Risk of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Transmission Among Air Passengers in China.
Clin Infect Dis
; 75(1): e234-e240, 2022 08 24.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2017762
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Modern transportation plays a key role in the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and new variants. However, little is known about the exact transmission risk of the virus on airplanes.METHODS:
Using the itinerary and epidemiological data of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases and close contacts on domestic airplanes departing from Wuhan city in China before the lockdown on 23 January 2020, we estimated the upper and lower bounds of overall transmission risk of COVID-19 among travelers.RESULTS:
In total, 175 index cases were identified among 5797 passengers on 177 airplanes. The upper and lower attack rates (ARs) of a seat were 0.60% (34/5622, 95% confidence interval [CI] .43-.84%) and 0.33% (18/5400, 95% CI .21-.53%), respectively. In the upper- and lower-bound risk estimates, each index case infected 0.19 (SD 0.45) and 0.10 (SD 0.32) cases, respectively. The seats immediately adjacent to the index cases had an AR of 9.2% (95% CI 5.7-14.4%), with a relative risk 27.8 (95% CI 14.4-53.7) compared to other seats in the upper limit estimation. The middle seat had the highest AR (0.7%, 95% CI .4%-1.2%). The upper-bound AR increased from 0.7% (95% CI 0.5%-1.0%) to 1.2% (95% CI .4-3.3%) when the co-travel time increased from 2.0 hours to 3.3 hours.CONCLUSIONS:
The ARs among travelers varied by seat distance from the index case and joint travel time, but the variation was not significant between the types of aircraft. The overall risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission during domestic travel on planes was relatively low. These findings can improve our understanding of COVID-19 spread during travel and inform response efforts in the pandemic.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Topics:
Variants
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Journal:
Clin Infect Dis
Journal subject:
Communicable Diseases
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Cid
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS