No doubt we need to be cautious around our aging parents but sometimes loneliness hurts more than a visit from a seemingly healthy son. My Mom would rather take the risk and be visited from an asymptomatic child than to live out her days being lonely.

The odds of him capturing something during a flight is still very low, particulary if he kept his hands clean and if no one on the flight or in the airport exhibited any symptoms. It appears to be most commonly spread from someone coughing or sneezing.

Any visit to parents includes a certain level of risk whether from an out of town son/daughter (slightly higher) or a son/daughter who lives nearby.