I flew back to New York after it declared a state of emergency due to the coronavirus outbreak. Here's how I prepared for and protected myself during my flight home.

• Flying during the spread of the novel coronavirus is possible, but there are many opportunities for the virus to spread on flights and in airports.
• The new coronavirus originated in Wuhan, China, and has killed more than 4,000 people and infected more than 121,000 as of Wednesday.
• I recently flew economy from Austin, Texas, to New York during the spread of the coronavirus in the US.
• I took actions to prepare for and protect myself during my flight, like being hyperconscious of human contact and washing my hands after I touched anything.
• Here's how I flew US domestic economy during the coronavirus outbreak.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

My flight home during the coronavirus outbreak wasn't very different from a typical US domestic economy flight, but one significant difference was my mindset.

I was very conscious of germs involved in every part of the process - from checking in to buckling my seatbelt - and I made efforts to minimize them as much as possible.

In the end, I realized the most important thing I did was something I already knew to do - wash my hands.

Here's how I avoided germs on my flight home during the coronavirus outbreak.