United Airlines is actively working with health officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to contact passengers who might have potentially been exposed to Covid-19 after a man suffered “a medical emergency” during a flight this week and died, the airline said in a statement.
According to NBC News, the man who died had been on a flight from Orlando-to-Los-Angeles on Monday. The flight had to be diverted to New Orleans when the man became ill on the plane. Paramedics transported him to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Passengers were originally told the man suffered a cardiac arrest. But a passenger Shay Allen told NBC News that she and other passengers had overheard the man’s wife say he had been experiencing symptoms similar to those of COVID-19.
“At the time of the diversion, we were informed he had suffered a cardiac arrest, so passengers were given the option to take a later flight or continue on with their travel plans,” the airline said in their statement. “Now that the CDC has contacted us directly, we are sharing requested information with the agency so they can work with local health officials to conduct outreach to any customer the CDC believes may be at risk for possible exposure or infection,” the statement continued.
The man had filled out a required checklist before boarding the flight, saying he had not tested positive for Covid and did not have symptoms. But it’s apparent that he “wrongly acknowledged this requirement,” the airline said.
Taylor Garland, spokeswoman for the Association of Flight Attendants, told NBC Los Angeles that four flight attendants who worked on the flight have also gone into quarantine for 14 days after the plane landed in Los Angeles.
