NEWARK, NJ — A flight from Colorado to Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey was diverted Sunday after a small group of passengers panicked when they mistook a fellow traveler’s allergies for coronavirus symptoms, reports say.
United Airlines Flight 1562 was headed for Newark when a passenger began to sneeze and cough. A handful of people sitting nearby became concerned that the person was infected by the new coronavirus, United Airlines officials told KUSA-TV.
When the passengers became “disruptive,” the plane was forced to divert to Denver, where it landed without incident, CBS4 reported.
Airline officials told CBS4 that the passenger was suffering from allergy symptoms. The person was evaluated on the plane and didn’t show signs of a fever. That passenger was allowed to fly to Newark when the plane left about 30 minutes later, but the disruptive passengers were removed from the flight.
Nobody was arrested, 9news.com reported.
A passenger aboard the plane tweeted a message as the incident unfolded:
“Right now on a @united flight from VAIL to Newark. Got diverted to Denver for ‘security reasons’…. now landed. Rumor is that there was a ‘coughing passenger’ that is being de-planed. This is all rumor. Pilot has not given details.”
There have been 804 confirmed U.S. cases of the new coronavirus as of Tuesday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University, which said the disease also has killed 28 people in the United States.
WHAT IS COVID-19?
Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that include the common cold as well as much more serious diseases. The strain that emerged in China in late 2019, also called COVID-19, is related to others that have caused serious outbreaks in recent years, including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the U.S. was on Jan. 21.
The disease, which apparently originated in animals, is now transferring from person to person, although the mechanism is not yet fully understood. Its symptoms include fever, coughing and shortness of breath, and many patients develop pneumonia. There is as yet no vaccine against COVID-19 and no antiviral treatment.
According to the CDC, the best way to prevent the disease is to avoid close contact with people who are sick, avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands, wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, and use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent alcohol if soap and water are not available.
To avoid spreading any respiratory illness, the CDC recommends staying at home when you are sick, covering your cough or sneeze with a tissue and throwing the tissue in the trash, cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched objects and surfaces.
The CDC does not recommend that people who are well wear a face mask to protect themselves from respiratory illnesses, including COVID-19. You should only wear a mask if a health care professional recommends it. A face mask should be used by people who have COVID-19 and are showing symptoms. This is to protect others from the risk of getting infected. The use of face masks also is crucial for health workers and other people who are taking care of someone infected with COVID-19 in close settings (at home or in a health care facility).
Residents who have questions about the virus can contact the State of New Jersey’s hotline at 800-222-1222. The hotline is home of the New Jersey Poison Information and Education System, and is staffed 24 hours a day by state health workers.
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