Have to isolate after a positive in the flight - Do everybody in the flight need to self isolate?

javixeneize

Hi

I returned in a flight from Spain with my partner and both have received a mail saying we need to self isolate after being in contact with a positive. The only place where it might have happened is in the flight.

However she was in seat 22E and i was in 11B. If a positive is detected in a flight, do everybody in this flight need to self isolate?

Ben1989

You're guessing it's from the flight yet know the positive case sat in 22E?

Edit:- right your partner was sat in 22E not the positive case. My mistake! Hmm, I don't actually know but I presume if you've received a letter it must be the case. Who is the letter from? The airline or gov? Might be worth calling 119 to clarify

Dizzy_Ditzy

This happened to me after a flight from Greece. In our case every passenger on the plane had to isolate. Thankfully there were only 20 passengers on said flight but the crew were pinged too. We know full well it was someone on our flight who spent the whole time either sleeping or coughing and not wearing her mask fully for any of the flight 🙄

javixeneize

it is not a letter, its a mail and a text from track and trace. So, it is exactly what @Dizzy_Ditzy mentioned.

My question now is... airlines keep saying they have EPA filters, etc, but the fact is that if there is a positive in a plane, every passenger needs to isolate.

Also, i wonder why the govt request my seat number when i fill the passenger locator form. Thats irrelevant!

eskbanker

javixeneize said:

Also, i wonder why the govt request my seat number when i fill the passenger locator form. Thats irrelevant!

It may not be irrelevant for passengers in physically separate cabins on 'multi-storey' aircraft such as A380s or 747s, not that these would typically be used for short haul European routes....

sheramber

Maybe more than one person tested positive. One near you and another near your wife.

Could contact have been in the airport?

silvercar

Could have been a crew member who tested positive. 

Thrugelmir

You may have been in close proximity to the carrier at some other time than just on the plane itself. 

javixeneize

Related to the comments, no, it was clearly in the plane. Test and trace called me today and confirmed the guideline is that all the passengers from that flight have to self isolate. At least they are transparent with this 

now that this is clear, is this a govt rule? I have searched and I haven’t seen anything referring to close Contacts other than 2 meters for more than 15 minutes

R3dders

javixeneize said:

Related to the comments, no, it was clearly in the plane. Test and trace called me today and confirmed the guideline is that all the passengers from that flight have to self isolate. At least they are transparent with this 

now that this is clear, is this a govt rule? I have searched and I haven’t seen anything referring to close Contacts other than 2 meters for more than 15 minutes

I recently returned from Spain and looked into this as I had heard of stories of people being told to isolate after someone on the plane testing positive.  Some had even paid for the 5 day release and then been told to isolate on day 6.  At the time I was looking I found information on the government website saying the whole plane had to isolate if one person tested positive.  I have tried to locate the information again on the government websites but unfortunately cannot find it now.  I was told that as there is no control of where people sit on planes, especially ones with small numbers of passengers, as people move seats and do not always sit in the allocated seat and the one placed on the passenger locator form.

onashoestring

This is the international definition of close contact 

“A contact in an aircraft sitting within two seats (in any direction) of the COVID-19 case, travel companions or persons providing care, and crew members serving in the section of the aircraft where the index case was seated (if severity of symptoms or movement of the case indicate more extensive exposure, passengers seated in the entire section or all passengers on the aircraft may be considered close contacts”

https://www.eui.eu/Documents/ServicesAdmin/Logistics/EUI4U/Documents/Close-contact.pdf