United says 3,000 employees have COVID, but its vaccine mandate has saved lives
Story on NPR.ORG
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronav...LaNFnScsvN1pT0
Amid a flurry of flight cancellations, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby offered a window into the staffing challenges employers are facing due to the omicron surge.
"We have about 3,000 employees who are currently positive for COVID. Just as an example, in one day alone at Newark, nearly one-third of our workforce called out sick," he wrote in a memo to employees on Tuesday.
In the memo, Kirby also took the opportunity to emphasize that the airline's vaccine mandate is working — despite the large number of employees testing positive.
He noted that among United's 3,000 employees who currently have COVID-19, zero of its vaccinated employees are currently hospitalized.
Moreover, he revealed that prior to the airline's vaccine mandate, which took effect in September, more than one United employee was dying from COVID-19 every week, on average.
"But we've now gone eight straight weeks with zero COVID-related deaths among our vaccinated employees," he wrote, noting that based on available data, that means approximately eight to 10 lives were saved by the vaccine requirement.
"While I know that some people still disagree with our policy, United is proving that requiring the vaccine is the right thing to do because it saves lives," Kirby wrote.