Avoiding coronavirus spread for passengers, by flight dispatcher

A United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority ( NCAA) licensed Flight  Dispatcher and Ground Instructor, Mrs Victoria Jumoke Adegbe, has advised sick passengers to abstain from travelling to save their lives from the ravaging Coronavirus.

She said sick passengers manifesting symptoms of other infections were more susceptible to contract Coronavoris through the air travel mode compared to other modes of transportation because of cabin pressurisation associated with air travel.

Adegbe said the travel advisory to sick persons became imperative because of the peculiarity of air travel as the fastest mode of transport likely to serve as an avenue for the fastest spread of corona virus disease.

She said as a ground pilot, the air transport industry needed to curtail the spread of corona virus by insisting that passengers adhere to preventive measures including personal hygiene and the use of sanitises.

Adegbe said urgent steps needed to be taken to curtail the spread of Corona virus, which has killed many people in six weeks.

“Since Thomas Selfridge, the first man to die in a plane crash September 17, 1908 till February 2020 over 112 years, the total number of air crash victims is less than 60,000 persons which is a number that still makes my heart weep being a Ground Pilot.

“The Coronavirus on the other hand has infected over 60,000 persons in just six week into 2020.

“As at January 2020, World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the coronavirus a global public health emergency.”

“Air travel being the fastest means of travelling from region to region can also be the fastest means by which the coronavirus is spread fastest.

When a similar plaque called the ‘Black Death’ swept into Europe from Asia in 1347, in just five years, over 200 million people lost their lives.

“The import is that it took five years to destroy over 200 million people when there were no air travels, trains, or engine powered cars. Now imagine the speed of transmission with our technological advancement.

“I went on a research to see the categories of personal hygiene people infected and discovered that over 75 per cent  of those infected already had a prior disease such as diabetes, pneumonia and high blood pressure .

“You shouldn’t fly if you’re sick. Go to a hospital first and get treated.

“You should drink lots of water, keeping your throat hydrated decreases the chance of the coronavirus infecting you. Personal hygiene such as washing your hands with soap under running water and not in a bowl, using hand sanitisers and coughing inside a handkerchief.”