Association of Flight Attendants is against the CDC’s decision to loosen quarantine rules for those who will test positive for COVID19. The union’s president Sara Nelson said “We said we wanted to hear from medical professionals on the best guidance for quarantine, not from corporate America advocating for a shortened period due to staffing shortages”.
Nelson questioned the CDC’s medical explanation that aligns with the number of days pushed by corporations.
Under the new guidelines, people who tested positive but with no symptoms can isolate for five days instead of ten. They also don’t need to test negative to end the isolation period. However, they should wear masks for the next five days.
CDC’s Decision Influenced By Corporations?
Days before shortening the quarantine period, the agency received letters from the airline industry. The airline industry lobbied for a 5-day quarantine period. According to the requests, a 10-day isolation requirement can “exacerbate personnel shortages and create significant disruptions”.
True enough, airlines had to cancel flights during the busy holiday travel season since workers are calling sick.
Delta Air Lines was the first carrier to request a five-day quarantine period. Delta claims that a 10-day quarantine period “was developed in 2020″. And it was made “when the pandemic was in different phase without effective vaccines and treatments”. After Delta Air Lines, JetBlue sent a separate request to the CDC. Then, Airlines for America asked the agency to shorten the quarantine period to just 5 days.
According to the CDC, the change was “motivated by science demonstrating that the majority of SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs early in the course of illness, generally in the 1-2 days prior to onset of symptoms and the 2-3 days after”.
In NBC’s Nightly News, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert said that “If you look at the chance of getting a transmission in that second half of that 10-day period, it’s considerably less than in those first few days”. He added: “so on balance, if you look at the safety of the public and the need to have a society not disrupted, this was a good choice”.
