“Why are we still flying? Is this necessary?’’

Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly has fielded these questions from employees on an almost daily basis since the coronavirus pandemic began spreading across the country, turning airports into ghost towns.

Kelly and other airline executives always have the same answer: because some people still need to fly.

On Tuesday, the airline tweeted about a pulmonary critical care doctor who was the lone passenger on a flight. The doctor volunteered to travel to the West Coast to help treat coronavirus patients.

In addition to doctors, nurses and other first responders flying on the front lines of the pandemic, airline passenger manifests today include people like 2-year-old brain cancer patient Joanna Hoskins and Roderick Owens, whose wife was hospitalized in Detroit with the coronavirus.

Four passengers shared their stories with USA TODAY.

'She has to have this chemo'

Meghan Hoskins was worried when she saw the email from Alaska Airlines on Monday.

She feared her Easter Sunday flight from Great Falls, Montana, to Seattle was going to be canceled as airlines slash flights.

“That’s been the biggest worry for me,’’ the 36-year-old mother of seven said. “I keep wondering if it’s going to happen because Great Falls is such a small town.’’

Hoskins’ most recent trip to Seattle, last week, had just six passengers; the return trip, a dozen, max.

Not flying, even into one of the first coronavirus hot spots in the U.S., is not an option for the Hoskins family.

Joanna “Jojo’’ Hoskins, the family’s 2½ -year-old daughter, receives chemotherapy treatment at Seattle Children’s Hospital for medulloblastoma, a rare form of brain cancer. She had surgery at the hospital last year to remove brain tumors and has returned every other week since December for chemotherapy.

“She has to have this chemo,’’ Hoskins said.

The family initially drove four hours to larger Kalispell, Montana, for treatment, but that became untenable during winter storms, so their pediatrician referred them to Miracle Flights, a charity that offers free flights for medical treatment to eligible patients and their families or caregivers thanks to partnerships with airlines and donations.

“So many of our children have rare diseases, and there’s only one or two places in the country that treat these diseases or particular condition,’’ said Miracle Flights CEO Mark Brown. “Some of them are forced to roll the dice and jump on an airplane, which is not necessarily the thing they want to do right now.’’

Thankfully, Brown said, “the airlines are still flying and taking great steps to limit exposure.’’

Hoskins said she worries every time she heads for the airport with Jojo.

“I’m a Christian. My faith is in the Lord. But I am human, and I do just worry about my daughter and wanting to protect her,’’ she said. “It really is hard. Anywhere you go you have to think that COVID-19 is everywhere.’’

Hoskins said Alaska Airlines has been great about allowing her and Jojo to preboard and sitting them far away from other passengers because Jojo’s immune system is compromised.

She adds plenty of her own precautions, too, bringing her own bleach wipes.

“I’m cleaning everything I think she might touch, including our rental car,’’ she said.

If Jojo has any hint of an illness, the family postpone the trip to Seattle. In March, the toddler had what appeared to be a cold, so they rescheduled the trip to last week while they awaited coronavirus test results. The results came back negative.

They quarantined when they returned home.

The Hoskins’ Easter Sunday flight, operated by Alaska subsidiary Horizon Air, is still on. The email on Monday was about a change in flight times.

But Hoskins knows the nonstop service might eventually be cut back or eliminated. And then the family will have to make some decisions.

The chemotherapy is not offered in Great Falls, but they could return to treatment in Kalispell.

“If we had to we could drive,’’ she said. “It’s not terrible, but it’s not an easy drive to do with a toddler. She has a lot of nausea. She tends to throw up when she’s in the car too long.’’

From Las Vegas to his sick wife's side

Roderick Owens has been flying from Detroit to Las Vegas each week as a contractor on the new NFL Raiders stadium for the last five months.

He was scheduled for his usual Friday flight home, but this time it was urgent. His wife had been hospitalized that day with pneumonia and the coronavirus, and he was desperate to get to her side.

Owens, 57, said he knew the airlines were operating on reduced schedules, but he never received an alert from Frontier that his April 3 flight was canceled. He tried calling CheapOair, the third-party website he used to book his flight, and couldn’t get through to customer service.

Owens drove to the airport ahead of his flight, but mentally he was preparing for the worst.

“My resolve was if I can’t fly out of here … I’m jumping in my car and I’m driving,” said Owens, an electronic technician. “I was a bit anxious that I’m not gonna make it, I’m not gonna be able to get to her. I am going to run out of time.”

Owens arrived at McCarran International Airport and it was empty. He walked about 1,000 yards before he saw an airport representative who informed him that his flight was canceled and that he had already received a credit.

But all hope wasn’t lost. Later that evening, a colleague whose wife works for Delta Airlines helped him book a nonstop flight to Detroit scheduled for 6 a.m. April 4.

Owens, wearing a black bandana secured with a sweat band in lieu of a mask, was one of three passengers on that Delta flight.

The flight home was a blur, Owens said, adding that he was exhausted and anxious to get to his wife. He recalled the flight attendants handing out grab bags with Cheez-Its, hand wipes and bottled water.

When he got home, his wife’s condition was improving. She has since been released from the hospital, and they are home on strict quarantine instructions, Owens said.

“Considering her diagnosis, I am thankful to God,” he said.

A cross-country trip for the birth of a baby

Bridgitte Rodguez was determined to get to San Francisco for the birth of her sister’s baby.

In recent weeks, she became increasingly concerned that travel restrictions would stop her from flying out of New York City as planned April 27.

She was also worried that with New York being the epicenter of coronavirus cases, she could be exposing her sister and the newborn.

So Rodguez came up with a Plan B.

She booked an earlier flight to her parents' house in San Diego, where she would quarantine for 14 days before driving to San Francisco for the April 29 due date. Her sister’s doctor, she said, approved the plan.

After a few flight changes and one cancellation, Rodguez was able to get on an April 3 flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport to San Diego.

Rodguez said that when she got to the airport, there were about 20 people in the TSA line, most of them wearing gloves and masks. Most restaurants and stores in the terminal, she said, were closed.

“It was very weird,” said Rodguez, 36. “It was just odd because I fly out of the same terminal at JFK multiple times a year and to know that it’s always this bustling place.”

Rodguez said she didn’t wear gloves or a mask but washed her hands at least three times in the airport and carried hand sanitizer.

When it was time to board the plane, Rodguez said, there were about 15 other passengers. She sat in her assigned seat with a row to herself. Most of the rows around her were also empty.

When the plane arrived at San Diego International Airport, Rodguez said she was surprised no one advised her to quarantine since she came from New York.

“Truthfully, I don’t think I should have been allowed to fly across the country,” Rodguez said. “But I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to be out here.”

An earlier than planned move to Oklahoma

Nathan Hiatt bought a one-way ticket from Phoenix to Oklahoma City last week, moving up a planned post-graduation move after Arizona State University switched to online classes for the rest of the semester.

Hiatt, a 23-year-old graduate sports journalism major, had heard reports of possible airport shutdowns and figured it didn’t make sense to stay.

“I didn’t want to take the risk of getting stuck in Arizona,’’ he said.

Hiatt couldn’t drive because he never got a driver’s license. He said he was only a “little bit’’ nervous about flying during the pandemic. His mother, who lives in Michigan, was more worried.

“But she’s always worried anytime I’m flying,’’ he said.

Hiatt took a few precautions ahead of his American Airlines flight on April 2, sanitizing his hands at every opportunity at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and wearing a sweatshirt despite 80-degree Arizona temperatures so he could use the sleeve to open doors. He brought only a carry-on bag and shipped the rest of his stuff.

Hiatt said there only three people in the TSA line, and the gate area for his flight was empty. He heard employees talking 20 minutes before the flight and was worried they were going to cancel.

The 12:10 p.m. flight, an American Eagle flight operated by Mesa Airlines, took off as planned.

The only passenger aboard the 79-seat regional jet: Hiatt.

Instead of his assigned window seat, 15A, the crew moved him to first class and treated him as if he were on a private plane.

“The pilot came on and was like, “Welcome to your flight, Nathan,’’ Hiatt said.

When the flight landed at Will Rogers World Airport and deplaned, the crew told the airline representatives that Hiatt was the was the only passenger.

“They just laughed for a couple minutes,’’ he said.