Traveling with Covid-19

Having just returned from a trip to Montana it seems like a good time to address traveling risks associated with Covid-19.  Daily there is information put out by the media, some accurate, some not so much.  Who can you trust and what do you do to protect yourself and your family.  Clark and I traveled on American Airlines across the country, changing planes in Dallas going to the Triple Creek Ranch in Darby Montana outside Missoula, Montana airport.  In general, we felt safe and saw no overriding concerns.  There is no question it takes time to overcome ones phobia's and fears, and I am no different than anyone else.  Until I was 28 years old I had a phobia and fear of flying on an airplane.  My father was an aircrewman on a B-24 Liberator flying 30 combat missions over Nazi Germany and as a civilian had a private pilot's license.  When I was 6 years old he took to me to the St. Petersburg airport to fly on a demonstration flight.  I remember it like it was yesterday.  For some reason, I did not want to go and was afraid of the airplane and kicked and screamed until he took me home.  It haunted me for 22 years.  But as a scientist, I recognized that science and data and not perception should guide my decisions in life.  I went to Honolulu, Hawaii to do my internship in medicine for many reasons but one reason was to face down my fear of flying as the only way to get there was by plane.  To lessen my fears I flew first class and got fairly intoxicated on the way figuring if I was going to die might as well go happy and in style.  I enjoyed the trip immensely and now if a trip takes more than 4 hours in a car, I fly.  Today, even with its inconveniences I love to fly.  To me, it is a miracle to break the bonds of earth and soar in the heavens.  Even with the worst years and with the years that included terrorist attacks and 9/11 flying in a commercial airliner is one of the safest things you can do.  Driving in a car is one of the riskiest things you can do.  The majority of people killed in a car accident are 5 miles from home and going 45 MPH.  The chance of dying in a plane crash is in the millions.  Today with Covid, flying is in my opinion still safer.  Looking at the data since Covid the reported cases that were spread on an airplane occurred early in the pandemic before the airlines and the public started taking proper precautions.  Even then the number of cases transmitted was in the low hundreds compared to millions who flew on airplanes so the absolute risk was low even then.  Today as we speak the airlines have taken extreme precautions to prevent any transmission.  Everyone wears masks, filters on airplanes have been upgraded and changed frequently, boarding procedures are safer than before, so in general safety, protocols are working and in just the last month as an example, I have heard of no transmission of the virus on an airplane.  We have multiple friends who have traveled by airplane multiple times in the past month with no problems and no infections.  Clark and I for years now have disinfected our seats and area on a plane immediately when we get on.  We carry Clorox wipes and have been wiping everything down for years and to our knowledge never gotten sick from an airplane trip.  Even with the planes being spotless we still wiped everything down this trip to Montana.  Every passenger had a mask on and everyone seemed to watch out for everyone else.  I at least felt very safe, and again safer than if I was driving in a car.  At the airports, social distancing and masks were done as much as I could tell.  At our destination, the Triple Creek Ranch followed all protocols and we felt safe there.  So we have been home for a few days now, feel fine, felt safe on the trip, and will self-quarantine for at least a week at home.  The reality is that Covid is everywhere, at your home, and wherever you might choose to go.  It is spread with human to human contact through the air with coughing sneezing and talking.  Social distancing at least 6 feet and wearing a mask works.  Washing your hands' works.  If you and everyone around you are doing these things then your risk is less and mitigated.  It will not be 100% risk-free for a long time but nothing is 100% risk-free.  My opinion and comments for many years is if you don't like risk and don't want to take risks please don't get into a car and walk.  The reality is driving a car is one of the highest risk activities we do.  In my opinion, wearing a mask on an airplane is a lower risk than that so I am willing to travel under the current protocols and just did and so far so good.  I should also mention that the day before we left to drive back to the airport there was a huge blizzard that dumped one foot of snow covering the roads.  No one really saw it coming.  As a result, we had to drive down the twisty mountain and drive 80 miles back to the airport.  I assumed out west and in the past, the roads are quickly cleared.  Because this storm was not predicted we ended up driving 80 miles on top of approximately 2 inches of solid ice as the temperature dropped to 5 below zero and no they didn't clear the roads.  I know for sure driving 80 miles on top of fresh ice is the risky thing you could ever do.  Obviously, we did OK but it was an adventure.  We only spun out once.