If airlines leave the middle seat open in airplane aisles, they may reduce coronavirus transmission by up to 57%, a new study by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed on Wednesday.
Airplanes hold many people, oftentimes shoulder-to-shoulder, for extended periods of times in a contained compartment, which may very well spell out a recipe for a COVID disaster.
However, a laboratory model of exposure to COVID-19 on single aisle and twin-aisle aircrafts showed that leaving the middle seat in each airplane aisle vacant reduced COVID transmission by 23% to 57% compared to airplanes which were fully packed. The percentages varied depending on the different models.
“A 57% exposure reduction was observed under the vacant middle seat condition in a scenario involving a three-row section that contained a mix of SARS-CoV-2 sources and other passengers,” according…
