Flights, viruses and sanitizers
We left yesterday morning, choosing a rideshare over public transport, to minimize exposure as much as we can. This outbreak is going to be expensive 💸.
At Montréal airport, we started noticing first signs of how things have changed. The terminal was oh-so-empty compared to past visits, and lines were non existent.
Boarding the flight, the hand-sanitizer (we call it SaniPoop) was put to good use, and I managed to stay on top of my face-touching and minimize it. We had an American Eagle Embraer-145, so little to do in how far we can get from others. We both were on the aisle and the window at the same time. As I sat down, the alcohol pads were ready and wiping has begun: the armrests, the seatbelt buckle, the tray and the window were all done thoroughly, before I finally buckled in more peacefully.
There was one person on board with a face mask, but that summed it up. The single flight attendant was not wearing any mask nor gloves and was operating absolutely as usual. I was almost surprised.
Getting to JFK for a layover was similar to any other visit to a US airport. Since we cleared customs in Canada, we just marched off the plane and were in the land of the free — able to walk anywhere, no one asking anything about our health, let alone inspecting us. The terminals at JFK were a different story than Montreal: here, masks were abundant, among staff and travelers, as well as latex gloves (which I thought I was the only one to think about, silly me).
I thought this represented very well the American healthcare system in general: everyone is making their own decisions, regardless of society and the people around them. Those who can and want to afford extra measures (regardless if useful or not), do so, and others just go by their day. I’ll get to that in a bit, but the arrival to Chile was a whole lot different.
At the gate, I realized the second lag of the trip is going to be much busier, and possibly much cough-ier: spotted three coughers lining up, and I’ve missed the first 3 groups that boarded 😷. And as our luck dictated, a somewhat sick lady was sitting just in front of us (putting my hopes for a 3 row safety buffer to early death). My sole consolation was that it was an absolutely-not-dry-cough, but a more phlegm-y one (here’s a sentence I’d never imagined I’d say!), which I hung on whenever she’d break into a new session of coughing.
After take off, a flight attendant handed out a customs form, like often happens. But towards the end of the flight, they went around with another form, which made me curious. When I got mine, turns out there’s a government health program that’s meant to halt COVID-19 from spreading around the country, so they begin questioning before landing. I was pleasantly surprised and happy to see that some countries don’t take it as light-mindedly as the States.
After landing and before going through passport control, we had to have our temperature taken (and I wondered — did Ms. Cough-y pass?) and review our questionnaire with a nurse (I believe/hope), before being allowed to clear customs.
We’re now a day in the trip, and occasionally can’t help it and reading up some latest news, and it sounds like my pessimistic predictions are slowly becoming real. Some of the latest was that Justin’s wife has tested positive; Montreal is starting to close down public spaces; we will have to go into a 14-day quarantine once we land (like they’ve been doing in Israel for the past 3 weeks); and last but not least — Canadian airports might be closing down for international travel.
Hoping for the best but continuing to think about the worst in between sightseeing and eating yummy Chilean foods 🇨🇱.
