NY - Plane quarantined at JFK amid reports of sick passengers, 5 Sept, 2018

[Amonet]

One issue is that many people will fly despite already having D&V symptoms. I know from reading a particular online forum just how common it is for parents to take toddlers with active D&V or open chicken pox sores onto a holiday flight because they are damned if they're going to miss their holiday.

Consider also that it only takes a few passengers with D&V to make the onboard loos pretty disgusting, thus making them a hazard to others.

And the door handles on the loos if people don't wash their hands properly?

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Yes, but if they were incubating it prior to getting on the plane, wouldn't you expect similar but smaller incidents on other planes carrying people back from Hajj?

Yes I would, but not all Hajis would be going back to a country where the problem would be picked up immediately. In any event, we now know the plane did not stop in Mecca after all.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

And the door handles on the loos if people don't wash their hands properly?

Yep, just about any surface in the cabin could be infected, and I'd imagine that effectively cleaning soft upholstery would be much harder than cleaning hard surfaces like plastic.

Of course, it would only take one infected flight atttendant handing out meals to infect a significant proportion of the passengers.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Incidentally, a human sneeze not caught in a hanky can project infected droplets up to 20 feet. I used to reckon at a past job that I could have taken out the entire marketing department if I'd sneezed in the right direction.

 

[Gardener1850]

Probably unrelated, but another plane was quarantined in France for a cholera outbreak: Passengers hospitalized after suspected cholera case on...

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Probably unrelated, but another plane was quarantined in France for a cholera outbreak: Passengers hospitalized after suspected cholera case on...

French authorities evacuated 141 passengers and crew from a flight arriving in the French city of Perpignan from Algeria on Wednesday after a child on board was suspected of being infected with cholera, the fire brigade said.

The eight-year-old child was taken to hospital for checks after suffering bouts of vomiting and diarrhea during the flight, a fire brigade official said.

A police source said the child’s mother and several passengers sitting near them were also hospitalized.

Given how infectious cholera is, you can be sure a fair number of other passengers will have been exposed to it.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Within the past couple of days a passenger from Saudi Arabia who arrived in the UK has been confirmed with MERS. He is currently hospitalised.

Confirmed case of MERS-CoV in United Kingdom

 

[Gardener1850]

Given how infectious cholera is, you can be sure a fair number of other passengers will have been exposed to it.

I just hope it has been diagnosed properly.

 

[Gardener1850]

NEW YORK — Vanilla Ice is aboard an Emirates A380 jet quarantined at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, according to the musician’s Twitter account.
“This is crazy. Apparently there [are] over 100 people sick on the bottom floor, so happy I’m up top, it’s a double-decker plane 380,” the “Ice Ice Baby” artist said.

People were quick to reply with puns related to the 1989 hit song.

“It appears that there is a problem. Isn’t it your obligation to solve it?” one Twitter user wrote.

Vanilla Ice aboard plane quarantined at JFK Airport

 

[FlossyMay]

Vanilla Ice aboard plane quarantined at JFK Airport

Wow...that's crazy.

 

[dotr]

How many people are actually sick after an Emirates flight from Dubai to JFK?
"It’s a nightmare scenario for the global age: You’re on a plane and passengers around you come down with coughing and fever. This is apparently what happened on an Emirates Airline flight from Dubai to New York’s JFK Airport, which had to be quarantined upon arrival for part of Wednesday morning.

But exactly how many are sick? There are conflicting estimates floating around: Emirates has said “about 10” while the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has put the number closer to 100. The press secretary for the New York City mayor, Eric Phillips, said 19 people in total are sick: 10 were sent to hospital and nine refused medical attention."
"Another passenger’s Twitter account suggests people were coughing before they got on the plane. Erin Sykes of New York tweeted: “This is 100% not food poisoning. I asked for a mask bf we even took off.”

 

[FlossyMay]

How many people are actually sick after an Emirates flight from Dubai to JFK?
"It’s a nightmare scenario for the global age: You’re on a plane and passengers around you come down with coughing and fever. This is apparently what happened on an Emirates Airline flight from Dubai to New York’s JFK Airport, which had to be quarantined upon arrival for part of Wednesday morning.

But exactly how many are sick? There are conflicting estimates floating around: Emirates has said “about 10” while the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has put the number closer to 100. The press secretary for the New York City mayor, Eric Phillips, said 19 people in total are sick: 10 were sent to hospital and nine refused medical attention."
"Another passenger’s Twitter account suggests people were coughing before they got on the plane. Erin Sykes of New York tweeted: “This is 100% not food poisoning. I asked for a mask bf we even took off.”

Refused treatment? Sorry, but I would def need some reassurance if I had been on that plane.

 

[FlossyMay]

JFK's Quarantined Airplane: Why Were People Sick? - The Atlantic

Ultimately, only 19 of the 521 passengers on the plane were sick when evaluated, according to the mayor’s press secretary. Symptoms of fevers and coughs pointed toward flu, though it’s unclear if all 19 actually have the flu. Eleven people were taken to a hospital, the CDC later said. Two hours after their 14-hour flight landed, the rest of the passengers got to leave.

It’s difficult to say how the reports of 100 sick passengers originated, but it’s not hard to see why. Being stuck on a plane already inspires a mix of impotence and rage. Add something to fear—an overheard cough, a suspicious number of trips to the bathroom—and imagining the worst is all too easy.

 

[CARIIS]

I don't do much flying because...heights = nope! But am I correct that planes recycle the same air over and over? They can't pull fresh air in from outside, which if I'm right, would make it easier to spread germs.

wow what a story

that is old days! This is A380 ($375 million per aircraft not a typo!)

These beauties take bleed air (not jet exhaust !) cool it and pump it in to cabin I don't know the cabin refresh numbers on this model . And there are vents used to pressurization that allow air out.

long flight kinda seems like it would food related - but it seems that would be pretty easy to determine no? Ask what they consumed .

but coughing cant be related to food poisoning can it ?

wonder if there was a small something electrical that released some smoke that was toxic?

that would address the cough

would also be interesting to see where the folks were seated ???

 

[MelmothTheLost]

'They wouldn't let drunk people on': Fitness expert passenger demands to know why Emirates staff let dozens of visibly ill travelers fly non-stop from Dubai to New York - and is now concerned she will get sick

'They should have never let those people on the plane,' Sykes fumed during an interview with several media outlets. 'They don't let a drunk person on the plane; they shouldn't let sick people on the plane.'

She added: 'Then we saw a lot of people using the bathroom for an extended period. The bathrooms were unusable by the end.'

I don't think the authorities in NY should have allowed passengers to refuse medical treatment if they were showing any signs of illness. Given that it's not clear what the cause is, the authorities have a duty in those circumstances to ensure that anyone entering a country does not pose a health risk to the general population or to other travelers if their plans are for an onward journey.

 

[Amonet]

'They wouldn't let drunk people on': Fitness expert passenger demands to know why Emirates staff let dozens of visibly ill travelers fly non-stop from Dubai to New York - and is now concerned she will get sick



I don't think the authorities in NY should have allowed passengers to refuse medical treatment if they were showing any signs of illness. Given that it's not clear what the cause is, the authorities have a duty in those circumstances to ensure that anyone entering a country does not pose a health risk to the general population or to other travelers if their plans are for an onward journey.

I don't think it would be Constitutional to force someone to accept medical treatment.

Quarantine would be another matter as that would be about public health. But if there's no reason to suppose it's more than a normal flu, then I don't think there'd be reason to force them into quarantine.

The CDC was there so they should be able to get a good feel for what's going on from symptoms and temperatures. They'll have the names and addresses so they can track each passenger if necessary. And I guess they can request/advise each person who is already symptomatic to go home by non-public transport and stay inside until their symptoms subside.

 

[Alethea]

That’s nuts! I am terrified of flying (apologies to every air hostess who ever had to watch me sob uncontrollably on a cross-country flight) so these nutty plane stories always get me. I hope they’re all feeling better now and it wasn’t something serious.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

I don't think it would be Constitutional to force someone to accept medical treatment.

Quarantine would be another matter as that would be about public health.

Apologies, bad phrasing on my part. I would include forcible quarantine within the scope of medical treatment on the "watch and see" basis.

But if there's no reason to suppose it's more than a normal flu, then I don't think there'd be reason to force them into quarantine.

Ordinarily I might agree with you, but the fact that this flight originated in the Middle East where MERS has reappeared recently would possibly change things since MERS has a fatality rate of around 40%. Prior to the case found in a Saudi recently arrived in the UK, 3 of the 4 earlier cases in the UK have proved fatal and all three of those originated in people who traveled from the Middle East.

The other issue is that security services are aware that Islamic terrorists are trying to acquire lethally infectious bioorganisms. It's believed they are actively trying to engineer smallpox, for example, from closely related viruses. There is clearly the potential, therefore, for a trojan horse with an infectious agent to enter a country to spread the infection there to cause civic and economic chaos. It's just a different type of suicide bombing and I would expect governments to be on the lookout for it.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

The CDC on coronaviruses:

Coronavirus | About | Symptoms and Diagnosis | CDC

Symptoms may include

• runny nose
• headache
• cough
• sore throat
• fever
• a general feeling of being unwell

And

Your healthcare provider may order laboratory tests on respiratory specimens and serum (part of your blood) to detect human coronavirus. This is especially likely if you have severe disease or are suspected of having MERS.

 

[CARIIS]

Hummm

what would be real interesting to know is if carrier took the aircraft out of service -- that is a huge deal to pull an A380 out -