New York: A US woman was quarantined in the bathroom plane for three hours after testing positive Covid-19 halfway through flights from Chicago to Iceland, according to media reports.
Marisa Fotieo, a teacher from Michigan, said his throat began to get hurt in the middle of the trip on December 19 so he went to the bathroom to do a quick Covid test that confirmed that he was infected, the WABC-TV reported.
Before the flight, Fotieo told CNN, he took two PCR tests and about five quick tests, all of which returned negative.
But about one and a half hours into the flight, Fotieo began to feel sore throat.
“The wheel starts turning in my brain and I think,” Okay, I’ll take the test.
“It will make me feel better,” Fotieo said.
“Immediately, it’s back positive.” Fotieo is fully vaccinated and has received a booster.
He tested consistently since he worked with a population that was not vaccinated.
When he got the result in the plane’s bathroom, on the Atlantic Ocean, he said he began to panic.
“The first flight officer I lived was Rocky.
I was hysterical, I cried,” Fotieo said.
“I’m nervous for my family that I just had dinner.
I’m nervous for other people on the plane.
I’m nervous for myself.” Fotieo flight attendant ran to help calm him down, the report was added.
“Of course, this is a stress factor when something like this appears, but it’s part of our work,” the flight attendant told CNN.
The flight clerk said he did what he could to try to reset the chair so that Fotieo could sit in a place alone, but his flight was full.
“When he returned and told me that he could not find enough seating, I chose to stay in the bathroom because I didn’t want to be around anyone else on the flight,” Fotieo said.
A note then placed on the bathroom door saying it didn’t work, and it was a new fotieo seat for the rest of the flight.
CNN contacted Icelandair on Thursday to comment but hadn’t heard it back.
Policies vary between airlines about how to handle covid positive passengers.
It comes only a few weeks after the US and other countries have made restrictions on trips amid the spread of the Omicron variant.
After the aircraft touched in Iceland, Fotio and his family were the last of the flight.
Because his brother and his father did not have symptoms, they were free to take flight connecting them to Switzerland.
Fotieo was tested quickly and PCR at the airport, both of which were positive, he said.
He then went back and forth to a hotel where he started 10 quarantine days, added the report.
The doctor examined it three times a day, he was given food and medicine available.
“Honestly it has become an easy experience,” Fotieo said.
“That’s partly because of flight attendants and the types of Iceland.
Everyone here is very good.”