ED Bastian has acted as the head of Delta Airlines for five years.
Bastian began trending on Twitter on December 28, 2021, after the organization penned and published an open letter.
Who is Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian?
Ed Bastian is a business executive and ninth and current chief executive officer of Delta Air Lines.
He has been in the Delta role since May 2, 2016.
According to the Delta website, Bastian joined the organization in 1998 as Vice President – Finance and Controller and was promoted to Senior Vice President in 2000.
He left Delta in 2005 and became Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Acuity Brands. He returned to Delta six months later to become Chief Financial Officer, and in 2007 was appointed to serve as Delta’s President.
Before joining Delta, Bastian held senior finance positions at Frito-Lay International and Pepsi-Cola International. His Delta biography states that he started his career with Price Waterhouse, where he became an audit partner in its New York practice.
Bastian grew up in Poughkeepsie, New York, and graduated from St. Bonaventure University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration.
Bastian lives in Atlanta with his wife, Mary P. Bastian-VanVoorhis, and their four children.
Why did Delta CEO trend on Twitter?
Delta CEO began trending on Twitter after Bastian penned an open letter to the CDC about coronavirus quarantine guidelines.
“With the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, the 10-day isolation for those who are fully vaccinated may significantly impact our workforce and operations,” the Delta CEO wrote to the CDC.
“Similar to healthcare, police, fire, and public transportation workforces, the Omicron surge may exacerbate shortages and create significant disruptions.”
Bastian noted the current guidance was developed in 2020 “when the pandemic was in a different phase without effective vaccines and treatments.”
Delta published the letter on its website. In the letter to the CDC, Bastian and other medical professionals proposed a shortened isolation period from 10-days to five days for fully vaccinated people who are experiencing a breakthrough infection.
Six days after the letter was published, the CDC announced in a statement that it had updated and shortened isolation guidelines from ten days to five days for the general population.
What are the symptoms of the Omicron variant?
Dr. Angelique Coetzee, a private practitioner and chair of the South African Medical Association, suggests the main symptoms of Omicron are fatigue, body aches, and headache.
Dr. Coetzee, who is also on the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Vaccines, told Reuters that, unlike Delta, so far patients have not reported a loss of smell or taste.
She said all the patients she had seen herself so far had a mild illness.
This could be for a number of reasons, including the fact patients were younger or that at least half had been vaccinated.
Experts at the ZOE symptom tracker app have also said that people who test positive for Omicron are suffering more ‘cold-like’ symptoms – which could be difficult to tell apart from a common cold.
Many people logging their symptoms said they suffered sneezing as one of the key symptoms.
Dr. Amir Khan previously said that night sweats were also another key sign of Omicron.
“Those kind of drenching night sweats where you might have to get up and change your clothes. And this is important”, he said.
