Good Samaritan helps unconscious traveler during flight, experiences COVID-19 symptoms

One week ago on Monay, an intense situation unfolded mid-air. A passenger aboard United Airlines 591 from Orlando to Los Angeles diverted to New Orleans after a patient had a medical emergency. 

Tony Aldapa, a licensed emergency medical technician, told FOX 35 News that he helped two other passengers give CPR to an unconscious man. 

"About a half hour into the flight, flight attendants came on and said there’s a medical emergency, 'Are there any doctors or nurses onboard?'" Aldapa said. "He was unconscious, didn’t have a pulse. He wasn’t breathing. Each of us were doing compressions as long and as hard as we could."  

As soon as the pilot landed, paramedics took the man off the plane and continued medical care. 

United Airlines tells FOX 35 News that doctors pronounced that passenger, who has not been publicly identified, dead at the hospital. 

"At the time, we were all under the impression it was a cardiac event," Adalpa said.

Now, it appears the man’s death might be COVID-19 related. United Airlines says the man's family confirmed he suffered from pre-existing conditions, like high blood pressure and upper respiratory issues, and was feeling sick leading up to the day of travel. 

United Airlines released a statement saying, in part: "Now that the CDC has contacted us directly, we are sharing requested information with the agency 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." 

Adalpa is concerned. 

"If he did test positive, I feel someone should have reached out to the three of us doing CPR and the six or eight immediately around us," Adalpa told FOX 35 News.

Adalpa took a rapid COVID-19 test three days after his flight home to Los Angeles and says it came back negative. He’s been quarantining out of precaution. However, he says he hasn’t been feeling well since Thursday. 

"I started getting a cough, getting a headache. I still have body aches. Been same symptoms ever since," Aldapa said. 

He took another COVID-19 test on Friday, but he’s still awaiting the results.

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