Page 105 - Mariners Cricket Club (Singapore) - Souvenir Magazine 2020
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When face recognition is not available, mobile New uniforms for fl ight attendants
apps can interface with kiosks and gates to
reduce touch. Mobile alerts could minimize Airlines used to treat plane aisles as mini fashion
crowding by pinging individual customers to runways, with smartly dressed fl ight attendants.
board. This could help decrease crowds milling But today’s and tomorrow’s cabin crews may
around the gate or in line on the jet bridge — a be donning PPE. PPE is already required for
danger zone without much air circulation that attendants on some Qatar Airways, AirAsia,
puts people at risk of close, unventilated contact Thai Airways, and Philippine Airlines fl ights.
with others — a primary mode COVID-19 There’s a certain futuristic flair to some of the
transmission.
safety-fi rst outfits: AirAsia’s new PPE uniforms
“Whatever you can do to reduce the amount of look like flashy red HAZMAT jumpsuits;
people that are stuck there is a good idea,” says Philippine Airlines’ cabin crews now wear face
Paloma Beamer, a professor of public health at shields and medical-chic white jumpsuits with a
the University of Arizona. rainbow stripe on one shoulder.
Such functional fashion is fine, says Dr Niket
Sonpal, a gastroenterologist and professor at
Touro College of Medicine, but fl ight attendants
must use such garments as if they’re in a medical
setting. “There has to be training on PPE,” he
said. “How not to put it on, how not to fi dget
with it, and then how to take it off.”
The goal remains to protect both passenger and
flight attendants, who are at heightened risk
for COVID-19 exposure on the job. At least one
flight attendant has died after contracting the
At Miami International Airport and several virus during work training; others who have
other U.S. airports, motion-analytic software succumbed to the disease are suspected of
called Safe Distance is being installed to help having gotten sick on the job. Hundreds more
passengers practice social distancing and to have been hospitalized.
gather data about how people gather and move A full PPE getup might be overkill or “hygiene
through lines. The system uses cameras to track theatre,” especially with some hospitals still
movements and computers to crunch numbers;
it’s currently just a tool for airport authorities to struggling to keep protective gear in stock,
figure out if they need better social distancing according to Sonpal. Flight attendants and
signage or security procedures that space other essential workers need support from their
people out more. But it could eventually be used workplaces and the people around them to
on smart phone boarding apps or displayed on follow health guidelines like wearing masks and
TSA dashboards. sanitizing their hands. “There is still so much
that isn’t known about this novel coronavirus,”
The most signifi cant smartphone-powered he says. “We are flying by the seat of our pants.”
change might be a second check-in procedure.
The major U.S.- based airlines are working on And what about the quality of the air circulating
an industry-wide contacttracing project, which inside a plane’s cabin? It’s a theoretical risk since
would rely on a third-party app to collect data the mucus membranes in your nasal passages
on passengers before they fly. Beamer, who is are likely to dry out in flight, making them more
helping to develop a contact-tracing app for the susceptible to a virus. But experts believe that
University of Arizona, sees how this idea will HEPA fi lters in functioning ventilation systems
be especially useful for the airline industry. “If neutralize the virus, rendering the air (which
these apps could be taken up more broadly, refreshes every three minutes) safe to breathe —
they could be helpful on things like fl ights,” ideally through a clean N95 mask.
she says. “There are lots of chances for chance
encounters.” SMNS
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Mariners’ Cricket Club (Singapore) 105
