Paul Chinn/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty ImagesThe IATA's medical advisor said Omicron could present two to three times the infection risk of Delta.Omicron could double the risk of catching COVID-19 during a flight according to an airline industry medical expert, who warned that the airport carries a higher likelihood that the virus could spread than on the airplane itself.
"Whatever the risk was with Delta, we would have to assume the risk would be two to three times greater with Omicron, just as we've seen in other environments," Dr. David Powell, medical advisor at the International Air Transport Association,"The relative risk has probably increased, just as the relative risk of going to the supermarket or catching a bus has increased with Omicron," Powell added.