Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly tested positive for Covid-19 “after returning home” from testifying in front of the Senate Commerce Committee with the CEOs of United Airlines and American Airlines, and an Executive Vice President of Delta. Flight attendants union head Sara Nelson was also there, and she reports speaking directly with Kelly after the hearing.
According to a Southwest Airlines spokesperson,
Gary is doing well and currently resting at home, he has been fully vaccinated and received the booster earlier this year. Gary’s symptoms continue to be mild, and each day he is moving closer to a full recovery.
If he tested positive after returning home from the hearing, he likely had taken a rapid test – which is excellent for identifying high viral loads associated with current infectiousness. If he has been symptomatic ‘and getting better each day’ since his testimony on Wednesday then his coughing during the hearing seems reasonably likely to have been related to the virus.
While his personal infectiousness is unrelated to his view that an aircraft cabin is a safe environment, and that a mask mandate is unnecessary on board, those who disagree with him are having a field day on social media. The question of masks on planes is complicated and in my view it’s advisable to wear better masks than most people do, but not to require them.
We’re seeing many more breakthrough infections now. Hopefully reduced severity holds – either because of inherent properties of the virus that are changing or because of widespread prior immunity from vaccination or prior infection (my own tentative view is that it appears to be both). And very glad to hear that Kelly is doing better. Hopefully Kelly’s antibody response from vaccination and boosters reduces his infectiousness and the Senate hearing does not turn into a superspreader event.
(HT: @crucker)
WHO CARES???!!!??
Why are you people still talking about this. Get on with your lives.
Don,
People talk about what is happing around them in real life. Dealing with it is part of moving on.
Do you go to the dentist, he tells you that ongoing have cavities and you just ignore him and ‘move on with your life’?
Ignorance and denial are not the solution but the reason that this is prolonged.
Donny boy. Why don’t you move on with your life and stop reading stories and responding to whatever you don’t like. Seems like a waste of time.
Mike
Not all dentists are he. Please turn on your liberal card and go through re training.
A guy had a mild cold around vaccinated people. Fixed the headline for you.
Sounds like the Sounthwest Airlines CEO needs to start juicing fresh fruits & veggies in a food juicing machine. 🙂
Ah, you Qpublicans… Always worth a good laugh. Enjoy your horse pills.
Keep the mask mandate because people are gross. Too many mouth breathers.
Seriously peeps– the Omnicrom variant isn’t as deadly as the flu that we are used to. It’s been 20 months, we have a vaccine and the current strain is like a common cold. It’s time people start moving on with their lives. If you are concerned, get the vaccine like the rest of us and just move on. People are still acting like Covid is the bubonic plague. It’s not.
Maybe someone didn’t change the HEPA filters on the plane he flew home from DC on? HEPA filters only work if they are maintained…
Science says covid is never going away. Are we going to be doing this nonsense forever?
Liberals suck covid’s dick because they see it as a virus thats giving them a lot of political wins. When you are submissive and in love with a virus, its hard to let go of it and move on.
Its beyond time that we treat covid like every other virus. Constantly living in fear of a virus is no way to live life.
OMG! Shut down the world and destroy ALL economies! I hope he survives!
Oh, I heard that they’ve finally (allegedly) found ONE person worldwide who died from onicron….of course the brits neglected to elaborate are whether the person was 90 years old, weighed 500 pounds, diabetic etc. ONE.
@Mika – you know, I’d love to drop the mandates and get on with our lives, but unfortunately the hospitals are so clogged up with dying unvaccinated people that its impossible at this point, without demoting unvaccinated people to the back of the line for healthcare. I’ve been trying to get an endoscopy scheduled since September, but it keeps getting bumped out and rescheduled because my local hospital keeps getting clogged up with unvaccinated covid patients (I’m in Georgia, United States, btw, not some third world country).
I say that lets demote unvaccinated people to be a lower priority than vaccinated people in a hospital setting. Then, we can reopen without being worried about the overcapacity in our hospitals. I mean, at this point if you’re unvaccinated by choice in the US, I think you are accepting a worse health outcome than someone who is vaccinated.
Here come the comments.
Better put on my hard hat…..
I rarely agree with the NY Times’ Editorial Page but their recent piece urging people to stop the hysteria and get on with their lives and for businesses to stop their “Covid theater” was spot on.
@Tom
So Tom – are you recently retarded or is that something new for you I Iive just northwest of Atlanta in Cobb County. Can you tell me what hospital’s are clogged up with dying COVID patients? Because according to the Georgia hospital dashboard, https://covid-hub.gio.georgia.gov/apps/georgia-hospital-bed-ventilator-capacity/explore , it’s none.
Georgia hospitals are currently running at 82% of ICU capacity – which is has been the norm for decades. Adult ventilator usage is currently 28% of capacity. Those include ALL ICU cases, not covid specific.
I had a similar issue trying to schedule a PFT test, for three months. The problem as reported by the 4 hospitals my doctor tried to setup appointments with was a shortage of hospital employees, not hospitals overflowing with dying covid patients. Continue to spread your mis-information and live in your covid bubble – or stop watching msnbc and get on with life as Mika suggests.
Why was Union Idiot Sara Nelson ( vax all and No Alcohol on planes girl) there with all of the Top execs of Airlines???Does she ever work?