International Flight Full of Sick Passengers Lands in Houston and People Are Nervous

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In a post-pandemic world, a lot of people are taking illnesses more seriously when it comes to travel. Obviously, that feeling wasn't universal (a lot of people got up-in-arms over the temporary mask mandates on airplanes), but for millions of people traumatized by that dark period from 2020-2021, they're far more wary about travel bugs now than ever before- especially when such a bug threatens to cross international borders.

Which leads us to this rather unnerving air travel story that recently played out in Houston, Texas. The passengers of a United Airlines flight from Canada had to be briefly quarantined in Houston on May 31 after dozens of them came down with some pretty alarming symptoms en route!

According to reporters from KPRC 2 Click2Houston , United Airlines Flight 1528 from Vancouver to Houston was full of homebound tourists who'd just wrapped up a cruise vacation. Of the 163 passengers onboard, 75 had just gotten back from an international cruise - and a third of those passengers suddenly fell ill halfway through the flight to Houston with nausea and other flu-like symptoms. No word on whether or not they'd also eaten an in-flight fish dinner, a la Airplane !

Related: Bizarre & Disgusting Find in Woman's Bag at O'Hare Has Everyone Cringing

James Snell , one of the passengers onboard, recounted his eerie experience onboard to Click2Houston .

"About an hour and a half before we hit Houston, they ask for if you've been on this cruise ship, could you raise your hand," said Snell. Upon arriving at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, the plane was met by waiting teams of first responders, but the passengers were not allowed to simply disembark.

"He [the pilot] came out to us and said, 'Hey, in my 25 years of flying, I've never seen anything like this, we have been quarantined by the CDC. Nobody can exit the plane until the CDC lets us off.'" Snell recalled.

However, the quarantine wouldn't last long. According to Snell, they only had to wait about "45 minutes-ish" before passengers were allowed to disembark after passing a health screening with the paramedics. Three passengers were "evacuated" from the plane, but reportedly, none of them needed hospitalization, and all were allowed to continue on their way.

Quibbles Over Quarantine

People online became concerned after learning that an international flight with over two dozens ill passengers had spent less than an hour in quarantine, especially considering that neither the illness nor the cruise the sick passengers were on had been identified.

"Quarantine them! You don't allow international passengers with signs of sickness into a new country," said YouTube commenter @Anurania.

"From Canada... they need to quarantine and have them tested... or it might just be something they all ate," said @paulinavaldez3913.

It's true that American health officials take sudden illnesses on international flights seriously. I've even experienced this firsthand. On my first overseas flight home in college, I developed a sudden fever and stomach flu-like symptoms, and was warned by a flight attendant that I might need to quarantine at my layover airport, hundreds of miles from home. Luckily, my fever broke before arrival, and I was told I no longer met quarantine requirements. That was apparently the case here too, as the CDC told USA Today in a statement that "No passengers met CDC criteria for further public health follow-up ."

With the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic and similar disease outbreaks, the CDC would not take the situation lightly had they believed there was a significant threat to public health. While the mysterious travel bug wasn't publicly ID'ed, the GI symptoms described and the cruise connection led many to believe it was a norovirus outbreak. A nasty bug, for sure, and common on cruise ships , but unlikely to lead to a global pandemic like COVID-19 did. Still, it sure would be nice if we could get some confirmation of that theory!

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