Three Alaska Airlines employees die of COVID19 within a month. The deaths came as the airline encouraged their employees to get vaccinated. The airline is also contemplating having a vaccine mandate once FDA gives full approval.
Unvaccinated?
The latest Alaska Airlines employee who died was Captain Eric Moss, 53 years old. He died on Sunday after testing positive for COVID19. Moss’ death marked the third Alaska employee death due to COVID19 complications. Before Moss’ death, a maintenance mechanic in the Bay Area passed away at the end of July and a customer-service representative in Seattle died this month.
Alaska Spokeswoman Alexa Rudin confirmed the three deaths as she declined to name the other two employees. She said that “We are terribly sorry. We never want to lose any of our employees”. She added that “We have had very few COVID-related deaths. Our COVID case rates have generally trended at or below the US average”.
It is unknown where the three employees may have picked up the virus. When asked regarding the vaccination status of the three Alaska Airline employees who died, “Per company policy, we don’t comment on the personal health information of our employees”. However, in one report, a person working for the airline said that all three Alaska Airline employees were unvaccinated.
Contact Tracing
The airline conducted its contact tracing. The required actions are different depending on the vaccination status of the people in contact with the three who died. Unvaccinated individuals who had contact with any of the three people need to quarantine for 14 days.
However, vaccinated employees were only advised to monitor their symptoms and get tested after three to five days from exposure. They will only have to isolate if the test returns positive.
Rudin said that though it’s not established whether passengers might have been in contact with their employees, people wear masks inside planes. She commented that “That’s the reason why there are masks”.
