Wow: 3,000 United Airlines Employees Have Coronavirus, But Zero Are Hospitalized

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby has sent a noteworthy memo to employees about the vaccination situation at the airline, and it contains some interesting statistics. As you may remember, United became the first major US airline to mandate that employees be vaccinated. There’s some bad news, and there’s also some very good news.

3,000 United employees currently have coronavirus

We’ve seen a huge number of operational issues at major airlines in the United States in recent weeks, which can largely be attributed to the number of employees who have tested positive for coronavirus. Airlines are short-staffed to begin with (especially pilots, given the amount of time it takes to train them), and the level of contagiousness of omicron is only making things worse.

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In the memo, Kirby shares that 3,000 United employees currently have coronavirus. He further gives the example that in one day alone at Newark Airport, nearly one-third of the workforce called in sick. Keep in mind that this doesn’t necessarily mean that one-third of employees at Newark tested positive for coronavirus, but rather that many may have just been in close contact with those who did.

Kirby’s memo states the following regarding this:

While we go great lengths to avoid cancelling flights, we worked to get ahead of the impact by acting early to cancel flights when necessary and notifying impacted customers in advance of them coming to the airport — we’re also reducing our near-term schedules to make sure we have the staffing and resources to take care of customers. As a result, we’ve been able to get a high percentage of our customers on other flights and close to their original arrival time. And considering the impact of Omicron and winter weather, our NPS scores and contact center hold times continue to hold up well. While we hate to ever have any operational disruptions, these results are a credit to all of you and your teams so thank you again.

No vaccinated United employees are hospitalized

Here’s the really cool statistic. While United does have a lot of employees who have coronavirus, the airline doesn’t currently have any vaccinated employees who are hospitalized. The airline hasn’t had a coronavirus-related death in eight weeks, while before the vaccine mandate there was an average of one United employee death per week due to coronavirus.

Kirby’s memo states the following regarding this:

Since our vaccine policy went into effect, the hospitalization rate among our employees has been 100x lower than the general population in the U.S. Prior to our vaccine requirement, tragically, more than one United employee on average per week was dying from COVID. But we’ve now gone eight straight weeks with zero COVID-related deaths among our vaccinated employees — based on United’s prior experience and the nationwide data related to COVID fatalities among the unvaccinated, that means there are approximately 8-10 United employees who are alive today because of our vaccine requirement.

In dealing with COVID, zero is the word that matters — zero deaths and zero hospitalizations for vaccinated employees. And 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.

Bottom line

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby has sent a memo to employees that sheds some light on why we’re seeing so many operational issues at airlines. At United alone, roughly 3,000 employees currently have coronavirus, and on one day the airline saw one-third of employees at Newark Airport call in sick.

The good news is that not a single United employee is hospitalized, and the airline hasn’t had a single COVID-19 related death in eight weeks. Before the carrier’s vaccine mandate, the airline had one COVID-19 related death per week.