3 passengers test positive for COVID-19 one day after Delta flight, officials say
Three people on a recent Delta Air Lines flight to upstate New York tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Rensselaer Health Department.
The passengers were aboard Delta flight 4815 from Atlanta to Albany on July 5, the department said in a July 10 news release. They were asymptomatic on the flight, but began showing signs of the virus the next day.
“The three became symptomatic on July 7,” county health officials said. “Any passengers on the flight are advised to call their home county Health Department.”
The passengers are unnamed but have been identified as two 22-year-old women and a 27-year-old man, all from Troy, New York, according to the news release.
It’s unclear when the travelers became infected or if they were related. Their positive tests were three of six new coronavirus cases in Rensselaer County, bringing the total across the county to 642, the health department said.
Nationwide, several states — including Georgia, Florida and California — have seen a surge in coronavirus cases. As of Tuesday, July 14, the U.S. reported over 3.4 million cases and more than 136,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The virus has hit especially close to home for Delta. Last month, the Atlanta-based airline announced that 500 of its 90,000 employees had tested positive for COVID-19, CNN reported. The company has since enacted new safety guidelines, including a requirement that all employees and passengers wear face coverings.
Other major U.S. airlines have followed suit as coronavirus cases continue to rise, McClatchy News reported.
In a statement, Delta said it was aware of the three passengers who recently tested positive.
“We’re following the guidance of local healthcare officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” a spokesman for the airline told CNN. “The health and safety of our customers and crews is our top priority.”
Delta CEO Ed Bastian said the rate of travelers being exposed to coronavirus remains “minimal.”
“When we do find out (someone has tested positive), we go back and contact-trace with anyone that would have been in their immediate vicinity of a customer,” Bastian told USA TODAY in a recent interview. “But I can tell you those instances are really, really small and certainly no instances that we’ve been aware of where there’s been any transmission onboard our planes.’‘
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently issued a two-week self-quarantine advisory for those traveling to the state from more than a dozen COVID-19 hot spots, including Georgia. On Tuesday, he added four more states to the list — Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Wisconsin, the New York Daily News reported.
Quarantine violators face a $2,000 fine.
“Rising cases around the country continue to threaten our progress, which is why four new states have been added,” Cuomo said, according to the newspaper. “No one wants to go back to the hell we experienced three months ago, so please stay vigilant.”
This story was originally published July 14, 2020 at 6:37 PM with the headline "3 passengers test positive for COVID-19 one day after Delta flight, officials say."