‘Nigeria can stop COVID-19 without shutting airports, cities’

A United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) licensed flight dispatcher and ground  instructor, Mrs Victoria Jumoke Adegbe has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to review the continued shutting down of airports  and other economic activities as a way of curbing the spread of COVID-19.

The aviation consultant and Chief Executive Officer of Insel Networks, said continuous lock down will spell doom for the airline industry.

Adegbe canvassed the destruction of screening tray at airport terminals, a development, she said provides fluid contact from one passenger to another during check in.

While suggesting the use of disposable trash bags to be placed at screening point and trashed after use, Adegbe declared: “The solution may not be a total lockdown when airlines are grounded and the passengers are stranded all over the world. There is need to look at some things around the airport including  automatic terminal doors, which opens on own accord without passengers touching any handles.

“At checkpoint, here you put your carry-on in a tray for screening while you pass the screening machine empty handed. Then you pick the tray containing your personal effects, take possession of your items and the tray is picked by the officials to be used by someone else.

“You check in, board, not touching a single person, not assisting anyone to carry any bags for security reasons; no hugs or kisses. So tell me, how come this COVID-19 spread so fast when airline passengers never touched each other? Simple, I believe you’ve seen it too it’s the trays.”

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“Here’s the solution, I hope Nigeria implements it first so it goes on record all over the world. Throw out all the trays, better still, burn them all. Use disposable trash bags placed at screening points where you put all your items inside and trash them yourself when done. I believe that’s just what we need to do.”

Adegbe cited a report published by The New York Times on September 5th, 2018 where it stated that the plastic trays used at airport checkpoints around the world and touched by millions of passengers as they drop their carry-on and other items for X-ray scanning harbour a variety of germs.

Also citing a Forbes publication by Bruce Y. Lee  which supports germ spreading capacity of airport trays, Adegbe added: “The trays were described as disgusting and from facts gathered from the Helsinki airport in Finland , research indicated that they carry various viruses such as rhino virus (which causes common cold), Coronavirus, Adenovirus and influenza A. There you go. Airports have to do away with the trays. Dear President, we do not have to halt everything and crash our economy.”

 

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE