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Getting tested for COVID-19 before a flight can greatly reduce the number of infected travelers, a new study finds.
Researchers from the Mayo Clinic, the Georgia Department of Public Health and Delta Air Lines looked at different testing strategies for passengers traveling by air.
They found that getting a nasal swab test up to 72 hours before the flight decreased the number of infected customers to about 0.05 percent.
That's equivalent to about one in every 2.000 people testing positive for the virus.
The team says the findings show that preflight testing programs can help dramatically reduce the risk of infections and can lead to safer flights.
A new study from the Mayo Clinic looked at 10,000 passengers who were tested to fly from the U.S. to Italy between December 2020 and May 2021. Pictured: A man receives a nasal swab COVID-19 test at Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport, December 2020
Not being tested was linked to estimate prevalence of COVID-19 infection on flights to 0.2% or one in every 500 people. Getting a nasal swab test up to 72 hours before the flight and a test at the airport led to a 0.05% prevalence or one in every 2,000 travelers
For the study, published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, the team looked at Delta's preflight testing program
