grcreativebox

[ad_1]

The world’s longest and largest twin-engine airliner, the Boeing 777-9X, has completed its first test flight from Boeing’s wide-body factory near Seattle.

[ad_2]

Source link

[ad_1]

(CNN) — For Sam Thompson, it was literally a watershed moment that came unexpectedly. The 23-year-old sales associate was traveling for work, thirsty from the plane trip, and ready to set aside his personal commitment to sustainability to gulp down water from the single-use plastic bottles he always finds in his hotel rooms.That’s when a guest services agent at Hotel SLO, a new 78-room boutique hotel in San Luis Obispo, California, blew his mind.After checking his driver’s license and swiping his credit card, the agent regaled Thompson with information about the hotel’s commitment to sustainability. She hipped him to the glass bottles of filtered water chilling in his in-room fridge. She informed him about the communal water filling stations on each of the hotel’s four floors. Then she encouraged him to use the stations as frequently as he’d like — an invitation that surprised and delighted him to no end.”I have a good practice of avoiding single-use plastics in my day-to-day, but when traveling it’s often something I find quite difficult,” he said. “To be able to have filtered water on demand every day, multiple times a day, was definitely a plus.”New ways to travel greenSan Francisco International Airport banned single-use plastics in August 2019.Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/Getty ImagesSlowly but surely, experiences like Thompson’s are becoming commonplace for travelers across the globe. At a time when people are becoming more conscious of what they can do to minimize their environmental impact, travel companies have responded by rethinking their long-standing reliance on single-use plastic amenities.These new policies and procedures have resulted in new opportunities for travelers to seek out brands with like-minded priorities and speak with their dollars and support.”Hotels are beginning to realize that there’s no silver-bullet answer to solving sustainability, and that they’ve got to be holistic to their approach to making a difference,” says Jessica Blotter, CEO and co-founder of Kind Traveler, a sustainable travel booking platform based in Malibu, California. “As consumers put more and more pressure on hotels and they have higher demands, the hotels will have to live up to the needs of their customers.”Consumers can pick sides in every argument, and this one is no exception. That means the easiest way for travelers to have a say on the plastics issue is to support companies that have cut back or are looking to do so.Demand less plasticAccor Hotels plan to use alternative materials for items including keycards, laundry bags and cups.AccorAnd it’s not just voting with their wallets, said Kelley Louise, founder and executive director of the Impact Travel Alliance, a New York-based nonprofit that advocates for sustainable travel.No. 1 on her list: Demand less plastic.Customers are in a unique position to make change in person. This means that if a hotel doles out in-room plastic water bottles, you ask for a reusable one and a place to refill it. It means rejecting tiny plastic bathroom amenities and instead requesting ones with reusable packages or no packages at all. It even means calling the front desk and asking housekeeping to replace in-room plastic cups with glasses.Louise advises logging requests with your hotel’s customer service personnel as well as the general manager. With bigger hotel chains, she adds, it pays to submit feedback directly to customer relations. (Fill out those surveys.)”The language can be simple and straightforward: ‘I’d like an alternative to what you’ve given me because I’m trying to reduce my single-use plastic footprint,'” she said. “The only way a hotel is going to know you’re unhappy about their plastic choices is if you tell them.”Another option is to share information proactively. Here, Louise cites the work of Oceanic Global, a nonprofit focused on raising awareness about the health of our oceans.The New York-based group has put together The Oceanic Standard, a free series of guides for adopting sustainable operating practices that meet both business and environmental needs. One of the guides is designed specifically for hotels and offers tools to eliminate single-use plastics from operations and to implement responsible waste management practices. Louise advocates downloading the material and leaving it behind with a property manager when you go.The plastics problemHotels aren’t washing towels and linens every day, unless guests request it. Mariana Eliano/Getty Images/fileSustainability has been a buzzword in the hotel industry for the better part of the last decade. Sometime around 2012 or so, a handful of hotels started focusing on doing good and reducing costs. These were the trailblazers who cut back on water usage by giving guests the option of using sheets and towels for multiple days, the properties that installed solar panels and converted some of their energy use to renewable sources.There are no statistics on how these efforts have worked for the industry overall, but there certainly have been success stories over the years. A 2018 report underwritten by the World Resources Institute found that for every $1 hotels invested in reducing food waste, they saved $7 in operational costs. Additional reports in recent years have indicated that LED bulbs use 75 percent less electricity than incandescent ones, meaning big savings for hotels that make the switch. Then, of course, there’s the subject of commercial water softeners, which have been proven to cut back on water usage dramatically, also keeping costs down. Marriott hotels eliminated travel-sized toiletries in August 2019.courtesy MariottOne area few hotels have addressed until recently is plastics.No matter how you look at it, plastic waste — particularly waste from single-use plastics — has become a scourge in every corner of the world.We discard more than 30 million tons of plastic a year in the United States alone, and only 8 percent is recycled, according to the Plastic Pollution Coalition.Global risk consulting firm Verisk Maplecroft recently said the average American produces more than 230 pounds of plastic waste annually.An estimated 1 million plastic water bottles are purchased every minute worldwide, according to experts affiliated with the United Nations Environment Program, who note that most of these bottles end up in the oceans, where researchers see 8 million metric tons of new plastic every year. Adding insult to injury, it could take a minimum of 450 years for the compounds that comprise plastic to break down in the ocean into their constituent molecules, scientific modeling suggests. Why should hotels care about plastic?The travel industry contributes to this problem. Single-use plastic bottles outnumber passengers at many airports and on most cruise ships. Hotels also overstock plastic in the forms of miniature toiletry bottles, individually wrapped drinking cups, key cards for room access and, of course, straws.Think about it: during overnight stays at many upscale resorts, guests receive two plastic water bottles upon check-in, two more at turn-down, and two others every time housekeepers come to clean the room.Our society has relied on plastic as a mechanism to deliver convenience, said Louise, of the Impact Travel Alliance. But trips and travel experiences don’t have to include such luxuries to be memorable, she said. “Often times it comes down to marketing and transparency and how hotels are doing things in a certain way,” she said. “There’s part of this that requires hotels to constantly explain to new visitors what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. But that’s worth it.”First, plastic strawsUntil recently, the travel industry hadn’t done much about its obsession with single-use plastics. The first step: banning plastic straws. This push intensified in 2018, when a published report estimated that as many as 8 billion straws polluted the world’s beaches. Straws became the proverbial low-hanging fruit — plastics that restaurant and hotel managers could eradicate quickly and easily. (Note: There was some blowback from people with disabilities who need straws to drink, so many restaurants now offer straws on demand.)Since then, over the past year, several big-name travel companies have doubled down on efforts to minimize plastics and maximize sustainable solutions.On January 22, Accor Hotels — with brands including Ibis, Novotel, the Fairmont and Mondrian — announced that it will replace plastic toiletry bottles with either wall dispensers or glass, bulk-sized toiletries by the end of the year. It’s also planning to use alternative materials for items including keycards, laundry bags and cups.Norwegian Cruise Line replaced has single-use plastics on all ships with paper cartons.Norwegian Cruise LineMarriott already has rolled out larger bottles at about 1,000 properties in North America, said Denise Naguib, vice president of sustainability and supplier diversity, and she expects most of its other hotels to make the switch by December 2020. When fully implemented across the globe, she says the expanded toiletry program is expected to prevent about 500 million tiny bottles annually from going to landfills — a 30 percent annual reduction from current amenity plastic usage.”We need to get people to understand that this lifestyle is having impact far beyond themselves,” Naguib told CNN in an exclusive interview immediately following the initial late August announcement. “The real question isn’t about what are we giving up, but instead about what changes we can make to recognize the bigger picture and prevent it from getting worse.” Replacing plastic on a smaller scaleOther hotels and hotel companies have had smaller wins.In Las Vegas, for instance, managers at the ultra-high-end Villas at The Mirage have been working with a company named Solus Sustainable Hydration to receive filtered water delivered daily in reusable glass bottles, milkman-style.Meanwhile, Hotel SLO, the Central California property where the glass bottle and communal refill stations had a big impact on Thompson’s travel, opened in October 2019 with no single-use plastics of any kind.On the other side of the country, in Miami, the 251-room Palms Hotel & Spa has eliminated all disposable plastics and has rolled out biodegradable cornstarch utensils for use by the pool.Accor says it will replace plastic toiletry bottles with wall dispensers or glass, bulk-sized toiletries by year’s end.AccorDirector of Marketing Tanja Morariu said these changes are just part of a renewed regional commitment to fight waste.”For us the future is all about reusables,” said Morariu, who noted that the hotel is using refillable dispensers for bathroom amenities such as eco-friendly shampoo and soap. “We believe that the less waste we can create, the less we can dispose, the better off we’ll be.”Some hotels have even emphasized phasing out plastic room keys — The Ranch in Laguna Beach, California, the state’s only National Geographic Lodge of the World, uses bamboo key cards instead of plastic. This initiative eliminated 25,000 business-card sized plastic rectangles that otherwise would eventually make their way into landfills or the Pacific Ocean.Lasting changeEducation is key, say environmental experts. The more travelers learn about single-use plastics and demand change, the faster the situation can improve, says Roland Geyer, associate professor at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara.”Everyone wants to buy everything and have everything and fly around the world and see amazing places and live to 100, but you can’t do all of that without creating waste and leaving behind a real footprint on the environment,” he said. “It’s time we started really thinking about our choices, and about how we’re going to make this place last.”Matt Villano, a writer and editor based in Northern California, always travels with a reusable bottle. Learn more about him at whalehead.com.

[ad_2]

Source link

[ad_1]

(CNN) — Small but mighty, the state of Delaware has a long and proud history as one of the original 13 colonies, becoming a state in 1776 two months after the signing of the US Declaration of Independence. What the second-smallest US state — with a total area of just 1,982 square miles — doesn’t have right now is regular commercial airline service. It’s the only state in the union without it, according to Airports Council International, an industry trade group.Even the smallest US state, Rhode Island, has commercial flights out of T.F. Green Airport. The indignity of it all: The state’s nearly 1 million residents must drive to Philadelphia; Newark, New Jersey; Washington or other cities if they want to hop on a passenger airplane.”We are happy to offer nonstop flights to Orlando this summer, making trips to the most popular leisure destination in the US even more convenient and attractive,” Daniel Shurz, senior vice president of commercial for Frontier Airlines, said in a press release. Delaware Governor John Carney welcomed Fronter Airlines back to the state.Governor John Carney/TwitterDelaware Governor John Carney announced the airline’s return on his weekly schedule. “We’re pleased to welcome Frontier back to the State of Delaware and the Wilmington — New Castle Airport,” said Carney.”We’ve made significant infrastructure investments at the airport, and Frontier’s return will give Delawareans and travelers in the region a low-cost, convenient way to travel with their families.”It’s not clear if Delaware will be profitable for Frontier this time around, but the airline is celebrating the announcement with a $29 fare sale.

[ad_2]

Source link

[ad_1]

(CNN) — The world of superyachts meets the world of aviation with this “one-of-a-kind” vessel that expertly merges aerial and nautical models.Italian shipyard Codecasa has unveiled plans for the new 230-foot superyacht concept which looks like a floating jumbo jet. Designed by owner Fulvio Codecasa, the upcoming Codecasa Jet 2020 is shaped like an aircraft and “borrows” many of its stylistic features.The end result is a huge superyacht with airplane-style rounded windows, a bow that resembles the nose of an aircraft and a forward section reminiscent of a cockpit.Aircraft characteristicsA rendering of the Codecasa Jet 2020, which is described as a “one-of-a-kind creative explosion.”Courtesy Cantieri Navali Codecasa Codecasa aims to “set a new trend in the industry” with the vessel, which is to house a huge sundeck, a swimming pool, a skylounge, a gym and a beach club with its own elevator.The superyacht will hold radar antennae installed inside carbon fiber domes “in the typical style of the AWACS airplanes,” according to a statement from Codecasa, referring to Airborne Warning And Control System long-range radars often deployed for military operations.There’s also an onboard helipad big enough to accommodate medium to large sized helicopters, as well as a pilothouse and a captain’s cabin.While its technical specifications and price are unconfirmed at this time, the building process is likely to begin later this year.Progressive projectWhile it’s unclear when the vessel will be delivered, building is due to begin later this year.Courtesy Cantieri Navali Codecasa Once the Codecasa Jet 2020 is delivered, the shipyard hope it will become the flagship of Codecasa, which was founded by Giovanni Battista Codecasa in 1825.The unconventional concept is the latest in a string of innovative superyacht projects to be announced over the past few months as designers and shipyards continue to push the boundaries as far as they can.

[ad_2]

Source link

[ad_1]

(CNN) — Looking at vacation photo albums used to be a chore. Kids around the world would sit, bored, as family members scrolled through endless slides or prints of a recent holiday. But the advent of the internet, especially the worldwide popularity of Instagram, changed everything. Not only was looking at a stranger’s vacation snaps interesting, it was aspirational. The rise of social media grew parallel with a growing democratization of travel. As low-cost airlines proliferated and more people around the world had disposable income to spend on travel, it wasn’t enough to keep up with the Joneses — there had to be visual proof of you keeping up with the Joneses. Now, the pendulum is slowly beginning to swing back in the other direction. Some hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions such as museums have put strict limits on photography, others outright banning it. Some of these bans encourage overworked holidaymakers to unplug, while others hope to tamp down the number of visitors crowding an attraction for the sole purpose of taking a picture.But the question is: does it work? The late architect Luis Barragan’s home in Mexico City bans visitors from taking pictures inside.Maria Swärd/Getty ImagesWhen photography goes too farJonny Bealby is the owner of tour operator Wild Frontiers, which organizes getaways to some of the most remote places on Earth. Last year, after giving a talk in London about his experiences motorbiking around Africa in the 1990s, a young man approached him and commented on how lucky Bealby was for having had the chance to travel “in the golden age.” In other words: before mass photography and the proliferation of social media.Soon, Bealby hit on an idea: four trip offerings (to Oman, Ecuador, Kyrgystan, and Mongolia) that would be absolutely unplugged, with visitors handing over their mobile phones on day one. “We’ll supply cameras if that’s what you want — we don’t stop people taking photos in the old sense, but we don’t want people constantly trying to post and be on their phones,” he explains. Though Bealby admits that tickets aren’t “flying off the shelf” just yet, he’s encouraged by customer reaction so far. Replacing digital photography — where people can snap hundreds of pictures and then go back and choose their favorites later — with slow, deliberate film photography limited by the amount of available exposures forces travelers to look more closely, make choices and cherish what they see. Separating photography as an art form from the instantaneous quality of likes online means that you value the picture you took for its own sake, rather than for how others react to it.The middle pathThere is a middle way, such as the approach taken by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. “In 2013 the museum did a test that allowed photography in the galleries,” a representative from the Van Gogh Museum explained to CNN Travel. “During the test, visitors explained that they found it unpleasant when other people were taking photographs all the time.”Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum has designated selfie spots to help control traffic flow.KOEN VAN WEEL / Getty ImagesUltimately, a compromise was reached. “In the museum there are some assigned spots (blow ups of some iconic works) at which visitors can pose and make photographs without bothering other visitors,” says the rep. “These are used extensively.” By delineating clear areas where photography is allowed, visitors can scratch their Instagram itch while also enjoying the art without a dozen selfie sticks blocking their view. With Europe second only to Asia as the fastest growing regional tourist destination, cities across the continent are stepping up efforts to curb overcrowding and improve conditions for locals.For some attractions struggling to raise funds or pay for maintenance projects, visitors’ photography addictions can be another source of cash.Casa Azul, artist Frida Kahlo’s former home in Mexico City, charges a small up-front fee for visitors who want to take pictures. Nearly everyone opts in. The house-turned-museum charges a fee of 30 pesos ($1.50 US) for taking pictures, and they only allow the photos to be for personal use — meaning no advertising. However, as many online influencers conflate their personal and professional lives by getting sponsored Instagram posts on pics of their kids, vacations and pets, what does “personal use” even mean?Casa Barragan, the UNESCO World Heritage-listed house of the late architect Luis Barragan, also in Mexico City, requires guests to pay for a photo permit if they want to take snapshots, though plenty of rule-flouters still find ways around the tour guides. Barragan’s clean lines and bright colors seem like they were made for Instagram and prove a popular backdrop for wannabe models. Meanwhile, not every attraction is able to invest the time and money it can take to enforce photography bans. While photography is not permitted at the Sistine Chapel — not because of overcrowding but due to a copyright held by a Japanese TV network — the thousands of tourists who pass through in a typical day seem not to know or care about the rules. Despite the presence of weary security guards who shout at guests in multiple languages that photos aren’t allowed, the sheer volume of snaps of the Michelangelo-painted ceiling that appear all over social media make it clear that the ban isn’t working.Moreover, the huge crowds make it hard to find and caution individual rule-breakers.The backlash beginsTourists pose on Hanoi’s “train street” prior to its closure. NHAC NGUYEN / GettySometimes, photo bans are a pre-emptive measure.But more often, they’re the result of local communities pushing back against bad tourist behavior.The Sedlec Ossuary in the Czech Republic, more commonly known as “The Bone Church” for its macabre decor made from the 60,000 or so skeletons discovered on the site, announced a photography ban after visitors took distasteful photos of skulls with hats and sunglasses on, among other infractions. In Hanoi, a train track running through a neighborhood became so popular with Instagrammers that the city government had to shut it down due to safety concerns when a tourist on the active track nearly caused an accident.Kyoto’s historic Gion district is a popular destination for those hoping to photograph geisha. CNN And in Japan, residents of the historic Gion neighborhood in Kyoto voted to ban photography in the community’s private streets. Tourists come to the neighborhood in droves, and while some enjoy simply walking and taking in the scenery or visiting a traditional teahouse, others have been less courteous, particularly when it comes to photographing geishas and maikos (geisha apprentices).But there are alternatives to outright bans.One avenue to curbing overtourism is to create an air of exclusivity. While many over-the-top food trends (cronuts, anyone?) depend on social media to get the word out, some hotels and restaurants have decided to curate a more intimate feel.The Sunset Tower Hotel in Los Angeles, a longtime celebrity favorite, bans photography in its restaurants and public spaces. While part of that comes from a desire to get hotel guests to unplug and enjoy their surroundings, the A-listers also appreciate having a place to get away from the paparazzi. The Sunset Tower Hotel is located on the famous Sunset Strip.gregobagel/Getty ImagesAd agency J Walter Thompson’s annual trend forecast has also weighed in. Its annual Future 100 report predicts that “anti-Instagram interiors,” like dark colored walls and dim lighting meant to deter would-be photographers, will become popular in the year to come.”Restaurants are turning away from the predictable and monotonous design vernacular fetishized by social media, instead creating dark and intimate spaces that prioritize in-person interaction over digital sharing,” an analyst wrote in the report. Looking to the future, as climate crisis movements around the world have turned frequent-flier status from an honor to a source of shame, photography at famous sites might also become passe. “I think it’s going to be cool to go on trips and not post stuff,” Bealby says. It’s also possible that an entire generation of kids who have had their every moment shared online might rebel against their parents by preferring a lo-fi existence. “I think there will be a natural backlash,” he adds.

[ad_2]

Source link

[ad_1]

(CNN) — Much is still unknown about the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak and health officials are urging vigilance. That means travelers crisscrossing the globe should be aware of the virus, steer clear of heavily impacted areas and exercise some of the same kinds of preventive measures they’d use to avoid influenza and other illnesses.The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has raised its travel advisory for China to the highest level. The “Warning – Level 3” status urges travelers to avoid all nonessential travel to the country. Previously, only Hubei province carried the Level 3 warning. The rest of China had been listed as Level 2 as of Sunday, and was at Level 1 prior to that.The CDC’s new travel precautions shortly followed the US State Department raising its own travel advisory for most of China to “Level 3: Reconsider Travel,” with Hubei Province rated “Level 4: Do not travel.”.Travelers should “practice enhanced precautions” by avoiding contact with sick people, animals and animal markets and frequently and thoroughly washing hands, the CDC recommends. Discuss travel to China with your healthcare providers, the CDC advises, noting that older adults and travelers with underlying health issues may be at higher risk.The Canadian government has also issued a travel advisory urging citizens to avoid all travel to Hubei Province. The advisory specifically names the cities of Wuhan, Huanggang and Ezhou.The Wuhan coronavirus does not yet constitute a public health emergency of international concern, the World Health Organization announced Thursday.”Make no mistake. This is an emergency in China, but it has not yet become a global health emergency,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Thursday. “It may yet become one.”The CDC is warning against all nonessential travel to Hubei Province, China.Stringer/Getty ImagesAdvice for travelersWith so much uncertainty, exercising caution is key. Medical professionals offer this advice in response to travel concerns:Q: How worried should travelers outside the most impacted areas be about the Wuhan coronavirus?In this era of global travel, you can never say the risk is zero of being exposed to something, says Dr. Yoko Furuya, associate professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.But most of the cases so far have involved Wuhan and surrounding cities in Hubei Province. “While the risk is not going to be zero, generally speaking there’s not going to be a particularly elevated risk” outside that area, she says.It’s not a big concern for US travelers traveling domestically, says Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of medicine in Vanderbilt University’s division of infectious diseases.Travelers heading to China should be more concerned, he adds. “As a matter of fact, I have heard colleagues say to a patient or two, “Gee, do you have to go to China right now? Why don’t you wait a little bit?”People who have traveled to Wuhan in the last few weeks and are feeling sick with fever, cough or are having difficulty breathing should seek medical attention right away and call ahead to inform providers of recent travel and symptoms, according to CDC guidelines.Q: Is travel less safe in general because other passengers could be coming from Wuhan and nearby cities?No, says Schaffner. He compared the Wuhan virus to influenza, which by the time flu season is over “will have caused literally thousands of hospitalizations and unfortunately several thousand deaths.””The coronavirus will be a blip on the horizon in comparison, but we have a little outbreak of corona anxiety at the present time because it’s new, it’s mysterious …” Every business traveler should be on alert and informed of what’s going on around them, says Dr. Robert Quigley, senior vice president and regional medical director at International SOS & MedAire. The medical assistance company supports workforces around the globe.The globalization of the workforce means we don’t know if someone at O’Hare airport in Chicago might walk by a coughing passenger just in from Wuhan. That’s why universal precautions like those used to prevent the spread of influenza would apply for any traveler, he adds.”This just gives us a heightened awareness and a reminder to be careful,” says Quigley.Some US airports have implemented health screenings for travelers arriving from affected areas of China.David McNew/Getty Images North America/Getty ImagesQ: Are precautions like face masks and hand sanitizer effective?Schaffner has received a lot of questions about whether people should be wearing masks to avoid infection. He realizes it’s culturally very common in Asia, but he says the CDC doesn’t recommend it for the general public because “the scientific basis showing that people in the community wearing masks actually has any benefit is very thin and questionable.”More fitted respirator masks may be used in medical settings, but are generally impractical for the general public, Schaffner says.”Good hand hygiene is always a really good idea to protect yourself from any viruses and other pathogens in your environment,” says Furuya.The CDC recommends washing hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. An alcohol-based hand sanitizer can be used when soap and water are not available.Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when coughing or sneezing, the CDC advises.Q: What precautions should travelers to other parts of China take?Travel to Hubei Province is highly discouraged, and travel to other parts of China should be undertaken with caution.A number of cruise lines, including MSC, Costa and Royal Caribbean, have canceled scheduled sailings to China and boosted screening procedures for passengers boarding from Chinese ports, according to CruiseCritic.com.On January 24, Delta Air Lines issued a waiver allowing passengers with itineraries involving Beijing and Shanghai to change their flights fee-free or cancel and apply the value toward a future flight. American Airlines and other carriers are offering similar waivers.A number of Asian airlines have suspended flights to Wuhan, and some American air carriers including Delta and American are offering flexibility on cancellations of itineraries involving WUH airport. Check with your airline for details.Quigley recommends a flexible itinerary that can be adapted to new information and guidance as it becomes available. He also suggests allowing extra time as health screenings have been implemented around many transportation hubs. Avoid traveling with any flu-like symptoms.Schaffner urges travelers to “stay away from those live animal markets, please. And try to avoid people who are coughing and sneezing. Of course, we do have a lot of influenza out there, but it’s still good advice. And do an awful lot of hand hygiene.”Since the source of the virus is still unknown, Schaffner also encourages visitors to rural China to stay away from agricultural animals such as chickens and pigs.Q: Is air travel more vulnerable because of its global reach?For parts of the world outside of the heavily affected region, air travel is likely where more of the risk will lie, says Furuya, because of the increased likelihood of encountering international travelers from areas with high incidence of the virus.”When it comes to the global spread of outbreaks, air travel is usually how things kind of spread quickly from country to country,” she says.Schaffner says the spread of winter respiratory illnesses on airplanes is always a concern. “More than once, I’m quite certain personally that I have acquired a winter virus on the aircraft while traveling or working my way through crowded airports,” he says.Frequent and vigorous hand washing is again critical to reducing viral transmissions.Clearly this is of particular concern in China right now as citizens there are traveling en masse for Lunar New Year celebrations, he adds.Many of the large public celebrations have been canceled to stem the spread of the virus.CNN Health’s Michael Nedelman contributed to this story

[ad_2]

Source link