Tony Aldapa EMT who gave CPR to United Airlines passenger dying of COVID-19 believed to have contracted coronavirus as the medic explains he had no choice but to help and that he would do it again.
A selfless passenger who gave a dying man who had COVID-19 symptoms on a packed United Airlines flight is believed to have now caught the highly contagious coronavirus himself according to reports.
Tony Aldapa, who is an EMT, said he has since come down with symptoms of the virus himself after rushing to help the flier — who died hours after collapsing aboard the plane carrying nearly 200 people on Friday.
‘I knew the risks involved in performing CPR on someone that potentially has COVID, but I made the choice to do so anyways,’ Aldapa posted on Twitter.
‘Knowing I had the knowledge, training and experience to help out, I could not have sat idly by and watched someone die.’
Aldapa said he and two others performed CPR on the sick man for close to an hour on the flight last week from Orlando to Los Angeles.
He and the other passengers were ‘essentially tag-teaming,’ performing chest compressions on the man who had begun shaking before losing consciousness on the flight, CBS LA reported.
Instead of anyone doing mouth-to-mouth, a compressible oxygen bag attached to a mask was used to breathe for the dying man, TMZ reported.
Aldapa said he spoke with the passenger’s wife, who admitted that her husband had tested positive for COVID-19 after losing his taste and smell — though the man reportedly told the airline before boarding that he had no virus-related symptoms. The airline has since accused the passenger of lying prior to boarding as passengers were asked whether they had recently displayed coronavirus like symptoms as part of CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) regulations.
‘I spent the remainder of the flight covered in my own sweat and in that man’s urine,’ Aldapa wrote.
After an emergency landing in New Orleans, the sick passenger was brought to the hospital, where he died a short time later.
‘Essentially I just feel like I got hit by a train,’ Aldapa told CBS LA. ‘I had a cough, my whole body still hurt, I had a headache.’
United Airlines said it was initially only informed that the man had suffered a cardiac arrest — and was waiting on more information about his possible COVID-19 case.
‘We are sharing requested information with the (CDC) 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,’ the airline said, CBS LA reported.
Plane passengers are supposed to certify before flights that they have not tested positive for COVID-19 and have not had symptoms in the last 14 days.
The identity of the passenger who died has not been publicly revealed.
