News & Views

Do yourself a favour and plan your next trip

W. Gifford-Jones MD & Diana Gifford-Jones

October 3, 2020

BY W. GIFFORD- JONES MD & DIANA GIFFORD-JONES

William Shakespeare wrote, “In the night, imagining some fear, how easy is a bush supposed to be a bear!”

For many families having lost loved ones to the coronavirus, this has been a devastating year. The death numbers are broadcast relentlessly. Small wonder people have become paranoid about travelling. But does this anxiety make sense?

Normally airports are chaotic and unpleasant. Joyless crowds stand toe-to-toe in long line-ups through insufferable screenings and baggage checks, only to be herded like sheep onto cramped planes.

But now could be the best time to travel. Airports are not crowded and much cleaner. Some flights leave the middle seat empty – a welcome move.

Skeptics worry about contact with the coronavirus while seated for hours breathing shared air on flights. It’s understandable given the enclosed space and large numbers of strangers. The air inside an airplane is cleaner than you think.

Most commercial aircraft use High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters, and the air flows in ways similar to an operating room, in one direction with little crossover of circulation patterns. Cabin air is constantly refreshed, with about 60% from the outside and 40% passing through HEPA filters that block 99.97% of airborne particles over 0.3 micron in size. Research by NASA notes that HEPA filters are exceptionally efficient – almost 100% at 0.01 micron – at capturing ultrafine particles, including the very small globs carrying SARS-CoV-2 in exhaled air.

Even with this filtration (every three minutes, on average) cabin air is completely changed. That’s 20 times every hour compared to 12 times in office buildings. Your airplane ride is far safer than a bus or subway journey!

It is not the air, but certain surfaces on planes where germs thrive – for instance, seatback magazines, pulldown tables and headrests where people put their hands as they walk the aisle. Another problem is the washroom after passengers fail to wash their hands. Airlines are aware of these hazards and have increased use of disinfectants.

So, go ahead and catch the travel bug. Do a more informed assessment of the health risks and benefits of travel. Travel can ease stress, a major source of illness. It gets you up and moving. Travel often involves socializing and making new friends, also known to boost positive health outcomes. Good food choices while traveling, combined with exercise, can score a win-win. Don’t forget the importance of rest. Choose a destination where you can enjoy some downtime.

Finally, far too late, top medical authorities are acknowledging the role of specific supplements. Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, recently said, “If you are deficient in vitamin D, that does have an impact on your susceptibility to infection. I would not mind recommending, and I do it myself, taking vitamin D supplements.” He went on to add that vitamin C is a “good antioxidant” and recommended high doses. Dr. Fauci might have better brought home the point. These two vitamins protect us, and we should be ringing far louder alerts for everyone to supplement their intake. Good advice at any point, but especially as you prepare to travel, get your immune system in top shape.

Life has its hazards, even getting up in the morning, but plane travel is one of the safest forms of transportation. We must not be so paranoid that we become afraid of our own shadow.

Samuel Johnson, the historian, once remarked, “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.” Do yourself a favour; plan your next trip.

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Written By W. Gifford-Jones MD & Diana Gifford-Jones

Dr. W. Gifford-Jones, MD is a graduate of the University of Toronto and the Harvard Medical School. He trained in general surgery at Strong Memorial Hospital, University of Rochester, Montreal General Hospital, McGill University and in Gynecology at Harvard. His storied medical career began as a general practitioner, ship’s surgeon, and hotel doctor. For more than 40 years, he specialized in gynecology, devoting his practice to the formative issues of women’s health. In 1975, he launched his weekly medical column that has been published by national and local Canadian and U.S. newspapers. Today, the readership remains over seven million. His advice contains a solid dose of common sense and he never sits on the fence with controversial issues. He is the author of nine books including, “The Healthy Barmaid”, his autobiography “You’re Going To Do What?”, “What I Learned as a Medical Journalist”, and “90+ How I Got There!” Many years ago, he was successful in a fight to legalize heroin to help ease the pain of terminal cancer patients. His foundation at that time donated $500,000 to establish the Gifford-Jones Professorship in Pain Control and Palliative Care at the University of Toronto Medical School. At 93 years of age he rappelled from the top of Toronto’s City Hall (30 stories) to raise funds for children with a life-threatening disease through the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Diana Gifford-Jones, the daughter of W. Gifford-Jones, MD, Diana has extensive global experience in health and healthcare policy. Diana is Special Advisor with The Aga Khan University, which operates 2 quaternary care hospitals and numerous secondary hospitals, medical centres, pharmacies, and laboratories in South Asia and Africa. She worked for ten years in the Human Development sectors at the World Bank, including health policy and economics, nutrition, and population health. For over a decade at The Conference Board of Canada, she managed four health-related executive networks, including the Roundtable on Socio-Economic Determinants of Health, the Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Management, the Canadian Centre for Environmental Health, and the Centre for Health System Design and Management. Her master’s degree in public policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government included coursework at Harvard Medical School. She is also a graduate of Wellesley College. She has extensive experience with Canadian universities, including at Carleton University, where she was the Executive Director of the Global Academy. She lived and worked in Japan for four years and speaks Japanese fluently. Diana has the designation as a certified Chartered Director from The Directors College, a joint venture of The Conference Board of Canada and McMaster University. She has recently published a book on the natural health philosophy of W. Gifford-Jones, called No Nonsense Health – Naturally!

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