Coronavirus: Woman 'dobbed in' after sneezing on flight
Bridie Witton05:20, Mar 12 2020
One Wellington woman has learnt the hard way not to sneeze or blow your nose on a plane.
The woman - who was mostly recovered from a cold - said she was treated like she "had the plague" and escorted off her flight by medical staff.
She was was flying home via Brisbane after a weekend in Melbourne.
She had considered letting Virgin Australia staff on the Sunday-night flight know she had been ill with the cold and now just had a runny nose.
But she thought it wouldn't matter since she didn't have any coronavirus symptoms - coughing, a high temperature and shortness of breath.
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RICKY WILSON/STUFF
There was a delay for passengers disembarking the Virgin Australia plane.
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The woman said a flight attendant asked her if she was well and gave her a mask to wear during the flight.
A second flight attendant later also asked if she was well and the woman explained she had just had a cold but now felt fine.
But when she got up to go to the toilet she noticed a family of three sitting behind her had been moved five rows back.
"I think it was them who had told flight staff that I was sick because I had been blowing my nose really quietly, so how would flight staff have noticed?
"It just shows the hysteria around it [Covid-19]," she said.
After leaving the toilet a third flight attendant asked if she was okay.
"It did feel a little over the top," she said. "I said 'look, I have had a cold. I don't have any of the other symptoms.'
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FELIX DESMARAIS
A Wellington woman's sneeze in a flight home from Melbourne saw her met with public health unit staff when she landed
"I explained I had caught a cold off my partner. I explained that I was fine.
"They asked me if I had been in China or Iran in the past 14 days, which I hadn't been.
"Then they came back to me and said 'the medical quarantine people will come and assess you and see if you are healthy'.
"The captain then said over the loud speaker 'we have a passenger on the plane who is feeling unwell. Medical staff have been called'," she said.
Once landed in Wellington, medical staff escorted the woman, her partner and friend off the flight before the other passengers - holding up disembarking for up to 40 minutes, she said.
The experience made her feel "like she had the plague".
Fellow passengers were probably exhausted, with the plane landing after midnight, she added.
"We were waiting on the plane for about 40 minutes for medical staff to arrive. Everyone was getting restless. People were standing up and wanted to move," she said.
The woman was assessed at the airport by public health workers who asked her about her symptoms and took her temperature - which was normal.
Her partner and friend were also assessed.
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DAVID WHITE/STUFF
Airline staff gave the woman a mask to wear during the flight
"They said they had had reports I was coughing, sneezing and vomiting and really unwell. Someone had blown it really out of proportion," she said.
A Regional Public Health spokesperson confirmed there had been an unnecessary delay to people disembarking the plane.
He said Wellington Airport followed its standard protocols, but "due to heightened vigilance around Covid-19 it appears the airline held passengers onboard unnecessarily.
"This has been discussed with the airline and border agencies to avoid future unnecessary delays for individuals," he added.
A Virgin Australia spokeswoman said all passengers with flu-like symptoms would be provided with a face mask and, where possible, moved away from other passengers. Quarantine would also be notified, she said.
She was unable to comment on specific incidents due to privacy reasons.
. We will all have to go sell our bodies to survive lol.
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