welcome to another covid 19 video this one let's talk about how we can not
get the coronavirus while traveling i'm also going to answer the question
is it better to fly or to drive which spoiler alert it depends and if you haven't done so
already i do highly recommend you watch my previous video on airborne transmission
because what i say here in this video will make more sense to you in brief this virus spreads by
all three routes it spreads by contact it spreads by respiratory droplets that act like ballistics
in it spreads by the airborne route meaning very tiny droplets or aerosols remain suspended in the
air which then can be inhaled by someone else so we know about hand washing or using hand sanitizer
and not touching your face or mask with dirty hands and trying to maintain at least six feet
but is that enough probably not because catching a respiratory virus such as coronavirus in general
especially in an airplane is possible by inhaling the virus in the regular face covering that you
wear such as a medical mask or a surgical mask that's not going to prevent you from inhaling that
virus if it's in the air close to you so recently there is this where three people tested positive
on a delta flight which was a about a two hour flight so how is the virus transmitted we'll never
really know for sure because you can't prove one way or another in this instance if it was spread
by means of contact versus respiratory droplets or airborne transmission but let's talk about some
things that we do know most airlines are requiring passengers to wear masks in fact starting today
july 20th delta will now require passengers who can't wear a mask because of a health condition to
consider staying home and if they insist on flying the passenger must complete a health screening
before being allowed to fly delta will ultimately decide whether the passenger will be allowed to
travel without wearing a mask now this is sort of a back and forth game right people don't have real
medical exemptions from not wearing a mask that's just a cover because they don't want to wear one
so delta is recognizing this and saying well we know how this virus spreads so if people refuse
to wear a mask because of a health condition then we'll have to consult with our doctors to see if
they can fly because of their health condition so this is delta's roundabout way of saying wear the
mask or don't fly and that's the right thing to do because you're risking other people's lives by not
wearing one i feel like i should make a video on this whole medical exemption from wearing a mass
debate what do you think leave a comment below and let me know anyway some airlines are also taking
other measures to minimize person-to-person interaction such as not serving alcoholic
beverages or skipping snacks altogether
most commercial flights these days have very clean cabin air airplanes accomplish this
by the way they have their air intake system set up essentially they have compressed air passing
through the jet engines with its temperature being super hot like 250 degrees celsius hot or
482 degrees fahrenheit hot i'm feeling hot i love that song especially at weddings and cruise ships
that hot air is then cooled and put 450 pounds per square inch to be exact so between the initial hot
temperatures and the high pressure that makes the air in the cabin very sterile as bacteria
and viruses become destroyed in that process before the mid-1980s planes would actually use 100
fresh air for the cabin but to save money they redesigned the ventilation systems
so that it's 50 fresh air and 50 recirculated air in the cabin now would it be better to have
100 fresh air technically yeah but because of the hot temperatures and high pressures the subsequent
cabin air is still very clean and the cabin air is exchanged every three to four minutes which
is actually better than offices and homes which is typically every five to twelve minutes also with
the newer generations of airplanes they have high efficiency particulate air filters meaning hepa
filters these filter out the recirculated air they can fish out particles as small as 0.3 microns
which is what a n95 respirator mask can do as well as an elastomeric mask now some might say well the
virus is only about 0.1 microns in diameter or 100 nanometers and this is true but most of the virus
in the air is going to exist within respiratory droplets so the bottom line is if the virus
is in the air most of it about 95 of it will be filtered out with these hepa filters on the plane
and the same thing goes for respirator masks and for the virus that remains in the air that does
not exist within a respiratory droplet that floats in the air we still don't know if that
virus is able to maintain infectivity because it may be dried out and inactivated in the process
so let's take a look at this scenario let's say there's a passenger who is infected with
coronavirus they probably don't even have symptoms hopefully they're wearing a mask
which they should be wearing one for this specific reason because whether they have
symptoms or not they're going to expel that virus especially if they call for sneeze
so that person is going to expel that virus into a moist cloud that lingers in the air
which will be readily available for their neighbors to inhale when someone is expelling
respiratory droplets the ones that are at least 5 to 10 microns in size those are the ones that
are going to act like ballistics and fall within 6 to 12 feet of them if they are not wearing a mask
the respiratory droplets expel that are less than 5 microns these are the ones that will
stay suspended in the air much like a fart and don't you hate it when someone lets one
rip on the plane though what do you do you hold your breath you look around for likely suspects
but there's never a guilty verdict and they're usually a repeat offender right and you just
pray you'll be landing soon but getting back to the aerosols that are expelled from the mouth
if someone is wearing a mask it will drastically reduce the size of that moist cloud it will reduce
the size that that cloud can travel but it won't totally prevent the virus from being airborne
so if no one is sitting close to you or if someone is sitting close to you but doesn't have the virus
then no worries but of course people are going to be close to you on the plane and it's impossible
to know who has the virus and if that virus is in the air close to you you're going to breed that in
unless you do tip number one which is you wear an n95 respirator mask or an elastomeric respirator
both of these filter out at least 95 percent of airborne particles that are as small as 0.3
microns right now the cdc recommends the public to not purchase and wear these n95 respirator masks
for one because they need to be reserved for healthcare workers which i don't understand
how there can be a limited supply this deep into a pandemic but i digress and by the way
amazon will not sell them right now the other reasons why it's generally advised for the
public not to wear them well n95 respirators are tight fitting and people who wear them
have to be test fitted meaning the mask is on properly so that it can effectively do its job
which also means facial hairstyles are limited because of the potential to disrupt the tight fit
basically you can't have any facial hair outside of the zone where the n95 respirator is going to
go in the face so here it is the n95 which you probably cannot buy and you probably will not
wear on the plane and i'll get to the alternative in a second but here's the n95 and this is a wire
it's a hard wire where you bend it around your nose so it basically secures a tight fit there
and not supposed to have facial hair so when i go back to work i can't even have this i'm gonna have
to shave but essentially right here it's going to make a tight fit around here and the proper way to
go about this is to actually get a test fit where they spray a chemical so that they can see if you
smell the chemical if you can smell it then it's not a good fit so that's how we determine that
also these masks are uncomfortable and it's not practical to wear them for more than a few hours
however if there are enough of these to go around for the public i don't see why they
can't be recommended for certain situations like when you're in an enclosed space with other people
such as a subway train or in an elevator or on an airplane there's also the issue
of keeping the masks sterile so they can actually be re-sterilized by baking them in an oven set at
160 degrees for 30 minutes i'm not joking that's really the best and the most practical way to
re-sterilize them is 160 degree dry heat for 30 minutes alternatively if you happen to have seven
of these masks laying around you can wear one new one each day of the week and for the ones that
you're not using keep them in a dry isolated place this way the viruses and bacteria will just die
off so for now the cdc says the public should not buy them and should not wear them but what you can
do is get yourself an elastomeric respirator this is a reusable device with exchangeable cartridge
filters like an n95 respirator it also filters out at least 95 percent of airborne particles
as small as 0.3 microns it fits tight against the user's face and it's more comfortable than
an n95 and before reusing this mask all of its surfaces need to be wiped down with a disinfectant
so although both of these are not perfect they are very effective at preventing inhaling the virus
now if i were to buy one i'd probably go with this one the 3m 7503 large silicone ultimate
7500 series as it gets great reviews on amazon and i'll put a link to that in the description below
all right tip number two i definitely recommend eye goggles that prevent air from blowing into
your eyes because that's another way for the virus to infect you you might be able to see
here on the side the air really can't get in so not going to get to your eyes or at least
it's very low likelihood and they're very cheap these are my cheap motorcycle goggles i have here
and i also have the cheap sunglasses version here just in case it's very sunny and bright
on the plane like when they don't pull the window shade down and all that sun gets in
but anyway you can get these on amazon as well and i'll put a link to them below so
all right now on to tip number three those overhead jets on the plane probably gonna
want to turn those on why because stagnant air is the enemy here stagnant air makes it easier for
the virus to linger in the air not only that but those overhead jets actually will push that air
downwards with that jet so if the virus is in that air essentially it's going to be pushed toward
the floor making you less likely to infect you tip number four avoid people impossible you say
yes but you can get the super early flights or the red-eye flights and consider getting a business
class c if you can or better yet a private jet tip number five avoid long flights because the
longer the flight the more potential exposure what makes someone more likely to inhale the virus is
really a combination of factors now one of those factors is the amount of time you spend in close
contact with someone who has the virus this is why people who live in the same household as someone
who has the virus is more likely to get it it's also why healthcare workers are more likely to
get it so keep that in mind when you're booking longer trips alright so tip number six bring the
hand sanitizer with you because you're going to be getting your hands dirty a lot those respiratory
droplets land on everything so anytime you touch something there's a potential to get the virus on
your hands and of course don't touch your face with your hands at least if they're not clean
and this is the same rationale for my final tip number seven which is
bring sanitizing wipes so that you can wipe the tray if you're gonna use the tray
now doing all of these things still does not guarantee that you won't get the virus
but it dramatically improves your chances of not getting it the other nice thing about implementing
these measures trying to look on the bright side here is that they'll prevent inhalation of other
respiratory infectious diseases such as measles tuberculosis and influenza yes influenza is mostly
respiratory droplet transmission but is sometimes transmitted by means of aerosol and then there
are other viruses that cause the common cold such as other coronaviruses rhinoviruses adenoviruses
and human metanema viruses and others as well so is it better to drive instead of to fly
kind of depends if you're by yourself no worries just make sure to maintain the usual precautions
throughout the trip like when you take breaks from driving you're going to want to wear the
mask wash your hands and all that other stuff avoiding handshakes avoiding hugs and kisses
she's my sister but the more people in the car the higher the likelihood of
someone spreading the virus if someone does have it so for multiple people in the car
better to wear masks and definitely crack open a window or two so you can have that window
down a few inches and that way if the virus is aerosolized it'll just fly out the window which
is also what you can do when someone lets one rip so which one is better flying or driving it really
depends on a lot of different factors other things you might want to consider is the destination do
they have a quarantine rule there if you do fly there overall i'd say driving is probably better
especially if you're going by yourself but as long as you know the preventative measures that
you can implement you'll minimize your chances of getting the virus whether you're flying or driving
all right that's all i have for this video check out my airborne transmission video
if you haven't seen that one already and i'll see you in the next one you