Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

February 22, 2021

Inflight Transmission of COVID-19 Based on Experimental Aerosol Dispersion Data

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A study simulating aerosol dispersion in a B77-200 aircraft to estimate SARS-CoV-2 infection probability calculated that the MID-AFT (economy class) portion of the cabin exhibited the highest infection probability, with the average individual infection probability (without masks) for a 2-hour flight in this section varying from 0.1% for a ‘Mild Scenario’ to 2.5% for a ‘Severe Scenario’. This implies that 1.9 of 75 passengers seated in this section are likely to be infected. For a 12-hour flight, the average infection probability varied from 0.8% to 10.8%. If all passengers wore masks throughout the longer flight, the average infection probability was reduced by approximately 73% for high-efficiency masks vs. 32% for low-efficiency masks.

Wang et al. (Feb 19, 2021). Inflight Transmission of COVID-19 Based on Experimental Aerosol Dispersion Data. Journal of Travel Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1093/jtm/taab023