AN airline passenger who bravely gave CPR to a dying man was not contacted about being exposed to Covid until TEN days later, a report says.
Earlier this month, footage emerged of Tony Aldapa trying to save the life of a man who collapsed after “shaking and sweating” on a United Airlines flight from Orlando to LA.
Tony, who is an EMT, was left covered in “sweat and urine” after performing CPR on the victim who was later pronounced dead in Louisiana where the jet made an emergency stop on December 14.
And now TMZ reports that Tony was contacted on Thursday – ten days after the incident – by health officials to confirm that the man had Covid-19 and that he had been exposed to the virus.
This is despite the victim’s wife telling other passengers that her husband had been displaying symptoms – including losing his sense of taste and smell and having shortness of breath.
Yet, United Airlines did not notify any other passengers to inform them that they may have been exposed to the dangerous coronavirus, the report says.
A United spokesperson told TMZ that it wasn’t their job to contact their own customers insisting that was down to the CDC.
And the CDC told the news outlet that the information was passed to local health officials.
In Tony’s case, it was the L.A. County Dept. of Public Health who eventually got in touch.
Tony tested positive for Covid and had mild symptoms but has now recovered.
According to TMZ, none of the 178 passengers on board the flight were contacted promptly about the infected passenger ahead of the Christmas holidays.
Tony spoke on Twitter about his decision to try and save the man’s life.
He wrote: “I made the decision to attempt to save the passengers life and along with two others performed CPR for close to an hour until we landed.
“And continued to help the firefighters when they came onboard.
“I knew the risks involved in performing CPR on someone that potentially has COVID but I made the choice to do so anyways.”
Shortly after the incident, United Airlines released a statement which read: “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.
“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 customers the CDC believes may be at risk for possible exposure or infection.”
