Covid risk in planes & restaurants can't be compared: MIT scientist refutes Harvard study

After a study claimed that eating out or buying groceries can be more dangerous than air travel amid pandemic, some scientists argued that such a comparison is t possible without kwing if a person is following all COVID-19 safety protocols or t. research conducted by scientists from Harvard's T H Chan School of Public Health in US said that ventilation system installed in planes is me up of High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters which can help filter more than 99 per cent of particles that can cause Coronavirus. But, on contrary, researchers including  Arld I Barnett from MIT in US said at times HEPA filters may t function as properly as report suggested. 

Covid-19 Study: Risk in planes & restaurants can't be compared 

While suggesting that HEPA filters do t always function to ir full capacity, Barnett who is a professor at MIT said, 'HEPA filters are very good, but t as effected as US airlines suggest. y are t foolproof and re are numerous examples of transmission despite se filters.' COVID-19 transmission probability depends on a contagious passenger's emissions of virus while breathing, speaking, coughing and sneezing, he ded.  

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Barett also said movement of droplets and aerosols can also affect possibility of contracting virus. Agreeing to this, Abraar Karan from Department of Medicine at Harvard Medical School expressed his concern about risk of virus transmission in airplanes. He said, 'For those considering flying, reality is that while planes have great ventilation systems, we don't have a good idea of how many COVID-19 cases were actually infected on flight itself.'

While speaking about comparison of risk of contracting Coronavirus in planes and restaurants, Justin Yang from Harvard School of Public Health said, 'such an evaluation cant be me in a simple way'. He also ded that one can actually t compare two situations because risk of getting infected by COVID-19 depends on multiple factors. 

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Justin Yang said, "It ultimately depends on distance you maintain from an infected person. closer you are to someone with virus, more chances you may be of getting infected. Risk in aeroplanes is t as significant as people think because of airflow patterns, enhanced cleaning and mask-wearing."

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While responding to Yang's explanation, Barnett concurred and said 'one can compare risk scenarios by if kwing all safety precautions including social distancing and mask-wearing are enforced properly in respective settings.' He also highlighted that when people remove ir masks at restaurant for consuming foods in restaurants and this increased ir chances of getting infected by virus. Stating an example of a person who is travelling in a plane, Barett said, 'removing of mask increases transmission risk by 33 per cent.'

Barrett and his team said that despite fact that  death risk for domestic air passengers who contract COVID-19 infection may be low in US but it has still caused many deaths of people who were t passengers. 'se indirect victims of infections incurred during flights (i.e. of tertiary infections) could well outnumber direct victims,' he ded. 

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(With PTI inputs)