As Americans have started traveling and airlines have started filling their planes to capacity, the CDC suggests that blocking the middle seats on commercial airliners could potentially decrease COVID-19 transmission by 23% to 57%.

Investigators assessed laboratory models of single-aisle and double-aisle aircraft with aerosol dispersion used as a surrogate for coronavirus. The risk reduction was found to be 23% for a single passenger sitting in the same row and two seats away from an infected person, rather than in an adjacent seat. Additionally, there was a 57% risk reduction when the middle seat was left vacant in a three-row section that had a combination of infected and non-infected passengers. The findings are reported in the CDCs Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report… (Medscape)