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Every time I go out I think about the fact that real life is now scarier and messier than a dystopian/apocalyptic show, and I’ve watched many. Here’s a story that reminds me of one in particular. A man died of covid midway through a flight – from Florida, of course. He is said to have had symptoms before getting on the plane, which did not conduct temperature checks. Medics tried in vain to revive him. The plane was headed to Los Angeles, but it was diverted to New Orleans to remove him. After that the passengers continued to their destination, on the same plane. Instead of getting it fogged or putting everyone on a different, presumably cleaner plane, they just used wet wipes and continued.
We know about this because one of the passengers, who goes by Beige Oppressor, tweeted about it. Two other passengers have tweeted about it too. This is unconfirmed and she didn’t say what airline it was, although she retweeted a guess that it was a United Airlines flight headed to LA. This is not the first case of someone dying of covid mid flight.
The tweets are a whole journey. She said she’s certain that the passenger who died had covid because his wife told medics. I wanted to yell in all caps that someone who is covid positive is not supposed to fly but I’m too tired to bother. Of course someone did that. Two people got busted for it, but how many have gotten away with it? Here are some of her tweets, thanks to Just Jared for featuring this. Update 12/17: The author has deleted the tweets. Here are screenshots of those instead:
![We did [divert]. We ain't switch planes tho](https://www.celebitchy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/CovidFlightTweets2.jpg)
The woman who tweeted this is hilarious, although she understands how grave this us and has tweeted about that too. She defended her decision to fly and retweeted funny responses, like this one.
at first i thought they were flirting and i was like, aww
and then i was like no they just predicted the other person’s DEATH 💀
— that’s Dr. Jew to you ✡️ (@PhD_femme) December 15, 2020
I guess we can find some humor in this very dark time. I keep trying to think “it’s ok, we’re getting a vaccine, it will be over soon,” but I still see maskless people inside and you know people are going to be getting sick and dying of covid for years. Nothing will ever be the same. There are so many anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers in our messed up country and around the world. This just gave me another reason to hate flying once we’re able to do it again. They should absolutely not allow people over 18 to fly unless they show proof of being vaccinated.
Here’s a confirmation from another person on the same flight. There are more tweets where she elaborated. The man was given mouth-to-mouth because medics didn’t realize that there was a medical kit on board with a bag that they could use. People are dying to go to Disneyworld.
Some guy literally died on my plane coming back from Disneyworld, nurse who worked on him during the flight trying to revive him said it was covid related. Family got on the flight with him showing major covid symptoms..and we didn’t change planes even after he passed..
— Shay (@shaylabobmonsta) December 15, 2020
But the medical personnel who helped him on the flight tried to revive him for an hour…the family was crying, people were freaking out. He was shocked twice, given an epi-pen, 2 shots of adrenaline and mouth to mouth after chest compressions…
— Shay (@shaylabobmonsta) December 15, 2020
And yet another person on the flight:
My family was on that flight and we're very concerned about exposure. Unfortunately I had a front row seat to all this as we were 2 rows behind this man. The wife did say that he was experiencing shortness of breath and lack of taste and smell.
— Robert Reeves (@reevesreel) December 16, 2020
Not a word from the airline yet. I'm surprised the flight attendants didn't have any instructions for us before we got off. They did offer some kind of financial compensation for the people directly involved in the resuscitation efforts. Which is the least they could do.
— Robert Reeves (@reevesreel) December 16, 2020
In the beforetimes I used to fly to Florida regularly to see my parents. Several discount airlines fly to Florida and I assumed it was one of those, but again it is thought to be United Airlines. I want to see this covered by the mainstream press. It’s worth noting that the covid relief package has not passed because Republicans want to sneak in immunity for corporations that would shield them from lawsuits for incidents like this. Again, the passengers say temperature checks weren’t done. Plus as that passenger Robert Reeves tweeted they weren’t even told to self isolate afterwards.
Y’all QUICK https://t.co/rHCnxC4kYt
— Jo LaFlame (@jobreauxx) December 15, 2020
This is a sponcon from United in conjuction with an influencer from one week ago. This is the photo I used for the frontpage.
Update presented without comment:
How insane that his wife said he lost his taste and smell, they both knew he had covid, and they decide to get on a plane. Wow. Is this a murder-suicide? I mean, come on man. I’m sorry the family was upset and “freaking out”, but they visited this future onto other families, knowingly.
Yeah… there’s room for some suits here in my opinion. Or massive fines. Or a lifetime ban from the air.
And attempted murder! Or at least criminal negligence. A lifetime ban won’t mean squat since one of them already has no lifetime left. There had to be hundreds of people in contact with them from taxi to ticketing to security to terminal to gate agents to plane. So disgustingly selfish!
Attempted manslaughter.
@Betsy @FancyPants @Rose Yes to all of this. As in the post, “I keep trying to think “it’s ok, we’re getting a vaccine, it will be over soon,” but I still see maskless people inside and you know people are going to be getting sick and dying of covid for years. Nothing will ever be the same.”
We’re in this forever, for the long haul. Laws will need to change so that people can be better protected from this kind of willful disregard for life.
Because those cheapskates don’t want to change their flight due to the penalty clause. That’s why come hell and high water they’re gonna get on that plane.
I feel sorry for those people on that flight. Plus the ones who boarded after they landed in LA. You know they didn’t sanitize that plane
On the other hand, was this worth it? Why are people flying now?
@holly hobby- United dropped all cancellation fees a month or so ago for domestic flights and recently for international. Still a messed up situation and it sounds like the airline had some other missteps, but the family would not have been out money by not boarding the flight.
This is honestly the grossest, scariest thing I’ve heard.
Remember how hysterical people were about AIDS, blaming gays, etc. and now the same types are spewing more idiocy and hate except it’s politics this time. Off subject here but the one lady going to Tahiti made me really want to go to French Polynesia or Fiji to a less populated island for a year of so. I tested negative and then Air Tahiti here I come, but I will wait for my vaccine, I’m still hibernating to protect others, sloth like ways developing. Maybe I should start a business of high fashion hazmat suits, Louis Vuitton craftsmanship so the elite could co-mingle. Remember Billie Eilish was the first celeb to wear a mask on a red carpet (Grammys) when covid was still relatively youngish. Gucci matching fabric to her outfit which had no t&a. Good on her.
I know it happened, but I still can’t believe that it happened. Like WTF?!?!
I hope the other passengers can sue the airline.
How and why are people who are experiencing clear COVID symptoms – or in this case even worst, had a positive COVID test, travelling??? This is baffling
People are selfish. They don’t want the pandemic to inconvenience them in any way. I’m horrified and disgusted by many fellow Americans every day.
This is a critical issue with people today. They cannot accept being inconvenienced in any way.
Travelling on a plane, likely after visiting Disney world??? It boggles my mind.
Also, one of the tweets mentioned people ( I’m assuming passengers) receiving some kind of compensation after attempting resucitation on this Covid positive man, without even a barrier because apparently no one on the plane could find one in the medical kit?
If Mitch Mcconnell gets his way, companies like United will be protected from any future claims of negligence or damages from these passengers and their families.
Where I’m from you can’t board a flight without a negative test and you certainly cannot go outside (unless going to emergency) with a positive test. You have to isolate from everyone for a period of fourteen days. Not only did he infect those on the place, but everyone he came in contact with on the way to the airport and inside the airport.
Agree! I work from home but members of my family who must enter their physical workplace fill out symptom checks before and after, along with temp checks. Same with my daughter when we drop her off at school – we fill in a form that states whether or not any of us have specific symptoms, or have had contact with someone who may have symptoms, travelled etc. I know it’s more “theatre” than anything else, but it sets the tone for how seriously they take safety.
Of course people (horrible people) could still lie, and even testing doesn’t always give the whole picture, but it doesn’t sound like even the most basic attempts to keep everyone safe were done in this story. Not even reminding them to isolate! Incredible.
This is so irresponsible… not even a strong enough word. If the flight attendants noted this man was having trouble breathing, they should have asked. Are other airlines doing temperature checks ? What about the person who did mouth-to-mouth? Ugh. It’s almost as if corporations – and ‘regular’ – people aren’t taking it seriously. Why did he fly to begin with? Not seeming like such a great decision now, eh? Are there any protocols in place like ‘do not fly if you have COVID-19?’ which would totally be the honor system.
Also, other countries without a vaccine have been able to get this virus under control. The U.S. could have done that – if we didn’t have idiots in office who influence the general public who don’t want to be ‘inconvenienced.’
This is a very sad story on so many levels. Also, did they have the option to leave the plane because that’s what I would have done? And if they didn’t allow it, I would have been really upset.
Temperature checks aren’t really a good indicator of whether or not someone has Covid. I work in a hospital, and we don’t do them because so many people with Covid end up not running fevers, but there are people who run fevers for reasons other than Covid.
Anecdotally, when I had Covid in August/September, I never ran a fever, and I had a mild to moderate case.
This. And my experience with screening thermometers is that they run low anyway. Maybe bc they’re non-contact, maybe they’re set that way to avoid sending every other person home, I don’t know. But I’ll routinely be let in somewhere with a temp of, like, 94.5. Which is not compatible with life.
Husband is recovering from Covid right now, he only had a fever for 2 days. He had other symptoms of course, just not the fever for as long. He was very ill without the fever.
Other countries like Australia will be REQUIRING people to have proof of vaccine to fly in future. United States airlines need to do that.
I’m (hopefully) getting an exchange student next year and my firm demand (I will not waiver nor host unless this is met) is that my future student have had the vaccine. I’m immune compromised. I cannot host otherwise. Or, all anti-vaxxers need not apply.
So in your future, if you are pregnant or have allergies you can’t fly? Because these people are being told NOT to take the vaccine. Also, they say that having the vaccine doesn’t mean you can’t get COVID — or give it to someone. It just means you won’t get deathly ill.
They are working out whether vaccination is safe for pregnant women and their future babies. They didn’t include them in the clinical trials, but they will administer the vaccine to pregnant women and can follow their progress.
The American Academy of OB-GYNs current guidelines:
https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/practice-advisory/articles/2020/12/vaccinating-pregnant-and-lactating-patients-against-covid-19
As for allergies, they are being cautious because 2 British nurses had allergic reactions: nurses who had previous allergic reactions to vaccinations. They were treated on the spot. It’s not about all allergies. Again, there is monitoring and recording underway. This is new.
After 2 doses the currently approved vaccines are seen to limit infection, not only severe infection. But limiting severe infection alone is a seriously wonderful phenomenon, saving patient and staff lives and health-care capacity. I wouldn’t downplay how important this is all by itself.
Additional analysis is underway to determine whether the vaccines also limit infectiousness. If they do, that will be wonderful. If they don’t, then we continue to wear masks and keep our distance until we reach herd immunity, which requires about 70 percent of the population to be vaccinated.
Pregnant women, one thinks, might be wanting to avoid non-essential travel (especially by plane) during their pregnancy anyway, especially in the latter months, and certainly during or in the waning stages of a pandemic. The impact of COVID-19 on a pregnant woman is pretty harsh.
Airlines are a business and businesses are in business to make money. Whichever airline was unprepared for this, and did not get the other passengers and most of the crew out of there pronto, and put them on a plane with fresh air, should be held accountable.
As for the couple that had to visit Disneyland, this isn’t some kind of Make-A-Wish thing. JFC.
I’m old, so no pregnancy. (The Moderna vaccine did do limited research on pregnant women and so far was ok). I do have allergies but my doctor thinks I can have the vaccine and have a 30 minute wait to see if I’m okay as no other vaccines have produced an allergic reaction in me. I’m tired of placating anti-vaxxers. There’s always an excuse. (Not saying you are, but many use the “allergy” or “religious” excuse).
Even with my allergies, I’m willing to risk the vaccine to get us to herd immunity. If you have VALID (documented reasons from a medical profession), I’d say once a good portion of the population is vaccinated, go for flying without.
@Who ARE These People? “Whichever airline was unprepared for this, and did not get the other passengers and most of the crew out of there pronto, and put them on a plane with fresh air, should be held accountable.”
THIS. It’s almost been a year. There is zero excuse for not being prepared, for not having protocols. COVID-19 has really highlighted how disgusting and incompetent some corporations really are and I hope people stop handing over their money to those that have shown their a*ses. It’s also shown how ineffective governments are that hand over no strings attached COVID-19 bailouts to corporations that are only worsening the pandemic with their negligence.
Be aware, all 3 vaccines approved for wide use in western countries so far (Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca) are not shown to prevent asymptomatic, transmissible coronavirus infections in immunized persons. We know for sure that asymptomatic infections occurred pretty frequently in the AstraZeneca and Moderna trials, and based on murine and primate models would expect to see them with the Pfizer vaccine as well. Sadly, this does not look like a virus where the vaccine is going generate true herd immunity– mainly just individual protection for the vaccine recipient. Which is still a great and wonderful thing! But it’s not as much as we all hoped. If you are immunocompromised, this may affect your plans if you are considering hosting a young person in your home who is likely to be socializing a lot with other young adults.
The flight attendants may have been told that they are not allowed to confront paying passengers. It wouldn’t surprise me.
I think the family and the airline should be sued. That family. I’d like to say that they are horrible people but they are just one in so many. They have no regard for human life and should be charged accordingly. Sickening.
But they have no qualms kicking a woman off a plane if she is dressed in some way a flight attendant deems indecent…
This! Or for a BIPOC individual, being told that we’re looking the wrong way, breathing, wearing the wrong thing, existing….etc
I saw that an airline kicked off a family because the two year old wouldn’t wear a mask. But someone with symptoms so severe they are literally dying gets to fly?
Further cementing my happiness with my decision NOT to fly home to see my mom and stepdad this Christmas. (Yes, I live in Florida. No, I’m not sure why I still live in this hellhole of stupidity.)
I’m in Florida too. Yes there are a lot of ignorant people but my mom retired here. I want to be close to her
Another person in the hellscape that is Florida. I can’t wait to move (planning my escape for 1-2 years from now). Did you see what our IDIOT governor said? All of us should get only ONE dose of the vaccine? When did he become a doctor?
Does the cost of the vaccine come out of the state budget?
Does he want to make it look as if he’s vaccinating twice as many people
(as should be vaccinated with 2 doses)?
He said in a press conference, he thought FL would be getting more vaccines. I guess his good buddy Trump didn’t deliver. So, yeah. he wants to look like he’s vaccinating more. DeathSantis has been hell on our elderly down here. He’s incompetent.
The airline is completely irresponsible – criminal negligence.
The sick people flying are… I have no words. The selfishness is astounding.
How irresponsible was the passenger and his family to get on a plane with covid!?! omg, I’m sorry but that should be criminal..
I wonder whether the deceased, and his estate by extension, could/should be found legally negligent if he knowingly travelled after testing positive for Covis-19? If another passenger(s) is exposed as a result, with resulting pain/suffering, economic loss, healthcare expenses, could they pursue legal action against the estate of the deceased? Obviously there’s voluntary assumption of risk in travelling during a pandemic and some contributory negligence on their part. Maybe I’m heartless, but it’s not just the airline’s fault, it’s equally or more so the deceased’s fault if he knew he had Covid and his symptoms were so severe he dropped dead shortly after boarding the flight.
Mouth-to-mouth. The selfishness is incomprehensible. How can we possibly expect to survive as a society when we’ve become Lord of the Flies?
This is what I was going to comment on. Mouth-to-mouth on a covid patient! I certainly hope there was some sort of barrier for the first-aider. That is beyond acceptable risk for me!
This is what jumped out at me………….mouth to mouth!
Was that responder aware the passenger had covid before agreeing to this? Not sure even a barrier would be enough.
Homo sapiens on the path of self-destruction.
Actually, the person who performed mouth-to-mouth has to be the least selfish person. Under ordinary circumstances, stepping in like this is extraordinary. During a pandemic, it may be ill-advised but it is certainly selfless.
I’m fucking DONE with these selfish-ass people. “But the kids wanna go to Disney! I wanna see gram-gram for Christmas! Let me just get on this plane and inflict my poor decisions on hundreds of other people. So what if that means some of them might end up too fucking dead to ever spend Christmas with THEIR families again? Not my problem!” The self-absorption is just STAGGERING.
America
I feel sorry for the medics and passengers who — because they are good people — tried to resuscitate this man, who knowingly put their lives at risk.
It’s abhorrent that this family got on the plane in the first place. It’s abhorrent that there were no temperature checks, no proper cleaning procedures and no instructions given to passengers who will be getting on other flights and visiting people. Negligent corporations should not be exempt from legal action and should not receive any government bailouts if they can even do the bare minimum.
I’m in Canada and we have “snow birds” heading to Florida right now. Good luck and don’t bring it back!
I’m in Canada too, and the Ontario government (under “populist” Conservative Doug Ford) just passed a bill that shields private nursing-home owners from lawsuits over negligence. Ontario nursing (“long-term care”) home residents have died of COVID at a rate higher than that in Europe and even the USA, due to lack of oversight, poor infection control, inadequate PPE, and poorly paid staffing meaning helpers rotate through several homes a day.
Most nursing homes are private here. The former premier of Ontario, Michael Harris (also deeply Conservative), has a big ownership stake in one of the chains.
Just putting it out there.
It’s awful what is happening in nursing home and I can’t even begin to imagine how scary it is to live in one right now. It’s criminal that Doug Ford is shielding private nursing homes and also giving them our tax dollars when they clearly aren’t using them to protect residents but to pay millions to shareholders.
Agree with both of you! Ford and his government need to be held fully accountable!
Alex, I’ll take “reasons why I’m not voluntarily getting on a plane anytime soon” for $100.
In all seriousness – this family should be in jail and the airline should be paying for COVID tests for everyone else as well as supplying stipends for the two week quarantine they’ll all need to be in now.
No sympathy for this guy – I can’t believe people are willfully doing this shit when they know they’re sick. Congratulations – we’re all going to be in lockdown for a long time coming thanks to bullshit like this.
Right? I had originally planned to fly in Dec. I was feeling really anxious about it, and then the new round of SiP orders went out and I quickly cancelled my trip. This story makes me never want to fly again tho even post-vaccine. It’s too many people crammed into a tight space for too long.
Grabbyhands,
YES, this! Absolutely!!!!!!!!!!!! “Alex, I’ll take “reasons why I’m not voluntarily getting on a plane anytime soon” for $100.
Obviously, this family is disgiusting for knowingly getting on a plane with Covid. But I am shocked that more people haven’t said something along the lines of what you have. NONE of us can trust others to do the right thing. AND people can be asymptomatic, so while this guy knew what he was doing, many others could go sit on your flight with you not realizing that they are exposing you. So combine the truly selfish with the well-intentioned asymptomatic, and that is a LOT pof people you are relying on.
If you refusing to fly means mising your beloved grandma’s funeral, or losing your job or not getting a life saving surgery that only a doc out of state performs, fine, get on a plane. But travelling for fun right now should just NOT be done. people are going to hot spots and bringing the virus back home. Or leaving a hot spot to vaction in some area that maybe has few cases. There are so many things wrong with what happened here, but it surprises me that no one is saying “WHY ARE YOU ALL ON PLANES??” Again, there are a variety of reasons why a person might truly have to…but that can’t be the case for all the people we see photos of in crowded airports. This is RIDICULOUS.
But the tragedy is that plenty of people have been unable to travel for funerals or other critical events because of this behavior. And I’m sorry but having a big family holiday is not critical. It’s desirable, but the only way to ensure having one next year is holding your festivities on zoom this year.
How is this person not aware at this point the covid is airborne and “wet wipes” won’t do anything? Are they one of the people who still unnecessarily wipes down their groceries?m
Can’t say I feel any sadness for the idiot who died or his family. Good riddance.
It’s more about the airline acting like wet wipes mean anything. It’s a show. Yes, planes should be disinfected (especially after dead bodies are there!) during and after COVID; no, surface spread seems to be far from the major mode of transmission. They should have brought in a new plane for those passengers.
Wow, how sad and selfish. Jesus Christ I can’t get over either situation, getting on a gd plane while experiencing covid symptoms and exposing dozens of people while they try to save your life. Unbelievable. I hope the people who tried to save him due the shit out of the airline when they get sick.
Hot take: if you have a positive test and do anything besides sit your ass at home for the quarantine period, you should be charged with attempted manslaughter (if no one dies) and manslaughter if someone does die. Sit. Your. Ass. At. Home.
Other countries would charge them with breaking quarantine orders. In Canada it would range from $275 to $1,275 and that I believe is for not quarantining upon entering the country, let alone wandering around being covid positive.
Pure insanity. I can’t imagine how traumatic this must’ve been for the passengers, not only did have a guy die midflight, but you know that they are now exposed. Hopefully they truly do quarantine. I can’t believe how lax all of the airline regulations have gotten, we truly have just given up.
Nope, I agree. You should definitely be charged with something.
Here’s another hot take that would have some of my family members and my red home state, most of whom are against the vaccine just like wearing a mask: If when it’s widely available and still has no actually harmful side effects and you willfully choose to not get it, no plane rides, no movie theaters, no Disneyworld or indoor dining for you. People should have to carry an ID like a drivers license to get into anywhere with large groups of people.
And then watch them scream even more about their freedoms.
We know someone who is one of those faux libertarian types who thinks it’s all media hysteria and he can just de-stress his way through this.
So, will he get vaccinated? I guess we’ll have to assume he will not, so how should we act around him once we are? When all is said and done, if he doesn’t contract COVID, he and people like him are counting on people who are responsible and civic-minded (and understand that COVID can be serious) to protect him.
Eh.
@TheOtherSarah Agreed x 10000000
Florida. Gov DeSatanist is currently encouraging people to go out and eat in restaurants. Fighting cities who enact a mask mandate. Yesterday he said we don’t need both shots of the vaccine.
This guy is still chugging the fascist kool-ade that sTUmp is serving. We’re currently living in hell.
I said this upthread. I HATE DeSantis. Yes, give elderly people on one dose. Is he crazy?
He might want it to appear that Florida’s vaccinating twice as many people as it really is (because 1 dose is not a truly successful vaccination).
Florida is getting exactly what they paid for putting in charge a dude who literally helped run Guantanamo Bay all because he had ~military experience.~ The only people anybody should feel bad for there are those who didn’t or couldn’t vote against him.
I’m really shocked the airline didn’t have a cpr pocket mask on board that the flight attendants knew about. So gross.
They did and used it eventually but it sounds like it was chaos and they used mouth to mouth at first.
all their bogus civil rights. Geez. People are dying. I can’t walk unto a pharmacy without a temp check let alone a freaking recycled air box plane! Wtaf. Honestly, America, Im either very sorry or have no sympathy. No idea which
Airlines need to take some damn responsibility, accept that they will lose some money, and tighten restrictions on who can fly. If you have symptoms, you’re not getting on the plane. Once the vaccine is widely distributed, if you’re not vaccinated, you’re not getting on the plane. End of. I won’t fly again until these rules are in place.
I don’t for the life of me understand why there are temp checks to enter a restaurant BUT NOT AN AIRPLANE
Temperature checks are security theater. Lots of people with covid don’t develop fevers.
Exactly this, Betsy. Don’t develop fevers at all, or haven’t developed one yet. The mental gymnastics people do to convince themselves this that or the other activity is FINE turns my head into a ball of flame.
I don’t understand people! How can you not just skip Disney for a few months, or just not go this year!
Someone up-thread mentioned the Snowbirds from Canada migrating to Florida to winter as usual. Some of them went to great lengths to find loopholes and get around border closures so that they could winter in a covid hot-spot! I mean shipping your car to buffalo, flying across the car, and picking your car up. It’s crazy.
As Emily said – don’t bring covid back here!
Yeah, I hate all of them. I’m the first to say Canadian winters SUCK DUMPSTER JUICE and despise them and feel so limited these months, but I’d rather deal with our winters than US levels of covid. Especially in loopy FL.
Same to both your comments, Keroppi and Godwina (hi from Ontario!).
Winters suck dumpster juice … may I borrow that? So true, and that limitation
in getting around is a real thing. We want more of the year to enjoy our
truly beautiful outdoors!
oops, I just realized, it should read “flying across the border” not “flying across the car!”
Ugh, I have seen way too many stories about snowbirds and their pathetic excuses. If you have enough money to be a snow bird you likely have enough money to stay home, crank the furnace and have all your groceries and restaurant meals delivered to your house. Buy a SAD light off amazon and suck it up.
You know if things go to hell (even more so than they already have) in places like Florida and Arizona these people will be on the news crying about the Canadian government needs to come and rescue them and medivac them back home. As far as I am concerned these people have made their choice and the rest of canada owes them nothing.
Some elderly family friends were looking to drive down to Florida, but since they both have risk factors, they CANNOT get insurance to cover them. So if god forbid they do get sick, they will be stranded with no OHIP and probably no way to get home.
They’ve been asking everyone to weigh in on whether we think this is a good idea since November, and obviously to a person we have all said “NO!”. I just don’t understand.
My daughter’s been calling Covid positives on her job for months now.
They get on planes, knowing they are positive, All. The. Time.
They fly, they go to weddings, they infect, they lie, to others and themselves. She gets especially depressed when it’s her 20-something, highly educated friends who make these decisions…and act like they’re immune.
She says she can’t wait to leave the US once it’s safe.
I’m sorry to hear this. It’s hard to hear of someone getting that full disillusionment so young. Most of us have to live a few decades of bitter experience to get to that level. Wishing your daughter the best.
From a psychology article: “Optimism bias is the belief that each of us is more likely to experience good outcomes and less likely to experience bad outcomes. The key to optimism bias is that we disregard the reality of an overall situation because we think we are excluded from the potential negative effects.”
I’m also having trouble understanding why all those folks got back ON a contaminated plane. UGH. I hate everything about this.
I don’t think they ever got off. It seems like passenger who died was taken off and they wet wiped everything before they took off again.
There really isn’t an option otherwise. They’ve already been exposed. Taking them off the plane, filtering them through an airport terminal, and then putting them on another plane significantly increases the pool of people who can be exposed beyond them. The ideal situation should have actually been having people meet them at the airport, cordon them off from everyone else, and funnel them through as a group that was immediately sent to quarantine. But since nobody is enforcing quarantine… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Watcha gonna do?
Good points!
I am just at a loss for words. People refusing to wear masks and now people knowingly having COVID and boarding airplanes where ventilation is poor and recycled. WOW. They should be banned from travel until they are vaccinated. If one cannot think for themselves, when the greater good in involved, then others must think for them.
A nurse friend of mine currently is taking care of a flight attendant with COVID on a vent. Please don’t fly right now.
Apparently if you Google this, and I did, you will find several examples of it happening. These selfish people just keep traveling!
As somebody who had to fly for two months for my job during the summer surge…they’re likely already exposed. If the dude was breathing and had his mask removed at any point, it’s circulating. There is no social distancing on plans, and they recycle air. Of course they wet wiped down the plane and kept going – what else can they do? It’s not like they can find some random plane (impossible), deplane everyone off the original plane and risk more contamination through movement, and then reinfect a new plane.
The family is trash for exposing everybody like that, but I have be honest that anybody on the plane that absolutely didn’t need to be there for work or an urgent need for travel is culpable for their choice to put themselves at risk flying in the middle of a pandemic. This being said, everybody should be asking for that family’s information. If I got sick within the exposure period of that flight, you can be your ass I’m filing to have that family pay my medical bills. Be real interesting to see some of the lawsuits that come out of this pandemic going forward.
I am shooketh. I recently had to travel across country to get my partner after he had a medical episode and had to be hospitalized for a few days while on a work trip. I would NOT be surprised if it was United that was the airline responsible after a friend took United to get home and quarantine. I flew Delta cross country and was relieved that their processes had changed to reflect the situation were all in. I know Delta isnt recycling the cabin air any longer and oxygen flowing through the cabin is done with clean air (I asked the Diamond desk associate both flight attendants and the man at the ticket counter just to make sure everyone had the same answer), the flight attendants were conducting mask checks and enforcing mask wearing (even for sleeping passengers), snacks and beverages were limited to pre packaged bags so there was minimal time for the flight attendants to be in the aisle and everyone was provided hand sanitizer as they boarded. By far the best thing they did was to make there be no middle seat and if you’re in a 2×2 you don’t have to sit next to someone else. While it wasn’t exactly the most ideal time to travel I’m grateful I wasn’t flying United where PEOPLE ARE DYING MID FLIGHT. If that had happened to me I would have walked off the plane and rebooked on another flight with a different air line.
I have flown Delta twice in the past several months and have felt both times they did it right. The no middle seat is amazing, also in the lounge they made announcements to please put on your mask in between bites/sips and saw where they approached someone who was not complying. I have much love for Delta!
History shows us that all once-great civilizations came to an end, usually defeated by another power. I’m afraid that we will eventually cease to exist as a great nation, not due to an outside enemy but thanks to our own stupidity. We can begin with Florida.
This is so true. Sometimes it’s not so obvious and remains a mystery why a civilization failed; that will not be the case with us.
I don’t understand people. “Yay, let’s travel to Disneyworld during a global pandemic, the entire family yay, we can spread it around on it’s a small world. We can leave it all over pirates of the Caribbean, the pirates will never notice. Disneyland was closed so ya know we had to fly all the way to Florida, and infect everyone on both the arriving and returning flights”.
I will never, ever understand people like this. Selfish. There is no reason unless it’s an emergency to board a commercial flight to anywhere right now. Stay put, stay still, stay safe. That’s my motto.
They need to close Disneyworld and just be done with it.
The nerve of that family! OMG. They should have been at a hospital, not Disney World and a plane flight.
The only explanation I have for this is that half of US citizens are inhabited by aliens. It’s like we all live in the same physical world but are mentally on different planets. Maybe people don’t want to live in a pandemic world, so they will use any excuse to not live in reality. But it’s such a selfish choice.
I don’t even understand why Disney World is open. NO ONE should be going on vacation right now. Hey Americans, have you seen the Covid numbers in your country? Selfish people that gathered for Thanksgiving really drove up the numbers, now Christmas and New Year’s will do the same. Stay f*cking home. I really hope the passengers on that plan isolate for 14 days…but who’s going to check if they did? NO ONE. That’s the problem.
I would love to have more of my travel happy friends tell me how flying is statistically safe. Yeah, no thanks.
I just… I don’t get why all these damn people are flying hither and yon. Where are you going? What are you doing? The people I know who were flying were doing so for fun, just to “go somewhere warm! We’re wearing N95 masks!” WTF cares?! What’s wrong with people?
Is it me, or does it seem like every time we hear of an airline doing something awful (policing the clothing of teen girls, dragging an overbooked passenger off the plane by his hair, letting people off a plane where someone died from Covid with no isolation guidelines…) it’s ALWAYS United?
I have a bazillion United miles and great “status” with them mostly bc I live near a United hub and fly a lot in normal times. But I’m horrified that they haven’t made adjustments during this pandemic a la Delta or Southwest. Even with my big perks, I’m disinclined to fly United EVER again, even when things get back to normal.
As someone who (usually) flies almost weekly for their job? United is trash. Notorious trash to business people. It’s one thing if you live near one of their major hubs, but outside of that, they’re garbage. Some of the worst benefits, worst delays, and worst service. My company goes out of its way to pay more to keep us off United and has us fly Delta where possible.
They also treat their employees terribly. Some of the worst airline pay in the industry according to flight attendants I know, and their pilots aren’t much better off. My friend’s father was a pilot for them and had nothing positive to say since they took a bunch of pay cuts even before COVID hits, and now they’ve had to take another one in the last few months.
Couldn’t agree more. One thing I’ve seen first-hand and have been disgusted by over the years (long before COVID) is how obvious and dramatic United is about treating passengers with “status” differently than the plebes.
To the point where they’ll go around the first-class cabin taking dinner orders in order of precedence. My husband flies even more than me and has some kind of absurd unpublished super-status on United. Just as one example of many, before we were married we flew somewhere together in first, he on his status and me on a coach ticket with one of his guest upgrades. They took his order first, and when I chimed in with mine they actually sneered at me, made a big deal of looking at my code on the manifest, and literally said, “Oh, no. YOU don’t get to choose. You’ll have to wait and get what’s left after our guests with status have made their selections.” Like it was some snooty 3 star Michelin situation and not a choice between airline chicken or pasta!
Now that we’re married I get to share his status, and they treat me with reasonable respect, and that’s sort of gross too.
I will never get over United destroying Continental, which was a legit good airline to fly long-haul international routes on. Ugh.
Wait WHAT? They attempted to revive him for AN HOUR— meaning his mask was off and someone’s MOUTH was on his? Exposing everyone aboard to his infection? What the actual f***. Sue the airline, sue this family’s ass off. Who cares about their grief, their wanton disregard for everyone around them says it all about our society.
It’s gonna be a while before I fly, but I suddenly have an idea why I get sick EVERY time I fly. Wet wipes?!?!?! Omg
This is mindblowing. Almost unbelievable.
Why wouldn’t an airline require a pre board negative test taken in the last five days?
Not only did they put everyone on that plane at risk – spare a thought for the hundreds of families/employees they may have infected while riding Magic Mountain and taking photos with Disney Princesses.
It will be a small petty thought, if I am saving any at all. Some people have to fly for work, or family emergencies. But taking a pandemic-timed Disney vacation? That’s shirking basic duty to contribute positively toward public health and safety.
For the employees and THEIR families, I should mention, I would have sympathies, as well as the innocent locals.