500 Delta Airline staff test positive for COVID-19, records 10 deaths

Delta Air Lines says an estimated 500 employees have contracted coronavirus during the pandemic — and the virus has killed at least 10, according to a report.

CEO Ed Bastian said at a shareholders’ meeting earlier this month the “vast majority” of the employees have recovered from the dangerous illness.

“We have had approximately 500 employees that have tested positive for COVID-19,” Bastian said during meeting June 18. “The vast majority have recovered, thankfully. Unfortunately, we have lost 10 employees to the disease.”

The company noted that the hundreds of sick employees were a fraction of the 90,000 employed by the airline, the outlet reported.

“Since initial reporting in March, Delta has seen a significant reduction in positive employee COVID-19 tests and is currently tracking at a rate five times lower than the national average,” a Delta spokesperson said.

Delta announced that it plans to test all of its employees for the virus through a partnership with the Mayo Clinic and Quest Diagnostics, which began this month in Minneapolis.

The initiative will then expand to other cities such as Atlanta, Detroit, and New York.

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.