Scheduled to fly Sunday

[jimmybcool]

I am scheduled to fly from BKK to TPE and then USA.  Wondering if anyone has insight into possible issues entering the USA or quarantine expansion to include TPE?  Also wondering if getting a mask might be a good idea on the jet.  20 hours in a contained environment shares a lot.

 

Thanks

 

[Chivas]

I'm scheduled to fly on the 13th 18th and 26th and am fully expecting flight crew to be giving out masks and I suspect they'll say you must wear them as well

[Moonlover]

I'm sure the O/P will get all the advise he needs from the airline(s).

[steve187]

op i think you need to keep checking the USA travel restrictions for Taipei originating flights. i think hand cleanliness is more important than a mask. but do whatever you feel is beeter to protect yourself, if a mask is needed for that, take a few to change after food etc.

[alex8912]

You’re  not even going to be in China. It seems Thailand has more cases than Taiwan. You will not be forced to wear a mask as above poster lied about. The crew will almost certainly be wearing them. Why are you even concerned? Or just bored today ? No one from most infected areas of China can’t leave China as well. 
 

Edited February 10, 2020 by alex8912

[ThaiBunny]

2 minutes ago, alex8912 said:

You’re  not even going to be in China. It seems Thailand has more cases than Taiwan. You will not be forced to wear a mask as above poster lied about. The crew will almost certainly be wearing them. Why are you even concerned? Or just bored today ? No one from most infected areas of China can’t leave China as well. 

Given the latest reports I'd be much more fearful of going to Singapore, and certainly wouldn't be attending a conference there

[Jaxxper]

Statistically I think you’ve got more chance of being killed on the road when you are here than by the virus.

Sure all airlines are taking adequate precautions.

[jimmybcool]

OK, I am mostly worried about entering the USA.  Not actually contracting the virus.  I know they are quarantining many from some areas of China.  Was hoping to get some guidance to where I might be able to monitor this.  Yes, state department but wondered if there was another more proactive webpage.

 

 

[Rod the Sod]

How to avoid coronavirus on flights: Forget masks, says top airline doctor

Wearing a mask all the time is ineffective. It allows viruses to be transmitted around it, through it and worse, if it becomes moist it will encourage growth of viruses and bacteria

February 6, 2020
 

(Bloomberg) — Forget face masks and rubber gloves. The best way to avoid the coronavirus is frequent hand washing, according to a medical adviser to the world’s airlines.

The virus can’t survive long on seats or armrests, so physical contact with another person carries the greatest risk of infection on a flight, said David Powell, a physician and medical adviser to the International Air Transport Association. Masks and gloves do a better job of spreading bugs than stopping them, he said.

As concern mounts about the scale of the outbreak, carriers from United Airlines Holdings Inc. to Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. have scrapped thousands of flights to China. Here is an edited transcript from an interview with Powell. IATA represents about 290 airlines and more than 80% of global air traffic.

Q: Is there a risk of becoming contaminated with the virus on a plane?

A: The risk of catching a serious viral infection on an aircraft is low. The air supply to a modern airliner is very different from a movie theatre or an office building. The air is a combination of fresh air and recirculated air, about half each. The recirculated air goes through filters of the exact same type that we use in surgical operating theatres. That supplied air is guaranteed to be 99.97 per cent (or better) free of viruses and other particles. So the risk, if there is one, does not come from the supplied air. It comes from other people.

Q: What are the chances of getting the virus by touching the seats, armrest or any of the objects on a plane?

A: Viruses and other microbes like to live on living surfaces like us. Just shaking hands with somebody will be a greater risk by far than some dry surface that has no biological material on it. The survival of viruses on surfaces isn’t great, so it’s believed that normal cleaning, and then the extra cleaning in the event that someone was discovered to be contagious, is the appropriate procedure. Will people stop getting together inside an airplane? I would respond by asking: Will I stop going to the movies, or sports games, or concerts or conferences? I don’t think so.

Q: What’s important if you are on a plane to ensure you don’t get infected?

A: Hand hygiene — because contrary to what people think, the hands are the way that these viruses most efficiently spread. Top of the list is frequent hand washing, hand sanitizing, or both. Avoid touching your face. If you cough or sneeze, it’s important to cover your face with a sleeve. Better yet, a tissue to be disposed of carefully, and then sanitizing the hands afterward. Washing your hands and drying them is the best procedure. When that’s not easy to do, alcohol-based sanitizer is a good second-best.

An employee inspects disposable face masks on the production line of the Yokoi Co. Ltd. factory on February 06, 2020 in Nagoya, Japan. Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images

Q: Does wearing masks and gloves help prevent infections?

A: First of all, masks. There’s very limited evidence of benefit, if any, in a casual situation. Masks are useful for those who are unwell to protect other people from them. But wearing a mask all the time will be ineffective. It will allow viruses to be transmitted around it, through it and worse still, if it becomes moist it will encourage the growth of viruses and bacteria. Gloves are probably even worse, because people put on gloves and then touch everything they would have touched with their hands. So it just becomes another way of transferring micro-organisms. And inside the gloves, your hands get hot and sweaty, which is a really good environment for microbes to grow.

Q: Is shutting borders the answer to containing the spread of the virus?

A: One thing that’s changed in the world is the ability for infections to travel rapidly from one location to another and it’s true that aviation is part of that. At the same time, aviation is essential to dealing with outbreaks like this. And this is why we have collaboration with the World Health Organization and IATA that’s been in place for several years. If countries just shut down during disease outbreaks, as happened in west Africa with Ebola, that can make things much worse. During that outbreak, the country struggled, WHO couldn’t get their people in, they couldn’t get biological samples out. The economic impact of being shut off made things worse. General travel bans can make things worse. It can encourage people to travel in secret, which means you lose control of it.

Q: When can we safely say that the worst may be over?

A: The number of cases have continued to increase at around about 16 per cent to 20 per cent each day. Until we get to the point where those numbers are declining, we couldn’t say we turned the corner.

 

[SiSePuede419]

Don't worry.

 

Apparently there's a lot of bad blood between Chinese and Taiwanese, so they don't mix much. 

 

Side note: The native Taiwan people (not the mainland Han Chinese who flooded in and took over the country after General Kai Wan Shack got chased out of the mainland by the Maoists) might be the original Tai people who later emigrated to Thailand (the Tai are the largest minority in China, which ain't saying much since China is 92% Han Chinese).

Edited February 10, 2020 by SiSePuede419

[Captain Monday]

OP coming from Thailand has no worries there are no bans on US-TPE flights.

Everyone on the plane will have masks on so get some if you can, and there will be temperatures checks at airports. When you get to the US you will be questioned by the CDC or public health doctors.

 

Taiwan issued a total ban on mainlanders and I have been off for 10 days on vacay,. Hard to keep up with

the emails but there were only 2 cases in Taiwan as of a few days ago. Non US citizens except family who have been to China can't travel to the US now. If you had been to Wuhan there would be quarantine.

Planning for next week looking at trans pac bookings looks WIDE open. Truly a financial disaster for airlines.

[WaveHunter]

1 hour ago, Rod the Sod said:

How to avoid coronavirus on flights: Forget masks, says top airline doctor

Wearing a mask all the time is ineffective. It allows viruses to be transmitted around it, through it and worse, if it becomes moist it will encourage growth of viruses and bacteria

February 6, 2020
 

(Bloomberg) — Forget face masks and rubber gloves. The best way to avoid the coronavirus is frequent hand washing, according to a medical adviser to the world’s airlines.

The virus can’t survive long on seats or armrests, so physical contact with another person carries the greatest risk of infection on a flight, said David Powell, a physician and medical adviser to the International Air Transport Association. Masks and gloves do a better job of spreading bugs than stopping them, he said...

 

That Bloomberg report on 06 February with the clickbait title "How to avoid coronavirus on flights: Forget masks, says top airline doctor" is a perfect example of how irresponsibly mass media is covering this outbreak!  It is one of the more stupid reports I've seen but such stories proliferate, and are incredibly dangerous.  Honestly, I thought it was a spoof when I first saw the headline.  When I realized it was for real, I was shocked!

 

To go on and remark, "...Masks and gloves do a better job of spreading bugs than stopping them..." just compounds the stupidity of the "so-called" medical expert to the airlines ( a doctor...really?) who made these remarks that were reported to millions of people on Bloomberg Network.

 

While surface contact with the virus is a valid concern on an airliner, contamination through airborne droplets is also a concern, even on airliners which do in fact circulate disinfected air completely every 3 minutes or so.  That is not going to prevent airborne droplets from getting into people's respiratory tract before they become recirculated. 

 

Masks not only minimize this possibility, but more importantly they also minimize hand-to-face contact which is how viruses on a surface will find their way into your respiratory tract...from your hands to your ,mouth, nose, or eyes.  Lowering the likelihood of hand-to face contact is actually the most important role of facemasks whether it is in an airplane or on the ground.  Even more obvious, a facemask is going to minimize a passenger from spewing out virus to the passenger sitting next to them should they cough or sneeze without covering their face.

 

The so-called "expert" should be hung out to dry IMO!  I've seen a lot of absolute nonsense and pure bullshi* coming out of the media on this outbreak, but that one takes the proverbial cake!

 

Mass media who report so irresponsibly are doing a great disservice to the public.  They seem more interested in getting market share with click-bait bullshi* than doing their job as journalists!  It is disgusting, and those guilty of this should be ashamed of themselves, and do not deserve to be called journalists!

 

Edited February 10, 2020 by WaveHunter

[Russell17au]

I would like to challenge this expert airline doctor or anyone else for that matter to do a simple experiment that will prove that even the cheapest face mask can help to contain this virus. The experiment is: go and buy a cheap 7/11 face mask and some red food colouring and a piece of white paper. Take a mouthful of red food colouring then place the face mask over your mouth and nose as you would normally then hold the white paper up about 50mm (2") from your mouth and then spit the red food colouring out of your mouth and see how much lands on the white paper. The answer is NONE because the mask stops it from spreading out. So if everyone wore a face mask those that have the virus would not be able to cough and sneeze the virus out so that is one part of the containment solved. It would only leave the contact transmission to fix and that can be done by using 70% alcohol hand wash/gel/wipes and that would fix that part of the containment. But, now there has been another spoke put in the wheel as it has been reported on China Daily that the virus has now become an airborne virus which means that you will need to wear a face mask everywhere so that you do not breathe in the virus. This is the China Daily link   https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202002/08/WS5e3e7d97a310128217275fc3.html

[WaveHunter]

12 minutes ago, Russell17au said:

I would like to challenge this expert airline doctor ... The experiment is: go and buy a cheap 7/11 face mask and some red food colouring ...

Not to make light of your test but there is one flaw.  You won't find any facemasks at any 7-11, at least none I know of.  If you know one in the Chiang Mai area, please let me know ????

 

BTW, I am in full agreement about this imbecile who has the nerve to call himself a doctor, much less a medical expert, and for the Bloomberg Network to deliver such nonsense to the public.  If they ever have an annual Fake News Award, this report will be in the running for sure.

 

Also, kudos to you for mentioning the new finding that aerosol transmission is now a significant concern for modes of transmission, in addition to airborne droplet, and surface contact.  People should really be aware of that.

 

Edited February 10, 2020 by WaveHunter

[Russell17au]

44 minutes ago, WaveHunter said:

Not to make light of your test but there is one flaw.  You won't find any facemasks at any 7-11, at least none I know of.  If you know one in the Chiang Mai area, please let me know ????

 

BTW, I am in full agreement about this imbecile who has the nerve to call himself a doctor, much less a medical expert, and for the Bloomberg Network to deliver such nonsense to the public.  If they ever have an annual Fake News Award, this report will be in the running for sure.

 

Also, kudos to you for mentioning the new finding that aerosol transmission is now a significant concern for modes of transmission, in addition to airborne droplet, and surface contact.  People should really be aware of that.

 

Well, you could always be the good farang that goes to the Health Minister and asks him nicely for one of the germ ridden ones that he wanted everyone to take from his germ ridden hands. Then he might save face and not want all those nasty farangs to leave Thailand. No, on second thoughts I would prefer you to stay where you are so you can continue on TVF.

[Max69xl]

3 hours ago, jimmybcool said:

OK, I am mostly worried about entering the USA.  Not actually contracting the virus.  I know they are quarantining many from some areas of China.  Was hoping to get some guidance to where I might be able to monitor this.  Yes, state department but wondered if there was another more proactive webpage.

 

 

The only thing to worry about on an airplane is people close to you,coughing or sneezing. Most people thinks that the air on a plane is dirty and full of this and that. It's NOT true. The air is circulated constantly through very efficient HEPA-filters. Masks are actually not supposed to be worn by healthy people. It's the other way around. Don't worry, I guess you'll be told what to do at the airport. 

[shy coconut]

8 hours ago, WaveHunter said:

Not to make light of your test but there is one flaw.  You won't find any facemasks at any 7-11, at least none I know of.  If you know one in the Chiang Mai area, please let me know ????

 

BTW, I am in full agreement about this imbecile who has the nerve to call himself a doctor, much less a medical expert, and for the Bloomberg Network to deliver such nonsense to the public.  If they ever have an annual Fake News Award, this report will be in the running for sure.

 

Also, kudos to you for mentioning the new finding that aerosol transmission is now a significant concern for modes of transmission, in addition to airborne droplet, and surface contact.  People should really be aware of that.

 

Did I imagine it, or was there a poster whose girlfriend has made millions from selling

top quality facemasks and is currently waiting for delivery of another 100 million

from China?

 

If I did read that here, then that tops all of the Pattaya special forces stories added together!!

[Iron Tongue]

10 hours ago, SiSePuede419 said:

Don't worry.

 

Apparently there's a lot of bad blood between Chinese and Taiwanese, so they don't mix much. 

"don't mix much" -Wut?   

Apparently you aren't aware that Taiwan's largest export is middle-management to China to run the factories.  At any given time, there are over 1,000,000 Taiwanese working in China.  China has also become the top retirement destination for Taiwanese people.  Chinese New Year is time for the largest direct movement of people between China-Taiwan.

 

There's politics, and there's money.

 

[Captain Monday]

Taiwan has banned all travelers for 14 days of being in China including HK and Macao.