Public Health

Aviation industry urges CDC to cut groundbreaking quarantine period for Covid

Flight attendants are handing out refreshments on a jam-packed Delta Airlines flight departing Friday, April 21.

Kent Nishimura | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

A trade group representing major U.S. airlines called on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to cut the recommended quarantine time in half for people with breakthrough cases of Covid-19, warning that the current 10 days are causing labor shortages and flight disruptions could.

“As with healthcare, police, fire and public transportation workers, the increase in Omicron
Exacerbate staffing bottlenecks and lead to significant disruption to our workforce and operations, “wrote Nicholas Calio, CEO of Airlines for America, in a letter to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky on Thursday.

The letter, which repeats what Delta Air Lines wrote to Walensky on Tuesday, shows the aviation industry’s growing concern about the impact of the guidelines as Covid cases, particularly the Omicron variant, increase across the country.

Airlines for America represents American, United, Delta, Southwest, FedEx, UPS, and others.

The CDC did not respond immediately.

Not everyone in the industry is okay with the push. Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, the country’s largest flight attendants union, wrote a letter to Walensky on Thursday in support of the current recommendations.

“Staffing flights with crew members who may still be symptomatic, infectious, or both by reducing the necessary isolation time will only make this situation worse,” wrote Nelson. She said while the majority of flight attendants were vaccinated, some may not have received a booster.

“Flight attendants shouldn’t be expected to return to work until they test negative and show no symptoms,” Nelson continued. “We don’t know if 10 days is that ‘magic number’, but we don’t see any justification for reducing the number of days right now.”

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