A Los Angeles EMT who reported having symptoms of COVID-19 after performing CPR on an infected man who went into cardiac arrest on a flight now says he’s feeling better.
Tony Aldapa, who performed chest compressions on a man in distress on a Dec. 14 United Airlines flight from Orlando to Los Angeles, said Wednesday he’s now had multiple negative coronavirus tests and doesn’t plan on getting tested again.
Aldapa had developed coronavirus symptoms after helping the passenger, who later died and was found to have had COVID-19.
Along with two other health care workers, Aldapa treated the man as the plane made an emergency landing in New Orleans.
Aldapa told CNN on Monday that he had tested negative for coronavirus twice and planned to take another test.
A test on Tuesday was negative, he told KTLA on Wednesday.
“I am feeling much better,” Aldapa said.
Still, his planned vaccination was postponed because of his symptoms, he said.
Aldapa said he served in the Navy for eight years before his current career, and he “fell back on training” while on the flight, where there was a “team effort” to help the fellow passenger. He told CNN he works the night shift at the Veterans Administration medical center, which is in West Los Angeles.
The sick passenger from the flight was taken to a Louisiana hospital. An autopsy found the 69-year-old Los Angeles man died of acute respiratory failure and confirmed he was infected with COVID-19, according to a report from the coroner of Jefferson Parish that listed the death as natural.
United Airlines said all passengers are required to fill out a ready-to-fly questionnaire to acknowledge they don’t have COVID-19 or related symptoms. Several passengers said the man Aldapa helped showed symptoms.
The airline reached out to Aldapa to thank him and said it sent the flight manifest to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.