AIRLINE PLEA ON Q’TINE

Wants 5 days, not 10

Delta Air Lines is asking the federal government to reduce the suggested 10-day quarantine for fully vaccinated workers who contract breakthrough COVID infections, warning that the rule could lead to a staffing shortage.

CEO Ed Bastian and the company’s medical director wrote to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to plead their case, asking that the 10day quarantine be reduced to five days for vaccinated people with breakthrough infections.

They said in the letter to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky that after five days, affected workers could end isolation with appropriate testing.

In the letter, dated Tuesday, Bastian (pictured) said airline staffers are considered essential workers. As the COVID Omicron variant sweeps the nation and pushes positivity rates sharply higher — even among vaccinated people — Delta warned that its workforce could shrink to the point of affecting air service if the 10-day-quarantine policy remains in place.

“Similar to health care, police, fire and publictransportation workforces, the Omicron surge may exacerbate shortages and create significant disruptions,” the letter reads.

Furthermore, the Delta executives argued: “This [10-day quarantine] guidance was developed in 2020 when the pandemic was in a different phase without effective vaccines and treatments.”

As Omicron quickly spreads across the nation with a 25 to 50 percent greater infection rate than previous iterations of the virus, Bastian suggested that if the guidance is changed, Delta would partner with the CDC to gather data on breakthrough cases.

About 90 percent of Delta’s employees are vaccinated, Bastian said.

Other airline executives came under fire this month for suggesting to Congress that mask mandates on airplanes are unnecessary.

“I think the case is very strong that masks don’t add much, if anything, in the aircabin environment,” the CEO of Southwest Airlines, Gary Kelly, told a congressional hearing on Dec. 15. “It is very safe and very high-quality compared to any other indoor setting.”

American Airlines Chief Executive Doug Parker said he agreed with Kelly.

Shortly after the hearing, Kelly tested positive for COVID, a spokesperson for the airline confirmed.