A person who tested positive for the coronavirus last week tried to board a Florida-bound plane at an airport in Maine on Sunday — but was stopped from getting on the flight by public health officials.
The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday they got in touch with the person at Portland International Jetport and convinced them to stay off the flight.
“Maine CDC staff communicated with the individual with COVID-19, who subsequently chose not to board the aircraft,” they said in a statement.
Another person traveling with the coronavirus patient boarded the plane, but was later removed, the agency said.
The person who tested positive went back into isolation, as did the person traveling with them, but it’s unclear if they contracted the virus.
Maine CDC warned travelers and workers who were at the airport between 12:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. Sunday that they may have been exposed to coronavirus.
Researchers have found that flying with coronavirus could lead to clusters of the bug.
A new study in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases found that a single sickened airline passenger spread coronavirus to 15 others aboard in a March flight from London to Vietnam.