Flight Attendants Union Chief Sara Nelson Questions CDC Credibility

Sara Nelson, the influential union President of the Association of Flight Attendants, heavily criticized the credibility of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, saying the agency caved to pressure in changing COVID-19 quarantine protocols from 10 days of isolation to five.

Speaking during a New Year’s Day interview with MSNBC, Nelson said heavy lobbying by Delta Air Lines president Ed Bastian and other aviation-related businesses to the ongoing disaster of canceled flights worldwide caused the CDC to change its mind.

“The problem is this came at the behest of Delta Air Lines and other companies that were complaining about staffing shortages,” Nelson said, referring to the unusually high number of sick calls from airline workers who contracted the Omicron variant. “So that really takes the sting to the credibility of the CDC.”

Airlines worldwide began suffering a series of delays and cancellations on December 23, due in large part to staffing issues and in small part by weather-related factors. To date, there have been more than 10,000 cancellations and almost 50,000 delayed flights, putting the airlines in a precarious and embarrassing situation over the Christmas holiday.

On December 27, led by Bastian and Delta, the CDC agreed to shorten the recommended period for quarantine and isolation to five days, if asymptomatic, followed by five days of wearing a mask when around others.

The CDC said its recommendation comes from research that indicates the majority of SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs early in the course of illness, generally in the one to two days prior to the onset of symptoms and the two to three days after.

Getting employees back in half the time helps the airlines but it doesn’t help the flying public, Nelson said.

“There will be people who are still infectious, and the airlines and other companies are going to be pushing people to come back to work before they are ready, before they feel better,” Nelson said. “We don’t have a test component adding on to this, so we’re really encouraging the airlines to go above and beyond that minimal guidance from the CDC. Because if we continue to go with this, we know we’re going to be sending infectious people back in to the workspace, on to our planes, into our communities, and we’re going to extend this pandemic.”