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I flew from India to the US in early February (2nd week). Indian airports were doing thermal checks on passengers (using tech that had been installed during th
by thaway757383884 6y ago
I flew from India to the US in early February (2nd week).
Indian airports were doing thermal checks on passengers (using tech that had been installed during the Zika virus scare a few years back, I believe). The newspapers also had info about how anyone found with elevated temperatures were being asked to self quarantine, and the police was also following up.
The US had, absolutely nothing. Nada. Before the flight I was afraid that entering the US would be difficult, but it was clear (and it remained this way for over a month), that if anything, entering India, if not difficult, would actually involve checks, something that was non existent in US ports.
Further, and I don’t know if this is mentioned, the flight into India involved the cabin crew spraying some sort of pest control spray in the cabins before we landed. They mentioned it was due to regulations. Considering SARS-COV-2 has been found to have been easily killed (within minutes) of exposure to common disinfectants, could this spray have greatly minimized the virus entering the country, on baggage’s and clothing, etc?
- unicornfinder 6y agoTo be fair with the disinfectant that's been the case with India for years - I went in 2016 and they were doing it then as well.
- callmeal 6y agoThey started doing it after SARS-COV-1 back in 2002. The rest of the world actually respects intelligence and science (so far) but unfortunately in India it looks like the Fox-News/AM-Radio playbook is starting to win.
- eric_b 6y agoYep, since 2014 at least. I always assumed it was some kind of insecticide/pesticide? Is it just a disinfectant?
- _-___________-_ 6y agoIt's an insecticide. It's common on routes to/from a number of countries.
- NovemberWhiskey 6y agoIt's a disinsection (i.e. insect-killing) procedure; the pesticides permitted by the WHO are synthetic pyrethroids like permethrin. ref. https://www.cdc.gov/features/pesticides-aircraft/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/features/pesticides-aircraft/index.html
- benibela 6y agoPyrethoids are really used everywhere for everything That is why bed bugs have become resistant to it
- naravara 6y agoInsecticide. It's mainly to kill mosquitos. IIRC they introduced it when Zika and Chikungunya were spreading.
- charlzbryan 6y agoSimilar situation here. I travelled from Bangalore to the UK, around the first week of March, almost everyone at Bangalore airport had masks, workers had masks and gloves. When I landed at Heathrow, not even immigration folks had masks People in India took it seriously in the beginning
- yibg 6y agoI flew into the US end of last week, more than a month since shelter in place started in many states. Still no checks of any sort. There were a couple of questions by the airline during check in but nothing after that. No questions at customs, no temperature checks.
- toomanybeersies 6y agoI don't think that's disinfectant they were spraying, but rather insecticide for biosecurity. They do it on the way into Australia and New Zealand too prevent the spread of agricultural pests.