Worcester Airport Travelers Find Flights 'Surprisingly Normal' During Panedemic

WORCESTER — There's admittedly a new essential item in most passengers' carry-on luggage: hand sanitizer.

But aside from a few precautions and smaller crowds, travelers Tuesday reported that flights into Worcester Regional Airport in this time of the coronavirus were remarkably normal.

"To me it was surprisingly normal," said Worcester lawyer and resident Michael Angelini, former chairman of Massport, which owns the airport, as he waited at baggage claim Tuesday afternoon. "I was not nervous, and I didn't have the sense that most people were."

Maria Davenport agreed.

"It was not different in any way," she said of her flight. "I'm trying not to worry. Worrying doesn't help."

Sheila Beliveau said that the panic that the news coverage has shown in the Northeast wasn't evident in Florida.

"There's no concern down there," Beliveau said. "It's like it's a different world."

The coronavirus and the disease it causes, COVID-19, have upended the world's social and economic fabric since China first identified the virus in January, with broad regions shutting down schools and businesses, restricting travel, canceling events, and encouraging people to stay away from each other.

Massachusetts — and indeed, Worcester — has not been immune.

And the virus was certainly on travelers' minds here.

Passengers reported that flight crews wore gloves on certain flights, that the planes smelled and looked very clean, and that many flyers were wiping down their seats with disinfecting wipes. Several travelers also remarked on news coverage showing huge lines at other airports in the country.

In one way or another, all the travelers had been affected by the virus.

Sarik Goyal was returning home from Northwestern University in Illinois, which has moved classes online.

Mary Arnold was supposed to be joining the cast of a show on a cruise ship, but was sent home over the weekend.

And Beliveau was supposed to fly into Boston, but decided to avoid the crowds there and flew into Worcester.

But all said that with a few precautions, they felt pretty comfortable flying.

Beliveau, for instance, carried Lysol wipes, hand sanitizer and gloves in her carry-on. Goyal had protective face masks.

"I brought masks with me but didn't use them," Goyal said, noting that the flights were not that crowded. "It seemed like they were doing a good job of keeping clean on the flights."

And Arnold, who had traveled through Miami, Orlando, Florida, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Philadelphia before arriving in Worcester, had hand sanitizer with her — and got more when her mother greeted her in the terminal.

"There were a lot of people with masks," Arnold admitted, though few of them were in view at Worcester. And Arnold said she took precautions, frequently washing and sanitizing her hands.

Judy Beal also took precautions.

"I've got hand sanitizer, wet wipes, you name it," Beal said, noting that she has asthma. But she said she wasn't too worried.

"I'm not that panicky over it," Beal said. "And what is it with the toilet paper thing?"

Tony Shirley, who was taking his family to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to go spearfishing, wasn't worried at all.

"I'll bite my nails like I normally do, I'll wash my hands like I normally do, and I'll sleep eight hours like I normally do ... you don't cancel an adventure."

Asked if he thought the concerns about the virus were overblown, Shirley nodded.

"On a scale of 1 to 10 (of being overblown) I'd give it a 9.8," Shirley said.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

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