John,

Corporations should not dictate public health strategies, especially as we
grapple with the global pandemic that has claimed the lives of nearly 5.5
million people worldwide.^1 But unfortunately, that’s exactly what’s
happening. Last week, the CDC announced that asymptomatic people infected
with COVID-19 could shorten their quarantine time to five days without
requiring a negative COVID-19 test at the end of their isolation
period.^2,3 This policy change was met with shock and discontent,
especially as the American Medical Association maintains that a person can
still spread the deadly virus up to ten days after a positive COVID
test.^4 Then we remembered: despite COVID-19 infection rates skyrocketing
to the highest point since the beginning of the pandemic, Delta Airlines
CEO Ed Bastian pushed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
late last month to shorten the isolation period for people with COVID from
ten days to five.^5,6

[ [link removed] ]TELL DELTA TO LEAVE PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY TO THE EXPERTS!

Delta’s undue influence is irresponsible, selfish, and dangerous. Despite
opposition from the Association for Flight Attendants, the airline
continues to support a shortened isolation period for its most essential
and vulnerable workers while also cutting sick pay for its COVID-positive
workers.^7,8  Delta’s pressure and the CDC’s subsequent guidance changes
are not based on the science; even Dr. Anthony Fauci, Chief Medical
Advisor to the President, stated that the main purpose of this updated
guidance is to get people back to work.^9 Not only is this not based on
science: it’s dangerous. Hospitals across the U.S. are struggling under
the recent wave of COVID-19 patient admissions, with ICU beds running
dangerously low.^10,11 As an overtaxed and understaffed healthcare system
struggles under the weight of the Omicron variant, the last thing we need
is to have corporations prioritize their profits over the health and
safety of our country.

Delta’s greed puts their workers and passengers at risk. Tell Delta to
stop influencing the CDC to risk the health of workers and passengers.

[ [link removed] ]TELL DELTA TO PUT PEOPLE OVER PROFITS!

Corporate irresponsibility and the government’s abysmal response to the
COVID-19 pandemic have failed all of us–especially Black and low-income
communities. Since the release of the new guidance, COVID-19 has infected
and killed Black people at disproportionate rates.^12,13 Additionally, the
pandemic has both caused and exacerbated economic hardships for many Black
people, with at least 35% of Black adults worried about paying their bills
and the amount of debt they carry.^14 Combined with racial disparities to
telework access, Black people are forced to face the direct threat of
COVID and risk their health and lives to maintain their jobs, all while
being shamed into returning to work in order to “save” the economy.^15
Meanwhile, U.S.-based billionaires have a different pandemic experience,
getting $1 trillion richer in 2021.^16 Office workers and executives at
most corporations can work remotely or in independent offices, while
low-wage workers who create value for companies like Delta experience the
direct threat of COVID every day they report to work.^17 Rather than risk
the lives of everyday people by forcing them to go to work sick, the
ten-day isolation period should remain in place to protect Black people
and low-wage workers from the undue harm caused by Delta’s greed. We
cannot allow workers to suffer because Delta values profit over our lives.
Our healthcare system is stretched thin; we don’t need large corporations
encouraging profit-based actions over public health. Corporations like
Delta maintain their power by interfering with workers’ efforts to
organize for safer and better working conditions, and being anti-worker
and anti-science will only prolong the pandemic.^18 Ending the COVID-19
pandemic requires aggressive action that's centered on the health and
wellness of our people, not Big Business’s bottom lines. 

[ [link removed] ]TELL DELTA TO LEAVE PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY TO THE EXPERTS!

Until justice is real,

— Jade Magnus Ogunnaike

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References

 1. Hannah Ritchie et. al, “Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19) – the data,”
Our World in Data, January 7, 2022,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
 2. “CDC Updates and Shortens Recommended Isolation and Quarantine Period
for General Population,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
December 29, 2021,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
 3. Jonathan Franklin, Jane Greenhalgh, and Pien Huang, “The CDC says a
test to get out of COVID isolation is not needed, resisting pushback,”
NPR, January 4, 2022,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
 4. Gerald E. Harmon, M.D., “AMA: CDC quarantine and isolation guidance is
confusing, counterproductive,” January 5, 2022,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
 5. Joseph Ax and Lisa Shumaker, “U.S. reports nearly 1 mln COVID-19 cases
in a day, setting global record,” Reuters, January 5, 2022,
[ [link removed] ][link removed] 
 6. “Delta asks CDC to consider latest scientific data to shorten COVID-19
isolation period,” Delta, December 21, 2021,
[ [link removed] ][link removed] 
 7. Nick Minock, “Flight attendants object to CDC, corporations pushing
people back to work while still sick,” WJLA, January 2, 2022,
[ [link removed] ][link removed] 
 8. Lauren Hirsch, “Delta Air Lines updates its Covid-19 policies after
the C.D.C.’s new guidance,” The New York Times, December 29, 2021,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
 9. Abigail Johnson Hess, “Dr. Fauci: CDC reducing Covid isolation time
guidelines will ‘get people back to jobs’,” CNBC, December 28, 2021,
[ [link removed] ][link removed] 
10. “Demographic Trends of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the US reported to
CDC,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, January 5, 2022,
[ [link removed] ][link removed] 
11. Mitchell Armentrout and Taylor Avery, “Three ICU beds left for 800,000
people? COVID-19 patients swamping Will, Kankakee Co. hospitals,”
Chicago Sun-Times, January 4, 2022,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
12. Nik DeCosta-Klipa, “COVID-19 hospitalizations in Massachusetts have
nearly surpassed last winter’s peak,” Boston.com, January 5, 2022,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
13. “COVID-19 Weekly Cases and Deaths per 100,000 Population by
Race/Ethnicity, and Sex,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
January 5, 2022,
[ [link removed] ][link removed] 
14. Khadijah Edwards and Mark Hugo Lopez, “Black Americans say coronavirus
has hit hard financially, but impact varies by education level, age,”
Pew Research Center, May 12, 2021,
[ [link removed] ][link removed] 
15. Alexandre Tanzi, “Work-From-Home Access Is Skewed Across U.S. Race,
Education Gap,” Bloomberg, January 6, 2022,
[ [link removed] ][link removed] 
16. “America’s billionaires got $1 trillion richer last year,” Tax
Fairness, January 4, 2022,
[ [link removed] ][link removed] 
17. Sarah Anderson and Brian Wakamo, “10 Charts on the State of U.S.
Workers on the 2nd Pandemic Labor Day,” Inequality.org, August 30,
2021,
[ [link removed] ][link removed] 
18. Gaby Del Valle, “Delta told its workers to buy video games instead of
unionizing,” Vox, May 10, 2019,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]


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folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. Please
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