Yeah that was mentioned upthread. I'm pretty sceptical tbh. It may well remain active for two weeks but because it is a coating it will get worn off pretty quickly by repeated use. Regardless of this though they are cleaning the trains regularly though the risk remains.
The actual covid risk on public transport
- Thread starter teuchter
- Start date
Yeah that was mentioned upthread. I'm pretty sceptical tbh. It may well remain active for two weeks but because it is a coating it will get worn off pretty quickly by repeated use. Regardless of this though they are cleaning the trains regularly though the risk remains.
Supine
Newt Member
the substance may kill viruses for weeks but they don't say it stays on the surface that long...
Epona
Sonic: 1 Nov 2006 - 8 Jan 2022
Currently my husband cannot get home from work because it seems like everyone and their dog went out tonight in London for a last hurrah and all the buses are full. He finished work 2 hours ago and still isn't on a bus yet. So he is basically stuck in central London.
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
As per that CNN piece, that flight seemed to be a super spreader, but the tens of thousands of other long haul flights have not been, when you’d think they would. It’s a weird disease.
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
Necessity is the key argument here. Of course the government has fucked that up by telling people to go back to the office even if they can work from home so people selling overpriced and disappointing sandwiches can stay in business.
two sheds
Least noticed poster 2007
he get back ok Epona?
Epona
Sonic: 1 Nov 2006 - 8 Jan 2022
Finished work at midnight, arrived home at gone half 3am. He was able to get on a bus eventually but it was rammed. Had dinner, went to bed, got up at 8.30am to go back to work.
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
Positive about flying? Airlines look to COVID tests that give results in minutes
European airlines are pinning hopes on pre-flight COVID-19 tests that deliver results as fast as pregnancy tests to help restore passengers' confidence in taking to the skies in confined spaces with shared air. Germany's Lufthansa <LHAG.DE>, at the mercy of government bailouts for survival, is...
European airlines are pinning hopes on pre-flight COVID-19 tests that deliver results as fast as pregnancy tests to help restore passengers' confidence in taking to the skies in confined spaces with shared air.
Germany's Lufthansa <LHAG.DE>, at the mercy of government bailouts for survival, is in talks with Swiss drugmaker Roche <ROG.S> over deploying so-called antigen tests, according to two people familiar with the discussions, as the airline aims to make them available next month.
Italian operator Alitalia, meanwhile, told Reuters that from Wednesday it would add two flights from Milan to Rome, to the two it is already offering from Rome to Milan, exclusively for passengers with negative tests.
The tests are administered by health authorities at the airports and included in ticket prices. If they prove popular and safe, these antigen-tested flights will be expanded to more domestic, and later international, routes, the airline said.
Unlike laboratory-based molecular tests that have been the staple of health authorities in the pandemic, antigen tests do not require machines to process. Much like pregnancy tests, they can produce results in about 15 minutes.
However the tests require an uncomfortable nasal swab and are not as accurate as the molecular, or PCR, tests. They generally produce more "false negatives" which could mean sick people could slip through the cracks and onto planes.
An increasing number are hitting the market, from companies such as Abbott Laboratories <ABT.N>, Becton Dickinson & Co <BDX.N> and Quidel Corp <QDEL.O> and Roche, which is rebranding antigen tests from South Korea's privately held SD Biosensor.
Airlines are pressing governments to embrace alternatives to blanket travel restrictions amid a resurgence of COVID-19 cases in Europe.
Rapid antigen tests that can be administered by non-medical staff are expected to become available in coming weeks for as little as $7 each, the head of industry body the International Air Transport Association said on Tuesday.
NEGATIVE-ONLY FLIGHTS
Despite the drawbacks of such antigen tests, carriers hope they could tip the balance in convincing people to fly.
"It is to give ... confidence, at a specific point in time, that the result is positive or negative," said Christian Paulus, a Roche research and development manager.
"The PCR remains the gold standard. Therefore if there are any questions open, or if the clinical appearance of the person who had a negative test, if the person has symptoms like a fever, then you would for sure do confirmatory testing."
Alitalia launched its "COVID Tested Flights" programme from Rome to Milan last week, and will expand it from Wednesday. Only passengers with negative COVID-19 results can board.
"So far no positive passengers have been found," said an Alitalia spokesman, adding that many chose to take the airline's antigen tests the night before the flight. Travellers can access airport-testing facilities via a preferred lane with their tickets.
The airline plans to analyse findings around the middle of October, but already expects antigen-tested flights will be expanded to domestic and later international routes. "First, we have to see how this experiment goes," the spokesman said.
The pre-flight antigen tests follow a scheme in Italy where such tests were used defensively.
SD Biosensor said its tests had been deployed at Italian airports for incoming tourists, to avoid a renewed COVID-19 wave imported from infection hotspots.
'BETTER THAN QUARANTINE'
Lufthansa Chief Executive Carsten Spohr last week told employees during a townhall meeting that the airline was in talks with Roche. The drugmaker started selling the rapid tests this week, and said SD Biosensor could initially supply it with about 40 million tests per month.
The Lufthansa tests could initially go to cabin crews, a spokeswoman said, though Bjoern Becker, a senior director of product management, ground & digital services for the Lufthansa Group, said the tests could also be made available to first-class and business-class passengers.
"We think the tests would be a better option than putting somebody into quarantine," the airline spokeswoman said.
Beyond airlines, Germany is eyeing broader antigen test use from October, including in nursing homes where older patients have been hardest hit by the deadly virus.
Regulators still worry about test accuracy, which typically detect the virus 80% to 90% of the time, below the 95% rate of lab tests.
Still, some officials don't want the perfect to be the enemy of the pretty good as they pursue some semblance of economic normality.
"They're good enough," German health minister Jens Spahn said, pledging antigen tests in "significant quantities". The state of Bavaria has already ordered 10 million.
Winot
I wholeheartedley agree with your viewpoint
Covid-19: Testing for coronavirus on London transport
Imperial College London is retesting the Tube for traces of coronavirus as infection rates increase.
www.bbc.com
teuchter
je suis teuchter
London's transport network tests negative for Covid-19
Imperial College London scientists checked the Underground and buses for evidence of coronavirus.
www.bbc.co.uk
A second round of testing fails to detect any coronavirus on London's public transport.
The article doesn't give much detail though, would like to understand exactly what it involves.
Supine
Newt Member
This is a really good dashboard for covid in Ontario
covid-19.ontario.ca
It contains spread by source and shows travel is low on the list:
Datasets - Ontario Data Catalogue
It contains spread by source and shows travel is low on the list:
teuchter
je suis teuchter
I've been wondering if any useful information can be drawn from the "second wave" outbreaks in the UK.
Because London had the biggest outbreak in the first wave, many people pointed the finger at the heavy use of public transport as an obvious reason for this.
Is there any correlation between public transport usage and level of outbreak in the second wave so far? I imagine there might be a correlation with population density and that in turn might be correlated with higher public transport usage - but I wonder if people who know more about statistics than I do can do anything with whatever data is available. Because I think that public transport use is higher in London than in other parts of the UK with similar population densities.
On top of that, the number of people using public transport in the lead up to the second wave will, I imagine, have been much lower than the number of people using it in the lead-up to the first wave.
Because London had the biggest outbreak in the first wave, many people pointed the finger at the heavy use of public transport as an obvious reason for this.
Is there any correlation between public transport usage and level of outbreak in the second wave so far? I imagine there might be a correlation with population density and that in turn might be correlated with higher public transport usage - but I wonder if people who know more about statistics than I do can do anything with whatever data is available. Because I think that public transport use is higher in London than in other parts of the UK with similar population densities.
On top of that, the number of people using public transport in the lead up to the second wave will, I imagine, have been much lower than the number of people using it in the lead-up to the first wave.
emanymton
A cat politely sat on the flaming gardener.
No evidence but from my experience public transport has been steadily getting busier since the end of lockout and has now got to the point where at peak times I am often travelling on pretty full (but not crowded) trains and busses. Basically hovering around the point where every pair of seats is taken so people have to stand to avoid setting next to someone else. So it is now normal to have someone directly in front of you and behind you.
This has been made worse by the cuts in services and I expect them to be cut again from tomorrow which will probably make things worse again.
After this week I am not due to be working in the office again for 3 weeks. So may not have much direct experience of the next few weeks.
platinumsage
HaveMyPassword123
London's transport network tests negative for Covid-19
Imperial College London scientists checked the Underground and buses for evidence of coronavirus.www.bbc.co.uk
A second round of testing fails to detect any coronavirus on London's public transport.
The article doesn't give much detail though, would like to understand exactly what it involves.
Looks like they’re doing after-hours testing on an empty network?
teuchter
je suis teuchter
The video makes it look like they are doing it while passengers are around.
teuchter
je suis teuchter
Whereabouts are you?
platinumsage
HaveMyPassword123
I meant the air measurement. I think everyone has realised that touching stuff isn't important.
teuchter
je suis teuchter
It would be strange and somewhat pointless to do the surfaces with passengers around and then the air without.
platinumsage
HaveMyPassword123
The whole thing seems pointless. If they can't detect any coronavirus at all then they're obviously doing something wrong.
teuchter
je suis teuchter
That's a classic bit of circular reasoning.
Ms Ordinary
randompointlesschemistry
Surely it would be difficult to track individual cases back to public transport as people are almost always on their way to somewhere else where they might think they caught it?
Pub, work, shopping whatever...
Pub, work, shopping whatever...
teuchter
je suis teuchter
I think if you were doing the tracing properly you would get a list of locations from them which would include the transport they used as well as the destinations they visited.
WouldBe
Dislicksick
Trains and buses don't tend to have nostrils to swab.London's transport network tests negative for Covid-19
Imperial College London scientists checked the Underground and buses for evidence of coronavirus.www.bbc.co.uk
A second round of testing fails to detect any coronavirus on London's public transport.
emanymton
A cat politely sat on the flaming gardener.
Let's just say the North.
They have uv scrubbers on some escalator handrails on the tube so surfaces are a vector for transmission
teuchter
je suis teuchter
More circular reasoning.
teuchter
je suis teuchter
What would be significant is the proportion of people who use public transport to get to work. For london that's pretty high. Where you are, it might be a lot lower - even if those who do use it have seen things start to get busy again.
Supine
Newt Member
They have hand rails and buttons though
WouldBe
Dislicksick
Have you tried sticking a swab in a handrail or button?
