Flying to visit loved ones this holiday season poses a low risk for catching or spreading coronavirus, according to Harvard University scientists.
In fact, air travel is likely 'as safe or substantially safer' than every day activities like grocery shopping and dining out.
But keeping transmission risks of COVID-19 during airline flights very low relies on travelers to us face coverings and for airlines to up their sanitation efforts, scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health said Tuesday.
Researchers there found transmission risks can be 'reduced to very low levels through the combination of layered infection control measures.'
The report, funded by Airlines for America - a trade group representing American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and others - and a consortium of aircraft and equipment manufacturers and airport operators, comes as U.S. airlines lose billions of dollars a month as passenger demand remains down 65 percent year on year because of the coronavirus.
U.S. carriers are operating just 50 percent the flights they did in 2019. Some carriers have recently announced new plans to end blocking of middle seats during the pandemic.
The Aviation Public Health Initiative team at Harvard recommended strategies to mitigate transmission risk on aircraft, during boarding and exiting.
The report found after airlines mandated masks, boosted cleaning procedures and revised boarding procedures, 'and with millions of passenger hours flown, there has been little evidence to date of onboard disease transmission.'
The report noted commercial passenger aircraft are equipped with ventilation systems that refresh cabin air on average every 2-3 minutes and removing more than 99 percent of particles of the size that cause SARS-CoV-2.
Researchers also found face masks significantly reduce risks of disease transmission during the COVID-19 crisis.
Airlines have mandated masks, added new cleaning and implemented protocols to manage boarding and deplaning.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this month issued a 'strong recommendation' that all passengers and employees on airplanes and in airports should wear masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
But it the agency stopped short of saying face coverings should be mandatory on planes, trains, buses and other forms of public transportation.
Previous draft guidance and a similar bill on Congress were both blocked by the Trump administration.
The Harvard report said risks remain that contagious pre- or asymptomatic people could be unaware and opt to fly.
Earlier this month, the International Air Transportation Association (IATA) reported that there had only been 44 instances of COVID-19 transmission linked to flights out of 1.2 billion journeys taken this year.
But an expert in travel and disease dynamics who was asked to present the findings refused, calling them the result of 'bad math.'
Dr David Freedman, of the University of Alabama, said IATA's statistics failed to take into account how many infections probably went unknown.
However, he acknowledged that the risk of in-flight transmission likely is low.
The Harvard study's findings and methods echo a U.S. Defense Department study released earlier this month that found the risk of exposure to the coronavirus on flights is very low.
When a seated passenger is wearing a mask, an average 0.003% of air particles within the breathing zone around a person's head are infectious, even when every seat is occupied, it found.
