A man who collapsed aboard a Los Angeles-bound flight and was pronounced dead a New Orleans hospital had COVID-19, a coroner’s report confirmed Monday, while a local EMT who performed CPR on the man while aboard the plane said he is now showing symptoms.
A report released Monday by the Jefferson Parish Coroner’s Office in Louisiana determined that the man died of acute respiratory failure and COVID-19.
According to USA Monday, which obtained the coroner’s document, the man was a 69-year-old Los Angeles resident who died at Ochsner Medical Center-Kenner after being taken off the plane the night of Dec. 14.
An investigation is continuing into whether the man — who declared before boarding the plane that he was not sick and not displaying any COVID symptoms — infected any other passengers with the virus.
Tony Aldapa, a Los Angeles-based emergency medical technician who was aboard the flight and was one of three people to administer CPR to the man after he collapsed, told NBC4 he is quarantining at home. He said he had actually been scheduled to receive a COVID-19 vaccination on Friday because he is a licensed emergency medical technician and an emergency room worker, but he has instead been in quarantine.
“I’m still feeling a headache, cough, body aches,” Aldapa told the station.
Aldapa said he tested negative once for the virus since the flight, and is awaiting the results of a second test.
Aldapa has been open about his decision to perform CPR on the man, posting about his experience on social media. He confirmed to Channel 4 that the man’s wife told him that her husband felt sick before the flight and had lost his sense of taste and smell — considered a key symptom of COVID-19 — despite the man’s assertion on the required pre-boarding passenger affidavit that he was not sick.
“She told me he had been short of breath and on the way back home he was going to get tested for COVID,” Aldapa told NBC4.
Aldapa said he doesn’t regret his actions. On Twitter on Monday, Aldapa wrote, “Regardless of if they were lying, or if they didn’t know he was sick, everyone deserves the chance to live and if people lose that willingness to help because of fear of a virus then we really are in trouble.”
United Airlines confirmed in a statement Friday that it had been contacted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the man, who was aboard United flight 591 from Orlando, Florida, to Los Angeles International Airport. The flight was diverted and landed in New Orleans due to the sick passenger.
“At the time of the diversion, we were informed he had suffered a cardiac arrest, so passengers were given the option to take a later flight or continue on with their travel plans,” according to the airline. “Now that the CDC has contacted us directly, we are sharing requested information with the agency so they can work with local health officials to conduct outreach to any customer the CDC believes may be at risk for possible exposure or infection.”
United Airlines officials said passengers must certify before they are allowed to board planes that they do not have COVID-19 or any symptoms.
“The health and safety of our employees and customers is our highest priority, which is why we have various policies and procedures in place such as mask mandates and requiring customers to complete a `Ready-to-Fly’ checklist before the flight acknowledging they have not been diagnosed with COVID-19 in the last 14 days and do not have COVID-related symptoms,” according to the airline.
After the man was taken off the plane in New Orleans, the flight continued on to LAX, under the assessment that the passenger had suffered a heart attack.
The four flight attendants who were working the flight went into quarantine after the plane arrived in Los Angeles, according to their union, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA.
“United flight attendants on Monday responded to a medical emergency inflight resulting in a diversion,” according to union representative Taylor Garland. “Upon arrival at LAX, the crew of four flight attendants were quarantined for 14 days per written guidelines. Our union continues to provide support to the crew. We urge passengers to comply with airline COVID policies and stay home if you’re sick.”
Aldapa told Channel 4 he did not give the man mouth-to-mouth, but adjusted an oxygen mask to help him breathe. He wrote on Twitter over the weekend that he “spent the remainder of the flight covered in my own sweat and in that man’s urine.”
He said he and two other people on the plane performed CPR on the man, “and continued to help the firefighters when they came on board.”