Just as the last major airline—Delta—that has been blocking middle seats on its flights is about to drop the practice, a new report has stirred calls for at least considering a return to the pandemic-inspired social distancing practice.
A new study done by CDC together with Kansas State University, concluded that leaving middle seats open could result in a 23% to 57% reduction in exposure to ‘viable’ virus particles. The authors wrote that “Physical distancing of airplane passengers, including through policies such as middle seat vacancy, could provide additional reductions in risk for exposure to SARS-CoV-2 on aircraft.”
The conclusion immediately came under attack from airlines, who are hoping for a financial recovery as travel revives and there are customers to sit in those middle seats. While most airlines left official statements to their association, Airlines for America, Delta’s CEO, Ed Bastian, attacked the report, saying that “This study was based on 2017 data, so it doesn’t take into account any of the safety protocols that we’ve implemented, including masking, the electrostatic spraying (of planes), the cleanliness of the surfaces.” He said Delta’s experts say that it is “absolutely safe to sit in that middle seat.”
On the other hand, Bastian’s emphasis on cleaning protocols may also represent outdated data; for several weeks now, CDC has been saying that the chance of transmission from surfaces is very low and that much of the enhanced cleaning and sanitizing is unnecessary because almost the only transmission route is airborne particles—precisely what is affected most by emptying middle seats and enforcing mask rules.
