeroplane (unlikely in this weather) I might just use my own headset and plenty of gel after touching the controls.

[hugh flung_dung]

... snipped. Apparently, the virus doesn't survive very long outside the body. ... snipped

I'd heard that too, but this https://www.journalofhospitalinfection.com/article/S0195-6701(20)30046-3/fulltext suggests rather longer. It gives an interesting analysis of viral survival times on different surfaces.

HFD

[BigEndBob]

I would say this virus has been around since before Christmas. My business partner, she returned from holidaying in Cancun few weeks before Christmas. She came down with the worst case of flu she has ever had and she is never ill. Cough, cold core temperature but sweating on the outside. Can't hold anything down, being sick. In bed for four days. I didn't see her for at least 10 days.
Few weeks later i had my normal Christmas cold. Off for two days, not flu. By chance weather was crap so didn't have to fly with anyone for a few week.

Fortunately a lot of trial lessons have already cancelled and moved their bookings to late April.
Mass testing of folks entering hospital will peak next week or two and by mid April all the fuss will be over.

[CharlieJuliet]

Any thoughts as to whether training is safe or not? I am in the over 70 age group and I wonder if I should delay any flights till later in the season? Any advice appreciated.

[Genghis the Engineer]

Any thoughts as to whether training is safe or not? I am in the over 70 age group and I wonder if I should delay any flights till later in the season? Any advice appreciated.

I AM NOT an epidemiologist. I do however work in science, with a lot of scientists who I listen to, and am a part time flying instructor.

Sorry, but I think it's an unacceptable risk. The odds of not passing anything transmitted by air between people in a cockpit are about nil. The mortality rate of over 70s is sitting around 8%.

Basically, stay home, study the books, wait until it has all passed over. That may not be this year.

G

[Genghis the Engineer]

Mass testing of folks entering hospital will peak next week or two and by mid April all the fuss will be over.
Chief Medical Officer for England is saying that the PEAK is 10-14 weeks away.

G

[Whopity]

Last year Brexit; this year Corona; you could make a fortune if you could think of the 2021 Buzzword!

[Genghis the Engineer]

And name a beer after it?

G

[BigEndBob]

Keep in mind the mortality rate at the care home my sister works at is 25%. 10 died in one week from the usual winter bugs, flu, pneumonia.
The elderly have very little resistance to anything normal healthy people pass off after a few days.
I would like a breakdown of who actually is entering hospital and succumbing to the virus, like to bet mainly care home residents.

Infection rate is not exponential, it's detection that is increasing daily.
If you go looking, you find.

This is why Boris is not concerned, the virus has been in UK for months and people have not been dropping like flies.

[covec]

Just lost £100 worth of self-employment FI work due in-law undergoing COVID tests. Temp. voluntary self-isolation. School cleaned aircraft that I last flew. Last students contacted.

However. Forget the cash - hope that the in-law pulls through whatever has put them into an ICU. And that it is a negative test.