Coronavirus: Doctor shares photo of full United flight

A University of California San Francisco doctor is making headlines for a picture on Twitter that shows a crowded United Airlines flight from New York to San Francisco.

Doctor Ethan Weiss' six-hour trip happened on Saturday.

He wrote in his post that he was part of a group of 25 nurses and doctors who have been working in New York hospitals in recent weeks.

The picture shows what appears to be most of the seats on the flight filled.

The photo of the packed plane is noteworthy because United officials recently said the airline would implement social distancing policies on flights, endeavoring to keep each middle seat empty.

A United spokesperson wouldn't say how many people were on the flight but noted it had, "a higher than average load factor but it still departed with empty seats."

She added that most United flights are operating at less than half capacity.

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