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FULL TRANSCRIPT:

Roy: Hi, this is Attorney Roy Oppenheim. We are here for week 18 of “Zoom at Noon.” I appreciate those of you who’ve been joining us each and every week. I know a number of you have probably missed very…have actually missed only a few of maybe none of these. And then we have a lot of new folks today that are joining us. For those of you who are new at this, we spend about a half-hour trying to bring some information that maybe you’re not necessarily seeing in the general press or from your sources of news concerning what’s going on in terms of the economy and COVID and how that relates to each of us individually. Today, specifically, we’re going to be talking to Byron Jaffe, a good friend of mine that was a member of rotary and is, more importantly, an American Airlines pilot and captain for the past 30 years. And also, equally important, is a commissioner of the city of Weston. So, without further ado, let’s start.

Those of you who know who we are, our law firm has been representing folks in the community now for over 30 years. Last time around, during the economic crisis, during the foreclosure and real estate crisis, we defended homeowners who got in trouble over their head and where the banks had to be sued to set them straight. And so this time around, we’re here to help everyone figure out how we’re going to get through this crisis together. As usual, we’re going to be talking about the weekly economic update, then we’re going to be talking about the pandemic update. Then Byron will join us and discuss the transportation economic update and what it means to travel. And, of course, the big question, to fly or not to fly? Is it safe to fly?

As we move on, most of you know who we are, Roy Oppenheim, that’s me, Ellen Pilelsky, my wife and law partner. We’ve been practicing in Weston for over 30 years. Geoff Sherman has been with us for well over a decade. Paola Vergara who is an associate of our firm helps put this together. And, of course, Mia Singh, our senior associate, who is part of the team, and of course, Byron, who’s going to be joining us. As I’ve mentioned, Byron’s a long time resident of Weston for 30 years. He’s city commissioner, and he’s a commercial airline pilot and a captain, and he flies for American Airlines. And he’s based in the Miami International Airport. In terms of what our firm does, we represent folks in litigation, we represent folks in real estate, we represent folks who are buying or selling businesses and folks who are just trying to figure out how to deal with COVID and get through their daily life.

Right now, the kinds of cases we’re involved with are typically homeowners who are having trouble with their banks, or more importantly, businesses that are trying to figure out how to pay their leases, and also all different kinds of disputes that people are having among themselves that we would normally have pre-COVID. Of course, it’s very complicated right now, since the courts are only half-open. And so, one of the things we’re trying to achieve is to help people figure out how to get through this crisis, even if they’re having particular disputes. As we move on, our last discussion was about how insurance coverage can assist us during COVID-19 and what we can expect and not expect from our insurance policies. And this week, we’re going to discuss the changes in air travel during COVID-19 and the impact that is having on our economy as well as on our entire community.

Next page. Let’s do the weekly economic update because it’s absolutely fascinating. Containing the spread is the key to economic recovery. As we’re looking here, we’re seeing what’s happening to the gross domestic product, we saw that at the end of the quarter, we had this major, major drop. If we can take the mouse to the bottom of year 20, and then we started to see a massive recovery. And now that recovery is starting to slow down as the spread continues. And so, there’s almost this correlative relationship between…or almost inverse relationship, as COVID continues to spread, the economic recovery declines. And so, it’s an inverse relationship. And so, if we can address the spread, we can also address the economic recovery. They’re directly correlated to one another. Next page. Initial unemployment applications, as we can see they’ve started to drop, but we’re still seeing a lot of people applying compared to pre-COVID in March, how few people were applying. We have, like, four or five times as many people applying each and every month compared to, of course, in April and May where the numbers were staggering.

But as we go to the next page, we’ll see that there are still lots and lots of folks receiving benefits. If we go to the cap here, we see that as many as 25 million people were receiving unemployment benefits, it’s now dropped to around 17 million. And of course, that’s way, way below how many people, around 2 million people were receiving any benefits prior to COVID. And then applying for benefits is continuing to decline. But the amount of people receiving benefits has to drop precipitously for this economy to continue to recover. And that’s going to be a function of how quickly we recover and how quickly we all can work together to get through this crisis.

Next slide. Pandemic update. Let’s take a look here. Florida has surpassed Italy in COVID-19 cases. The state alone, I’m told, would be the equivalent of the fourth worst country in the world if, in fact, we were a country on our own. New cases have been spiking, a new report in Destin, Florida, while have increased, have increased at a slightly slower pace than the actual number of cases in part that’s because the types of people who are getting it around 15 years younger than previously, but the deaths are starting to increase. And if we can get Byron on that, I want Byron to address this because Byron has some unique information on how our hospitals are doing. Can we get Byron on? Byron? Let’s see if we can pull in. Byron. Byron Jaffe.

Byron: Good afternoon, Roy. Good afternoon, Roy. How are you doing?

Roy: I’m great. Thank you.

Byron: Thank you for having me help you and Ellen and everybody on the call here staying safe and healthy. That’s an important thing. I usually begin the conversations, I’d say, you know, when I could do these Zoom meetings, I say, “How many folks have flown in summer of 2019?” And almost everybody on the call says they’ve flown once. Now, today I asked how many people out of that on a call has flown this summer, and the response is less than 5%. So, we’re in a very unusual time right now.

Roy: What I want to talk about before we go into the whole flying thing, which we’ll talk about in depth, is let’s talk a little bit about how the hospitals are doing in Florida, because at the end of the day, that’s really the essence of what we’re trying to do here. When we talk about flattening the curve, we’re not really talking about flattening the number of cases, we’re talking about spreading the number of cases over a longer period of time so that we can address those people who are sick and dying and in a respectful way. And so, the question is how are we doing with our hospitals in Broward County and elsewhere?

Byron: Okay. The point on that is, as you just mentioned, is when we say flattening the curve, it really means what’s the availability of the ICU beds out of the total percent of ICU beds that are available. For example, and it was out this morning, I believe, like, in Cleveland Clinic, they have a total of 48 ICU beds, 24 that they use for medical and 24 beds of these for surgical procedures. This morning they have a total of nine beds available in ICU. What they don’t report, which is hard to determine actual how many people have COVID-19 in the hospital, they don’t report out of that total number of occupation of the beds, how many of those patients have COVID-19. They don’t release that data because it’s a privacy issue, but they do release the number of people who have tested positive, of course, in the ZIP codes, in the four ZIP codes in Weston. Since March, we’ve had a total of about just over 500 positive people, test positive for COVID-19. And additionally, I just heard the other day that Mr. Moskowitz, who’s the director of Florida Emergency Management, he’s made available an extra 1000 nurses, emergency room nurses in the event that we become overburdened in Broward and Dade and Palm Beach. And I’ve heard that Cleveland Clinic has requested 20 additional emergency room nurses to be coming down here just in the event we reach that higher level of capacity.

Roy: So, quick question. I mean, as a city commissioner, you get briefed by the county and by the mayor in terms of how the spreads occur, where is most of the spread coming from? Where is most of the new disease coming from when people, you know, contract the virus?

Byron: Well, Mayor Stermer and our city manager, Decker, they’re in constant communications with the Florida Department of Health, as well as the Broward County Emergency Management service, and the mayor of Broward County, those numbers are all coming from the Florida Department of Health. Obviously, Miami-Dade has had the highest number of new cases, followed by Broward, and then followed by Palm Beach. In terms of the age difference, the average age is dropping on a number of positive cases. I have been told, though, that the methods of treatment are improving. They have the Remdesivir drug that they are administering, and also the use of ventilators for extremely ill patients. They reduced the use of ventilators because they felt it wasn’t necessary, or it wasn’t providing the relief to those patients who are critically ill. So, that’s a good thing. But the unfortunate thing is that we’ve had a very big spike here in Broward, Dade and Miami, and Palm Beach.

Roy: So, do you think the spread is coming from indoor air for the most part, because we’re indoors so much during the summer, just like up north people are indoors in the winter?

Byron: They don’t break that down whether the person contracted the, you know, the coronavirus, whether it was indoor or outdoor, they don’t have that capability, I guess, but it’s hard to say. I mean, you know, we sort of opened up a very…you know, with the restaurants opening, with all the people out in the streets, people being cooked up in their houses, everybody came out, I’m thinking that’s what caused the additional spike here. And it could be just that the virus is…this is the normal transmission rate, you know, as it goes through its life cycle. But in terms of whether it’s indoor or outdoor, we don’t know, we can’t be specific on that, but we’re assuming that indoor has a higher rate of transmission than the outdoor.

Roy: And that’s a perfect segue. I want to go on to travel transportation and the economic update from the travel industry. Bill Lentsch, I’m probably pronouncing his name wrong, chief customer experience officer at Delta. He said that the 9/11 birthed the TSA, we anticipate there’s going to be something to ensure customers safe travel, transit to air travel in the future. What do you think that transit could be, you know, going forward to make people want to want to fly again and feel comfortable?

Byron: There will be changes… Like, just after 9/11, there were changes and all the passengers got used to it. And now after this, there are going to be changes. There have been changes already implemented. Obviously, we know that all the airlines are requiring everybody to wear a face mask on the airplane. There are certain exemptions for people to wear a face mask. If you have a medical condition or if you’re a young child, obviously, if you’re drinking or you’re eating, you can take your mask off. In terms of temperature checks, not in the U.S. per se yet, but international, I’ve been to a couple of destinations where they do check your temperature before you enter the country. For the flight crews, the crews are voluntarily being tested for temperature. And before I go to work every day, I do take my temperature.

Roy: Now, you were telling me the other day that you had been in Mexico City on a quick trip, you know, because you’re flying international, tell me what you do to protect yourself and your family so, you know, you don’t come home and get sick. What are you doing on these trips?

Byron: First thing I do is I minimize my time in a crowded area, going through security or walking through the airport. I wait until the very last minute, till I have to go into security and walk to the boarding area and be in a large group of people walking back and forth, because in the boarding area right now, people are not required to wear their masks. It’s only on the airplane. Then, when I put my mask on, I keep my mask on. When I’m on the airplane, obviously, being in the cockpit, we have an option of taking the mask on or off, and then I stay in the cockpit. I clean everything down. The airplane is sanitized between every flight, cleaners come on, spraying things, cleaning the lavatory, cleaning the seats, cleaning the trays. And we try to maintain the social distancing when you’re boarding the aircraft.

They have markers now in the jetway so that people don’t get too close to each other. And then once I’m on the airplane en route, I sometimes will have to take my mask off, obviously, to eat or communicate on the radio. And then when I get to my destination, I pretty much, if I’m not going anywhere, I pretty much stay right in the cockpit. And I keep my mask on the entire time just to protect myself from whether…so that somebody else doesn’t come too close to me as a passenger or a airline employee.

Roy: So, if you were a passenger… Someone just asked this question. If you’re a passenger on an airplane, you’d be best sitting in the front in a window seat. I mean, where do you think the safest place to sit would be then in theory?

Byron: You know, that’s a great question. And that leads into a lot of different answers. In terms of the airflow on the airplane, the airflow usually travels from the ceiling down to the floor, out the outflow valve, and then it gets recirculated around, where, in the airplane, people don’t really necessarily understand the recirculation. In the airplane, 50% of the air in the cabin is recirculated air and 50% of the air is outside fresh air. And the recirculated air does go through the high energy, high efficiency particle filters that the hospital uses, and that does filter out a lot of the microbes and microorganisms that are in the recirculated air. Additionally, at American Airlines, I was just reading that we also employ a carbon device on top of the filter to increase the efficiency of getting rid of those microbes. The airflow on the airplane goes usually majority of time from the ceiling to the floor and also from the front of the aircraft to the back of the aircraft.

Roy: It’s kind of interesting because a lot of cruise lines, people…good percentages of folks were getting sick on the cruise lines. You don’t see that on airplanes. I mean, you may see one person getting sick on an airplane. You see that the people are a vector, that the aircraft is a vector, that individuals may bring the disease from one place to another, but you don’t see entire planes getting sick. Like you saw, you know, half of a cruise getting sick. So, the question is, if you only get sick from the person sitting next to you or behind you, it would make sense if you were in the front and you got on last, that would be great, right, and you got out first. And if you sat in the corner, you wouldn’t have all the people walking by the aisle or towards the bathroom. So, I guess you don’t want to be near the bathroom. You don’t want to be in the back. I’m trying to figure out, you know, you live on planes. What is the safest place to be on a plane?

Byron: I will tell you, first of all, just so people understand, even though the airplane you’re sitting in a tube and people consider that like an indoor environment, actually the air circulation in the entire aircraft is the entire air is recirculated every three to five minutes. So, it could almost be considered, it’s like almost an outdoor environment with the air circulation in terms of… I had one time I did ride and I’ve flown about 12 times since March, and I was deadheading in the back where I was sitting in row one, and I was concerned as I’m sitting in the aisle and there’s a passenger next to me in the first class section. And I had my mask on and everybody’s getting on with their mask, but I was concerned the entire airplane is boarding, you know, while you’re sitting there in the front of the row.

So, it’s a risk factor that you have to decide. Is it proven that you can contract coronavirus on the…is it a transmittal of infectious diseases? Well, you know, a professor for MIT just had a study, and he said, the chance of contracting coronavirus on the airplane is about 1 in 4,300. So, it’s no greater than if you went to public or you went to an outdoor seating restaurant and you were sitting next to somebody. The question becomes, what’s the risk if someone sits right down next to you on the airplane who is, you know, symptomatic or asymptomatic?

Roy: So, the real issue is what personal protection gear you’re going to wear to protect yourself, not from the air of the airplane, but from the person who’s sneezing and coughing next to you, behind you, or in front of you. I mean, I think that’s ultimately the risk. But people say, if you take the window seat, you don’t get all the aisle traffic. And if you’re not near the bathroom, you’re not going to get all the people, you know, in the bathroom. We have some questions here. Let me go through some of them here. How does the airline deal with making sure people are COVID-free? How do you know if the attendants have COVID if they make…to see if they’re symptom-free? How does the airline deal with making sure people are COVID-free?

Byron: Well, you know, we live in a society where we’re not asking people to take a COVID test prior to traveling on the aircraft, because of freedom of travel. I will tell you, though, that I was just talking to somebody the other day, we’ve been flying to China since this began, mostly as cargo flights, and China is now requiring the flight crews to be tested for COVID upon landing before they go as they land. And we have stopped that temporarily through August because of the fact that if you are tested positive, when you enter another country, you will be in quarantine in a foreign country for 14 days. In terms of the requirements, obviously, we’re saying, “Please, stay home if you’re not feeling good, if you have a temperature, if you have any symptoms of COVID.” And the reality of today, most people who are traveling are very much aware of the symptoms of having possibly COVID or a cold, and they will not be traveling on the airplane. Yes, you could be sitting next to somebody who is asymptomatic, but there’s no requirement to have a COVID test prior to getting on the airplane. In terms of the flight crews, we’re voluntarily tested right now for that.

Roy: And what do you think in, and I can answer this question as much, because someone’s asking, what do you think the liability is for the airlines if they are not sufficiently taking the precautions necessary to make sure that their flight crew and pilots and other folks are COVID-free and they end up, you know, passing it along to their passengers?

Byron: Well, I’ll tell you what the policy is. It’s not a FAA requirement. Right now the policy is for every passenger to wear a mask on the aircraft with the exemptions that are allowed. It’s not an FAA regulation right now. And I will let you address the liability issue of if an airline is responsible, if they allow somebody on the plane who has COVID-19.

Roy: Right. Interesting. Someone asks a question and, you know, we’re so focusing on COVID, but where do you think the safest place to sit on a plane is in case of an emergency or something, you know, that goes wrong on the plane?

Byron: Oh, in regard…they’re just talking about the safest?

Roy: Yeah.

Byron: Near an emergency exit, or if you’re not near the emergency exit, when you get on the airplane, make sure you know where the emergency exit is because it can either be in front of you or it can be behind you, and you should read the briefing cards and, you know, so that you’re aware of something if you ever had to evacuate the aircraft.

Roy: And do you don’t think sitting near the wing would also be also, say, you know, a good place, possibly, if there’s an exit there?

Byron: There’s no data to support that one area of the plane is safer than the other, other than if you had to get out of the aircraft in an emergency quickly, obviously the person who is sitting closest to an emergency exit or the front or the back door is the one who’s going to get out first.

Roy: Right. There’s a big issue about the middle seat. You know, people are saying, you know, “Is it important that the middle seat be left empty, which planes are doing it? And what are the risks of sitting next to someone if there’s a middle seat?”

Byron: Okay. That’s a great question. Some airlines are not utilizing that procedure anymore. Other airlines are utilizing that procedure. This report that was done by this professor at MIT, as I said earlier, he said that the risk of contracting COVID was about 1 in 4,300. And that was on an airplane that was about 85% to 90% full. The risk, in his same paper, he says that the risk of contracting COVID if the middle seat is open, is left open, the risk is then 1 in 7,700. So, there is a lower chance of contracting COVID if somebody is not sitting next to you. Obviously, though, if even if the middle seat is open, okay, and you’re in the window and the person in the aisle seat has COVID, then your chance goes up way more than 1 in 7,700.

I was on a flight the other day, I was at the aisle seat sitting in the back, and there was a gentleman next to me on the other side of the aisle, he was not wearing a mask. And he had a letter from a medical doctor that he was exempt to his medical condition. So, in that regard, my chance of con…you know, if he was asymptomatic, then didn’t matter, the middle seat next to me was open. So, I can’t clearly answer that question. I will say, though, that if you’re going to public or if you’re sitting in a restaurant, it’s the same type of risk that you can contract COVID. And in this environment, as I said, the air filters on the airplane do circulate the air every three to five minutes, which is a good thing. And, of course, if you’re sitting on the airplane with the middle seat open and somebody walks by you, who’s going to the lavatory, you know, and if they’re sick…

Roy: Right. Yeah, I got it. And you don’t have to answer this question, but someone wants to know which airlines are keeping the middle seats open right now if you know.

Byron: Oh, I don’t mind answering that question. American Airlines is allowing people to sit in the middle seat. Delta is not. United is also utilizing the middle seat. I think Southwest is not utilizing the middle seat. But if you are on a flight that you feel uncomfortable no matter where you’re sitting in the airplane in today’s world, whether you want the middle seat open or you’re uncomfortable sitting next to somebody, we will always try to accommodate you to move your seats so that you feel comfortable. And if there’s no way to accommodate you, then, on that particular flight, then we will put you on the first available flight so that you feel comfortable because, obviously, the goal is to make everybody feel comfortable to get to travel again because that’s going to save the airline industry.

Roy: So, assuming your family was to travel, you know, recreationally or for business or for a family matter, what kind of gear would you want them to wear today as a passenger?

Byron: I definitely want them to have either an N95 mask or a mask that has some face covering, that has a filter, not just like a scarf or a very thin mask. I want them to have an actual mask that utilizes, that protects them from droplets and microbes. I also want them to bring Clorox wipes and sanitary wipes so that they can wipe everything down around them because we don’t know, even though it’s been cleaned by somebody else before you get on the airplane, if someone touched it or went in that seat, we don’t know. So, I ask them to do that. And then I ask them to minimize their time walking up and down and going into the bathroom during the flight.

Roy: You know, it’s funny. There’s some people who are doing this pre-COVID, we all thought they were like, you know, these paranoid folks. And they’re like, “Oh, you see, you’re all like me now, you know,” which is kind of an amusing thing. But how about face shields, you know, or glasses?

Byron: I see people wearing the mask and the face shields, and I think that’s a great idea, if you’re traveling on the airplane, if that’s what makes you feel more comfortable to manage the risk, then I think it’s a good idea because we were talking to the other day to somebody about, if the middle seat is occupied, but if someone in the row behind you sneezes or, you know, is symptomatic, will the back of the seat prevent those droplets from getting over the seat? And it is very possible, but I know a lot of people out there have seen those videos of how when you do sneeze or cough, if you are symptomatic, that those droplets will travel multiple rows either in front or behind you.

Roy: I might go back to the slides. But one good question is, what happens if you have a passenger who refuses to put a mask on? What’s the protocol?

Byron: Well, the passenger will not be allowed to board the aircraft. If the passenger has the mask on and puts the mask on and then gets on the airplane and then refuses to wear the mask en route after we’ve taken off, other than eating or drinking, they are advised that the airline will prevent them from flying again on another flight with that company. We have been instructed as flight because, obviously, if we have a planeload of 150 people and 1 person doesn’t want to keep their mask on, we’re not going to divert the airplane and inconvenience 150 people. Because we don’t even really know what the condition of that person is. So, you are advised that you will not be able to fly…you may be excluded from flying on the airline again if you don’t wear your mask.

Roy: Byron, I shared this slide with you earlier, and it’s kind of what you were talking about. The number of people who currently feel uncomfortable to fly, you know, was going down slightly. The more red means uncomfortable. And now, of course, it’s increasing again, you know,. In May it was a little lower than… I mean, excuse me, in June it went down a little bit. And now, of course, more people are feeling uncomfortable again. I guess the real question is, how do we get people to feel comfortable to fly? You know, how do we do that?

Byron: I think it’s a perception that if you feel…if you take the proper requirements with your mask, you get to the airport, you are not sitting next to somebody who seems symptomatic. You go once…if you take one trip and you are okay 14 days later, you’re going to say, “Oh, maybe I can fly in an airplane. I won’t get…you know, I won’t contract COVID-19.” I’ve flown about a dozen times since the end of March, I’m going into a cycle now where I’m flying about eight days in the remainder of July here. And I take the proper precautions and I feel totally comfortable and safe in what I’m doing, but it’s an individual thing, in order for us to get back to normal, everybody first… I think people have to feel comfortable going out for dinner in a restaurant, inside. And then they say, “I was fine after that.” And then maybe they’ll say, “I will plan a trip on an airplane,” and you go on your trip.

Roy: And not the contradiction, but I would think that the air in a restaurant is not as safe as the air in an airplane because you have this less recycling of existing air in a restaurant and more mixing of fresh air on an airplane. And in fact, if you look at this chart, it looks like very few people want to go on vacation in 2020 on an airplane. You know, we’re going back to the levels of back in almost in the 1980s if we go across, you know, and look at what the levels are, people who want to travel by airplane right now. So, you know, I’m not sure what has to happen. You talked a little bit about UV lighting maybe being part of the answer.

Byron: Yeah. There’s been discussion about that. I don’t think there’s any scientific data. I haven’t seen any that says that that is a suitable resource to use to kill the virus. You know, the best thing, I think, is the taking your temperature, taking the precautions with the mask, trying to keep your social distance, and wiping your hands, and not touching your face with your hands when you’re outside. And in terms of, will people get back to travel? I think the biggest thing right now is the international travel as well, but there’s absolutely zero international travel. And, you know, as you and I discussed earlier, did this virus transmit through an international flight? And until we have a vaccine or some therapeutic medication that guarantees that the mortality is, you know, is zero, I think the international travel is going to be a very big…it’s going to take a long time for international travel to come back.

Roy: I hate to say it, but each airplane is like a super mosquito or a super rat from prior pandemics, where the vector is the plane itself and wearing the black plague was the rat. So, you have mosquitoes from Ebola. You have these planes that are bringing of people, 3, 4, 10, 15 people on these planes, whether from China, or Europe, or wherever else, or Italy, we’re bringing the disease to other parts of the world. So, each time I see a plane now, I’m thinking I’m looking at a rat or I’m looking at a giant mosquito and it’s really kind of bizarre. But, I mean, we look at what’s going on. American Airlines, you’ve canceled your 736 orders, max orders. United Airlines has cut three 36,000 jobs. El Al is not flying. LATAM is in bankruptcy. Emirate said that they’re going to…you know, they’ve cut 30% of their workforce. I mean, we need these planes to deliver goods because everyone forgets it, in the belly of the plane is cargo, is U.S. mail, I mean, is pharmaceuticals. I mean, these planes have to keep flying.

Byron: I will say, though, here’s one little tip that I will say, and, obviously, I want people to… First, we have to get a…you know, we have to conquer this virus and get some therapeutic and a vaccine to make everybody feel, you know, 100% comfortable, like it was last year. But I will say that if you wanted to plan travel, it’s totally fine to plan some travel in the future because the airlines have reduced their change fees and eliminated your change fees and the restrictions. So, if you see a flight that is a good flight and a good fare that you want to book, I would probably go ahead and book it and then, you know, especially if it’s around Christmas time or November, December, January of next year, that it’s okay to book flights in the future because the change fees are going to be waived and you have plenty of time to figure this out. And if you don’t decide, if you decide not to go, you’ll just get a refund or they’ll hold your…you know, you can hold the ticket in a bank and there won’t be any penalty, and you can actually change your destination and your departure and your destination in there.

Roy: I’m going to ask just one question. So, what’s up? So, you really don’t need travel insurance right now is the bottom line, right? Because if you can change your plans, you don’t need travel insurance to ensure the loss of a flight if you change your plans or cancel, because the airlines are willing to accommodate that. So, this is probably not good for the travel insurance industry. I think we’re going to ask… I think there may be one more question, and I think that’s it. Oh, are you allowed to wear visors over mask through security? You know, and I think you’ve talked about the answer is that there shouldn’t be a restriction on wearing a face shield when you go.

Byron: Right. I’ve seen people wear face shields. I’ve seen people actually get in a full-body hazardous white jumpsuit and go through security. No problem. And I respect those people because that’s what’s making them feel comfortable to go on the airplane.

Roy: Byron, we’re almost out of time. I want to give you 30 seconds to, you know, if you have anything that you want to impart, some wisdom from both being a commissioner, being a resident of Weston, or being a pilot for 30 years, what you want to share with the folks that are on with you today.

Byron: I just want to emphasize to everybody that please stay safe, stay healthy, maintain your social distancing. Please wear your mask when you’re outside, it’s critical. It not only protects you. It protects your neighbor when you’re on the airplane, it protects your passengers next to you, as well as yourself and the entire crew. And at the end of the day, I think we’re going to get through this. I was talking to a doctor. He said he believes that we’re going to have some vaccines that will produce suitable results by the end of this year. And hopefully, that will get things back to normal. But until then, it’s about managing risks. Just like going out for a walk, going out to public, going to the office, it’s how you feel comfortable and how you maintain your social distancing, washing your hands, and staying healthy.

Roy: On that note, I just want to tell the folks who are watching in terms of our law firm, we’re using Zoom, we’re following all these protocols. We have a hybrid. We’re not that many people in the office. We’re trying to limit the number of people in a conference room. We’re trying to do as much outdoors or in cars and do drive-by closings to our title company, Weston Title. And we’re being very respectful of the issues and concerns about being indoors and having too many people inside at one time. So, again, Byron Jaffe, thank you so very much on behalf of the law firm, Oppenheim Law and Weston Title, our title company, and all the lawyers and the administrative support that allows us to get this done, Lance [SP] Oppenheim, my son, who helps direct us every week. I want to thank you all very, very much for being here, until we are back together next week for “Zoom at Noon COVID-19.” Oh, God. Anyway, have a great week, you all. Take care. Bye-bye.