Elsevier

Mayo Clinic Proceedings

Volume 96, Issue 11, November 2021, Pages 2856-2860
Mayo Clinic Proceedings

Brief report
SARS-CoV-2 Testing Before International Airline Travel, December 2020 to May 2021

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2021.08.019Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Abstract

Although there have been several case reports and simulation models of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission associated with air travel, there are limited data to guide testing strategy to minimize the risk of SARS-CoV-2 exposure and transmission onboard commercial aircraft. Among 9853 passengers with a negative SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction test performed within 72 hours of departure from December 2020 through May 2021, five (0.05%) passengers with active SARS-CoV-2 infection were identified with rapid antigen tests and confirmed with rapid molecular test performed before and after an international flight from the United States to Italy. This translates to a case detection rate of 1 per 1970 travelers during a time of high prevalence of active infection in the United States. A negative molecular test for SARS-CoV-2 within 72 hours of international airline departure results in a low probability of active infection identified on antigen testing during commercial airline flight.

Abbreviations and Acronyms

ATL
Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport
COVID-19
coronavirus disease 2019
JFK
John F. Kennedy International Airport
SARS-CoV-2
severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2

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Potential Competing Interests: Drs Tande and Berbari report personal fees from UpToDate.com, outside the submitted work. Dr Binnicker reports personal fees from DiaSorin Molecular, DiaSorin Molecular, and WebMD (Medscape), outside the submitted work. Mrs Jalil and Mr Brawner report personal fees and other from Delta Air Lines, Inc, outside the submitted work. Mr Carter reports other financial support from Delta Air Lines, outside the submitted work. Dr Shah reports support from Delta Air Lines to Mayo Clinic, during the conduct of the study; and was an employee of Mayo Clinic when this work was conducted; he is now an employee of Delta Air Lines. The remaining authors report no potential competing interests.

© 2021 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Published by Elsevier Inc.