Attendants Ask FAA to Require Gloves, Masks on Flu-Zone Flights

[sharon sanders]

Attendants Ask FAA to Require Gloves, Masks on Flu-Zone Flights
2009-04-28 22:03:08.575 GMT


By Mary Jane Credeur

April 28 (Bloomberg) -- The Association of Flight
Attendants-CWA union asked U.S. regulators for an emergency
order requiring airlines to provide non-latex gloves and masks
to crew members on flights to areas affected by the swine flu.

Attendants with flulike symptoms also should be allowed to
call in sick without being penalized, the union wrote to the
Federal Aviation Administration. The AFA represents workers at
Delta Air Lines Inc.?s Northwest unit and United Airlines.

Delta, UAL Corp.?s United, AMR Corp.?s American Airlines
and other carriers said they already provide the health items in
onboard safety kits, and existing policies allow employees to
call in sick without any negative consequences.

The union request is ?pretty routine? for an illness
outbreak and follows guidelines by the World Health Organization
and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said
Corey Caldwell, a spokeswoman for the Washington-based AFA.

An FAA spokeswoman in Washington, Laura Brown, didn?t
immediately return a telephone call after normal business hours.

American is providing aircraft en route to Mexico with kits
that have masks, gloves, hand-sanitizing wipes and thermometer
strips, according to the Association of Professional Flight
Attendants. Delta already stocks masks and gloves in aircraft
kits, and US Airways Group Inc. gave crews rubber gloves and
sanitizer to use while collecting trash onboard.

For Related News and Information:
Airline earnings: TNI AIR ERN <GO>
Airlines and jet fuel: TNI AIR JETFUEL <GO>
Airlines and mergers: TNI AIR MNA <GO>
Airlines and swine flu TNI AIR SWINEFLU <GO>

--With assistance from John Hughes in Washington. Editors: Ed
Dufner, John Lear

 

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: Attendants Ask FAA to Require Gloves, Masks on Flu-Zone Flights

Local radio here today said Alaska Airlines is currently requiring their employees to use masks and gloves while in Mexico.

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[harpoon]

Re: Attendants Ask FAA to Require Gloves, Masks on Flu-Zone Flights

but to confirm, those types of surgical masks will do absolutely nothing to prevent infection, correct?

 

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: Attendants Ask FAA to Require Gloves, Masks on Flu-Zone Flights

We cannot say that with certainty. The cases showing no PB2/627K mutations were in California and Texas. It could be different in Mexico.

We may learn more when sequences are released from people newly arrived from Mexico. Also, the sequences from Mexican fatalities could be different.

take you pick - I'd wear a mask if I was flying on an airplane known to be in Mexico.

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[harpoon]

Re: Attendants Ask FAA to Require Gloves, Masks on Flu-Zone Flights

what do PB2/627K genes for human infection have to do with penetration of surgical mask fibers?

 

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: Attendants Ask FAA to Require Gloves, Masks on Flu-Zone Flights

My apologies.

That mutation is what allows the virus to mutate effectively at temperatures found in the human upper respiratory system (nose & throat). It's normally required for human influenzas to spread effectively. So....if it's not spreading through the air and into our respiratory systems, the mask is moot.

However, there are likely different versions in the various regions, so to be safe from any that may have made the PB2/627 temperature change, it wouldn't hurt to wear a mask. But since some versions don't have that change and are spreading through surface contact (or fecal/oral), washing hands and using alcohol gels is prudent.

hope that helps.

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[flutrackers@cool.fr.nf]

Re: Attendants Ask FAA to Require Gloves, Masks on Flu-Zone Flights

Unless you have a mask with a respirator such as the N95 the particles are so small the mask does not make much a difference. If anything it keep large dropplets of the virus out but not much besides. The surgical masks are more for containment of the virus (to keep other people from spreading it) and psychological purposes.

 

[hawkeye]

Re: Attendants Ask FAA to Require Gloves, Masks on Flu-Zone Flights

shouldn't these be required on all flights? All it takes is one infected individual and the plane is infected. Do they cycle the air through UV light?

 

[kiwibird]

Re: Attendants Ask FAA to Require Gloves, Masks on Flu-Zone Flights

Using any mask at least makes you aware of touching your face, eating, drinking etc.

 

[flutrackers@cool.fr.nf]

Re: Attendants Ask FAA to Require Gloves, Masks on Flu-Zone Flights

shouldn't these be required on all flights? All it takes is one infected individual and the plane is infected. Do they cycle the air through UV light?

They shold be providing N95 Masks to all on planes.

 

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: Attendants Ask FAA to Require Gloves, Masks on Flu-Zone Flights

shouldn't these be required on all flights? All it takes is one infected individual and the plane is infected. Do they cycle the air through UV light?

Yep, if I remember an old FT post, a study showed that for 1 influenza-infected passenger, if the sat on the runway for only 30 minutes, 75% of the passengers were infected. The key is to hurry up and start flying - the air is processed somehow. That's why you'll always find me at the end of the boarding lines.

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[AlaskaDenise]

Re: Attendants Ask FAA to Require Gloves, Masks on Flu-Zone Flights

They shold be providing N95 Masks to all on planes.

or at least have them available.

Next Question - how long will the global supply last?

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[JJackson]

Re: Attendants Ask FAA to Require Gloves, Masks on Flu-Zone Flights

Using any mask at least makes you aware of touching your face, eating, drinking etc.

I think this - and the same goes for gloves - is their main use. It makes you very aware of what you are doing with your hands. The masks are likely to be helpful if warn by the spreader rather than the uninfected IMO. Seeing many of the spreaders wont know they are spreaders having every everyone wear a mask - or just a scarf over the face - is probably not a bad idea. I would not be aiming for a seal & filter but as a baffle to expelled air, particularly as in coughing, this helps in containing and depositing droplets.
Trying to live your life wearing a properly fitted N95 is not practical, unless dealing with the sick, and would be a waste of a precious resource.