If true, that’s interesting as it would mean asymptomatic carriers are not transmitters. I assume then that they found presymptomatic carriers DID infect others that they came into contact with?
In any case, this just shows more evidence that we really need widespread contact tracing.
Thank you, Jim for this response. I think it remarkably well-reasoned, succinct and understandable. I plan to copy and share it with several people I think could benefit from reading it.
Thank you jeff B. for putting things in a different yet true perspective. Up until reading your reply, I’m still seeing this great nation divided from this pandemic. Listing ‘losers’ (in comparison to nations addressing this pandemic right) to include america is succinct yet still a dismal reflection of how we as a nation are still struggling for a clear path.
No disrespect here but you must be aware that symptoms of covid-19 may not reveal itself until 14 days after exposure. Every public outing is a calculated risk to everyone, mask or not, being exposed to anyone unknowingly carrying this virus. Your jump was uneventful as another joyous way to resume as close to going about daily routines as america tries to deal with this pandemic. Without a method of testing to ensure everyone piled into the jump plane is absolutely free of this virus, no one can assume they’re ‘clean’. Perhaps when a vaccine is found, another chapter in world health to reduce this virus to zero will eliminate fear and loathing to this invisible germ.
I’ve not flown in many years and thinking about stepping back into a cockpit but helicopters are a bit more expensive to rent. Add to this, a lousy contagion and uncertainty of how a different ‘preflight’ may or may not include disinfection and masks tends to turn some off from frustration.
I sincerely hope you and fellow jumpers can continue to leave from perfectly good airplanes as this new normal is adapted to.
As a follow up to this report I’d like to hear from students and flight schools of their concerns, if any, about future hiring by the airlines. Almost every airline says they have more pilots than they need, and many state they might need to furlough some come October. If hiring slows down to a trickle for two or three years will people still try to pursue a flying career? I hope lack of students isn’t a second issue that flight schools have to deal with.
Yes there’s a small minority who can’t wear a mask. But not half, as I often see when I go to the store. It’s not accurate to say we don’t know enough to know whether masks work – there’s a ton of data showing that masks protect against transmission of virtually all sorts of viruses. The fact that this is a new virus with less known about it is not the same as saying “we just don’t know”. And this idea that masks could “possibly” have an opposite effect is dangerous pseudo-science for which there is absolutely no basis. Anything is possible but there’s no basis for that.
And for most of us if we just go with the idea, it’s not really difficult to get used to wearing one – if you have trouble, look at a different type, you might find one you’re comfortable with. Remember we’re not only protecting ourselves but our loved ones young and old, and everyone else around us by taking these precautions.
And funny thing… I like my mask(s). My sister who is good with a sewing machine made some for me and family out of fun fabric and I feel safer going out with it. I have an old Hawaiian shirt with WWII vintage planes on it that I’ve been thinking about having her make one out of but it’s still a useable shirt… tough decision! What I’m getting at is, if you embrace the idea and get creative you might even have fun with it.
Every large passenger and cargo aircraft I have flown has airflow on the main deck that comes from overhead (vents and gaspers), travels downward vertically past the people and exits out the floor vents. Designed this way to remove odors from the people. It also flushes any virus droplets down and out, not toward others. The recycled air is passed through filters that remove moisture droplets. There is little danger of passing droplets from one person to another unless one is standing over the other and sneezes. Flight attendants breath air from above the pax level so are safe from contaminated pax. Handling dinnerware is not so risk free. Flight deck airflow is similar and can usually be configured to provide an “air curtain” between the pilots. Mask would only be useful during ground ops to include entry and exit. People with no symptoms don’t cough and sneeze so emit few if any particles that would only go a short distance. Its the people with runny noises that sneeze and constantly blow their noses that one needs to worry about.
On airline travel. As the gravity assisted covid riddled droplets, being heavier than air, settle on aircraft seats and floors, pangs of somewhat controllable anxiety hit my inners. Do not touch, I murmur. A real concern. All this reminds me of the tenseness while on patrols in the jungles of Vietnam. Gotta remain wide-eyed wearing surgical masks, steel pots, and combat boots. Or the covid’s gonna getcha! On second thought, I rather be there, then, than here, now. Excuse my grammar.
On flight schools. I think they develop their own close quarter, pre-a-symptomatic (new word) Covid-19 WX. Flight Instructors and students may run wild or maybe not. Instructors who have other incomes may stay away, especially old guys like me. Others continue instructing. That’s what I’m seeing. Some years ago, flight schools in the USA numbered around 4000. Large and small. Then after 9/11 many schools closed. I think the total was reduced to 2000. I would think that flight schools will shrink again, as the ongoing health and economic threat is turning all upside down. But, there is hope, the customer base will also shrink. But not disappear. So some will adjust, streamline, keep the ball rolling. Oh! Anyone interested in two C172s?
The scientific experts are saying that there isn’t enough data about the effectiveness of these cloth masks. N95 masks, definitely. Cloth masks, not so much. And until there is sufficient data showing that cloth masks have a overall net positive effect over time (and not just with a brand new mask in the first couple of minutes, but after an hour or two of use), we don’t know what effect they’re having.
Though one thing that isn’t certain yet is whether pre/a-symptomatic people are spreading the virus. That means, no coughing or sneezing, just normal breathing. Until that question is answered, it’s quite possible that flight attendants are at risk.
Individual execution of “prudence” is… well, prudent.
COMPELLED execution of “prudence” is…
Here in the PeoplesRepublik of Massachusetts, the GOVERNMENT has determined that it’s okay for Target stores to be open - but NOT for Macy’s to be open. Their “logic?” Target sells groceries; Macy’s does not. Apparently, the proximity of mayonaise renders Covid less contagious. Who knew?
I’m a pretty prudent guy. But I question the idea that collective prudence required the destruction of the world’s economy, the suspension of constitutional rights, and the surrender of business decision-making, to a cabal of glorified student-council/hall-monotor know-littles.
As a conservative Libertarian sort, I guess that’s the “overkill” part of me.
Glad for your freedom to choose.
In Massachusetts, you have the right to choose to riot, loot, and commit arson - but NOT the right to choose to worship with more than nine other people.
Nanny State, indeed.
It’s certainly a lesson about the pairing of ignorance and arrogance. How many will acknowledge that?
Exactly.
“And until there is sufficient data showing that cloth masks have a overall net positive effect over time (and not just with a brand new mask in the first couple of minutes, but after an hour or two of use), we don’t know what effect they’re having.”
Meaning what, ‘Exactly’? You stopped short on revealing your subsequent assumption. Please explain.
I think there’s sufficient correlative data from Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Taiwan all of whom endorsed widespread mask use. Japan had no lockdowns, Korea minimal and both have a fraction of the infection rates of the U.S. Increasingly masks are seen as a factor. I don’t need to post the links. A shallow search will deliver all the research on this.
The reality is we’ve got no other defenses other than distancing and shutdowns. The latter is untenable long term. Some people won’t wear masks as a personal statement, similar to anti-vaxxing being a personal statement in response to a tiny risk of a bad outcome, no matter what the science says.
The downside of wearing one is so trivial I don’t get the resistance. Unless it’s shown that they cause infection, which seems absurd.
Wow, to be able to create an all-new passenger airliner (and get it approved in 5 years) is OUTSTANDING!
good luck with that.
How far? How high?
What a clever way to finance your vaporware. To quote P T Barnum, “ The common man, no matter how sharp and tough, actually enjoys having the wool pulled over his eyes, and makes it easier for the puller.”
Mike, on December 17 1903 you asked the same of Orville and Wilbur. Remember that?