With COVID infections at an all-time high, Delta’s policies are about profits, not their workers and passengers.

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

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.

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. 

TELL DELTA TO LEAVE PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY TO THE EXPERTS!

Until justice is real,

— Jade Magnus Ogunnaike

References

  1. Hannah Ritchie et. al, “Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19) – the data,” Our World in Data, January 7, 2022, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/340859?t=7&akid=52738%2E4731121%2EI9Lo4n
  2. “CDC Updates and Shortens Recommended Isolation and Quarantine Period for General Population,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, December 29, 2021, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/340860?t=9&akid=52738%2E4731121%2EI9Lo4n
  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, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/340861?t=11&akid=52738%2E4731121%2EI9Lo4n
  4. Gerald E. Harmon, M.D., “AMA: CDC quarantine and isolation guidance is confusing, counterproductive,” January 5, 2022, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/340862?t=13&akid=52738%2E4731121%2EI9Lo4n
  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, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/340863?t=15&akid=52738%2E4731121%2EI9Lo4n. 
  6. “Delta asks CDC to consider latest scientific data to shorten COVID-19 isolation period,” Delta, December 21, 2021, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/340864?t=17&akid=52738%2E4731121%2EI9Lo4n. 
  7. Nick Minock, “Flight attendants object to CDC, corporations pushing people back to work while still sick,” WJLA, January 2, 2022, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/340865?t=19&akid=52738%2E4731121%2EI9Lo4n. 
  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, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/340866?t=21&akid=52738%2E4731121%2EI9Lo4n.
  9. Abigail Johnson Hess, “Dr. Fauci: CDC reducing Covid isolation time guidelines will ‘get people back to jobs’,” CNBC, December 28, 2021, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/340867?t=23&akid=52738%2E4731121%2EI9Lo4n. 
  10. “Demographic Trends of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the US reported to CDC,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, January 5, 2022, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/340868?t=25&akid=52738%2E4731121%2EI9Lo4n. 
  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, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/340869?t=27&akid=52738%2E4731121%2EI9Lo4n
  12. Nik DeCosta-Klipa, “COVID-19 hospitalizations in Massachusetts have nearly surpassed last winter’s peak,” Boston.com, January 5, 2022, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/340870?t=29&akid=52738%2E4731121%2EI9Lo4n
  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, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/340871?t=31&akid=52738%2E4731121%2EI9Lo4n. 
  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, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/324587?t=33&akid=52738%2E4731121%2EI9Lo4n. 
  15. Alexandre Tanzi, “Work-From-Home Access Is Skewed Across U.S. Race, Education Gap,” Bloomberg, January 6, 2022, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/340872?t=35&akid=52738%2E4731121%2EI9Lo4n. 
  16. “America’s billionaires got $1 trillion richer last year,” Tax Fairness, January 4, 2022, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/340873?t=37&akid=52738%2E4731121%2EI9Lo4n. 
  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, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/340874?t=39&akid=52738%2E4731121%2EI9Lo4n. 
  18. Gaby Del Valle, “Delta told its workers to buy video games instead of unionizing,” Vox, May 10, 2019, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/340875?t=41&akid=52738%2E4731121%2EI9Lo4n

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