Good Question: Is COVID spreading on planes?

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — We all know Thanksgiving and Christmas are some of the busiest times to fly In a normal year. While some may skip trips for the holidays in 2020, others will still hop on a flight.

That leads us to these Good Questions: "Is it safe?" "How much is COVID spreading among passengers on a plane?"

A recent announcement from the International Air Transport Association highlighted research on flights from the start of 2020 through late September. In tracing planes carrying more than a billion total passengers, there were 44 cases of potential COVID transmission believed to be tied to flights.

“With only 44 identified potential cases of flight-related transmission among 1.2 billion travelers, that’s one case for every 27 million,” the IATA medical adviser Dr. David Powell said in the announcement.

Some have questioned that news, saying it may very well be an underestimate based on limited testing because it doesn’t account for the unknown number of cases.

So what do the feds say?

Another review from the US Department of Defense found getting on a flight is still considered one of the better public settings you can be in compared to going out to a bar for a few hours.

Experts say that’s due to all the beefed-up ventilation systems, deep cleaning on planes, and wearing a mass.

It also doesn’t matter where you sit.

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