Holding center seats open on plane might scale back passengers’ publicity to the virus that causes Covid-19 by greater than half, in keeping with a brand new examine printed Wednesday.

Researchers from the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention and the Kansas State College present in laboratory modeling that passengers’ publicity to SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19, on wide-body and narrow-body planes could possibly be decreased between 23% and 57% if airways go away center seats open — even when they are not sporting masks.

The examine comes after airways have spent a lot of the final yr touting stepped-up cleansing procedures and onboard filtration to calm vacationers fearful about flying throughout the pandemic. Journey demand has since rebounded considerably as extra of the general public is vaccinated towards Covid-19.

U.S. airways together with JetBlue Airways and Southwest Airways capped capability on board their planes earlier within the pandemic however have since carried out away with the coverage, citing hospital-grade filtration and different security measures as limiting the chance of publicity. Delta Air Strains plans to cease blocking center seats subsequent month, the final U.S. airline to make the change. It paused its capability caps throughout Easter weekend, although, throughout a staffing scarcity that contributed to dozens of flight cancellations.

The researchers’ examine didn’t look at mask-wearing on flights, which turned an airline and federal authorities coverage throughout the pandemic.

Nonetheless, they cited a New Zealand case examine that stated “some virus aerosol is emitted from an infectious masked passenger, such that distancing might nonetheless be helpful.”

They used a surrogate virus to face in for airborne SARS-CoV-2.