An emergency medical technician who performed CPR on a man in cardiac arrest during a United Airlines flight said he now shows signs of COVID-19.
Tony Aldapa said he was supposed to receive the COVID-19 vaccine on Friday because he is not only a licensed EMT, but also an emergency medical worker. But instead, he is in quarantine at home awaiting the final results of a COVID-19 test.
“Ten times out of ten, I would still get up and help,” Aldapa said.
His training began to help a man suffering a cardiac arrest on a flight from Orlando to LAX. The U.S. Navy veteran says he knew the risks when he performed CPR on the man, whose wife said he had coronavirus-like symptoms.
“It was the last thing I was thinking,” Aldapa said. “I just thought there was a guy who needed CPR.”
But since Monday’s flight, he has been ill with coronavirus symptoms.
“I still feel headache, cough, body aches,” he said.
He, along with another EMT and UCI nurse, were taken for CPR in turn to the man. The man’s wife was overheard saying she had lost her sense of taste and smell and told Aldapa she felt sick before the flight.
“He told me he was short of breath and, back home, he would be tested for COVID,” Aldapa said.
Aldapa says he never did word of mouth, but while doing chest compressions in the narrow hallway for 45 minutes, he had turned on a resuscitator and an oxygen mask to help the man breathe.
After an emergency landing to take the man to a hospital, where he later died, the flight continued to LAX.
United Airlines said all passengers are required to fill out a questionnaire ready to fly to acknowledge that they have no COVID-19 or symptoms. Although several passengers say the man who helped Aldapa showed symptoms, it is unclear if he had coronavirus.
Aldapa says we all need to take responsibility.
“If you know you’re sick, take care of yourself, but also keep in mind the people you’re going to go through … make the right decisions,” he said.
The airline contacted Aldapa to thank him and said he sent the flight manifesto to CDC.
Aldapa says CDC has not yet contacted him.
The CDC told NBC4 that they were working with local health authorities to contact those who may be at risk for infection.