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Delta, American, United, and other major airlines signal rejection of new CDC guidance saying they should block middle seats
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just reignited the debate on whether airlines should be blocking middle seats just as airlines thought it was settled. A newly publicized study found that maskless flyers could spread COVID-19 at a higher rate when middle seats were not blocked, Insider's Hilary Brueck reported. Flyers on opposite ends of a three-seat row with the middle open reduced their risk of exposure by 57%, the study said. (www.businessinsider.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
having the middle seat empty means obese sweathogs can't exploit your space.
That is a side benefit...
Robert Clowning is one of these "science is real" people who don't actually understand *any* of the science and mathematics in question.
First, we need to dispense with the notion that the CDC is exclusively about science. This is false. Just recently the CDC paused the use of the J&J vaccine because of a tiny number of reported blood clots. The "science" says that this decision will kill and maim many people. It wasn't science that motivated this CDC decision, it was the desire by the CDC to improve the image and trust of the CDC in the minds of Americans. That is, the CDC decided it was more important to promote the optics of the CDC "appearing to be proactive" than it was to save lives.
Second, and this is something Clowning obviously didn't do, you need to read the study to understand its limitations. The study is about dispersal, and it is a useful study. It relies heavily on an earlier study in 2017 made before Covid-19. However, that study does not consider the effects of wearing masks. This is one critical limitation. The study also does not consider the effects of having a significant number of the passengers vaccinated and/or already recovered from a Covid-19 infection. This is another critical limitation. Although there's no science to support or contradict it, it is at least plausible to suggest that a mask-wearing, largely immune person in the middle seat will serve to block dispersal rather than enhance it.
Third, there is reason to question the applicability of these studies to the Covid-19 case. The IATA's numbers show a drastically lower rate of Covid-19 infection than would be predicted by these dispersal studies. Actually, that's also a reason to doubt the IATA's numbers too, and the IATA of course has a conflict of interest here.
Finally, despite the childish pretensions of some, decision makers must balance risks with economics. Selling middle seats means airlines will be more financially sound, and this in turn means more jobs at these airlines and downstream businesses, and higher employment is strongly correlated to better public health.
First, we need to dispense with the notion that the CDC is exclusively about science. This is false. Just recently the CDC paused the use of the J&J vaccine because of a tiny number of reported blood clots. The "science" says that this decision will kill and maim many people. It wasn't science that motivated this CDC decision, it was the desire by the CDC to improve the image and trust of the CDC in the minds of Americans. That is, the CDC decided it was more important to promote the optics of the CDC "appearing to be proactive" than it was to save lives.
Second, and this is something Clowning obviously didn't do, you need to read the study to understand its limitations. The study is about dispersal, and it is a useful study. It relies heavily on an earlier study in 2017 made before Covid-19. However, that study does not consider the effects of wearing masks. This is one critical limitation. The study also does not consider the effects of having a significant number of the passengers vaccinated and/or already recovered from a Covid-19 infection. This is another critical limitation. Although there's no science to support or contradict it, it is at least plausible to suggest that a mask-wearing, largely immune person in the middle seat will serve to block dispersal rather than enhance it.
Third, there is reason to question the applicability of these studies to the Covid-19 case. The IATA's numbers show a drastically lower rate of Covid-19 infection than would be predicted by these dispersal studies. Actually, that's also a reason to doubt the IATA's numbers too, and the IATA of course has a conflict of interest here.
Finally, despite the childish pretensions of some, decision makers must balance risks with economics. Selling middle seats means airlines will be more financially sound, and this in turn means more jobs at these airlines and downstream businesses, and higher employment is strongly correlated to better public health.
You fired on all cylinders.
You are right about Clown (ing)
You are right about Clown (ing)
In November, people who thought they were smart voted what common sense we had out of the government. Now it is up to companies and those of us that still posses it to apply it where necessary.
Yes, let's continue to be afraid of "virus" with a 99.97% survival rate......
Oh wait, with the "vaccines", the survival rate is going to go up to 99.98%??
Oh wait, with the "vaccines", the survival rate is going to go up to 99.98%??
The virus has a higher death rate than that, and unfortunately hasn't killed the ones that want to volunteer others to die in their stead.
It's also not dying that people should be afraid of, it's living with the long lasting symptoms that the virus causes. The dead get off easy compared to the fight the 'long haul' 'survivors' have to deal with on a day to day basis.
Oh, and the new variants are far more infectious, so that 'small death rate' is spread over a lot more people.
The 'death rate' nearly doubles, per 1,000 cases: https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n579
The variants ARE killing more people, they just aren't killing enough people, apparently...
It's also not dying that people should be afraid of, it's living with the long lasting symptoms that the virus causes. The dead get off easy compared to the fight the 'long haul' 'survivors' have to deal with on a day to day basis.
Oh, and the new variants are far more infectious, so that 'small death rate' is spread over a lot more people.
The 'death rate' nearly doubles, per 1,000 cases: https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n579
The variants ARE killing more people, they just aren't killing enough people, apparently...