Winner Winner chicken dinner.... I think that would be a genius plan...And I do believe (rumors only of course), AA is thinking of doing the same thing? If you are around 60 and were planning on leaving in the next couple years anyways, talk about a win-win...

Mongo

 

The flu kills 62,000 people a year in the US. Why not just everyone stay home and we can avoid those deaths every year? Right!?

 

So let me get this straight...in lieu of Delta saving money by having pilots sit at home getting paid 50 hours, they are going to have them sit at home and get paid min guarantee? They do realize that the total pilots costs are going to be lower with SILs and without them will be higher, right? At United we took a bunch of them in April, but in May we took far less. Guys have figured out they can just sit home on reserve and not fly and just make 73 hours each month. I don’t understand Delta not offering SILs.

 

Average is in the mid 30,000/year WITH vaccines and antivirals. 2 years ago was 61,000. I agree, lock it down.

 

That is right. No SILs for us. The reason seems to be that Delta thinks it is not fair we get paid 55 hours for a SIL while 32,000 employees get paid $0 on a voluntary leave. They’re afraid of unionization efforts apparently. I think a lot of us would prefer to get paid reserve guarantee at this point also.

 

The boss man isn't a pilot. This job is a lifestyle you got to live to understand. I couldn't sit in a cubicle the last 40 years.

 

lock it down… Now, that's funny! You are clearly a candidate for the "I would rather avoid the disease at any cost than accept the cure" person. I don't get it and probably never will

 

I'm onboard with the opening they're working on now, but the flu deaths and the covid deaths are not apples to apples. Flu kills 30-60,000 without mitigation. Covid will kill 60,000 by Aug 4th with significant mitigation. Without mitigation would probably be about 30 times greater or 1.8 million. That's probably too many.

Additionally, flu takes people out for about a week. Covid seems like sometimes a month or more. Covid also seems to impact some people with longer term problems (like the broadway actor that got his leg amputated, reduced lung capacity, kidney and liver problems, etc.

Also, not sure, but flu deaths seem less violent. And the biggest problem is that it's transmissible when you're not showing signs of illness. So, you don't know if you're jacking the people around you.

I think we need to open back the economy ASAP and as responsible as we can. I don't think Covid is like a bad flu.

 

Sorry, stopped reading after you said “without mitigation.” What the hell would you call vaccines?

 

This flu season is estimated to have killed between 24,000 and 62,000 with the "official" estimate likely to fall around 35,000 to 38,000. And, as pointed out this is with a vaccine that works.

When they "guess wrong" and the vaccine does not work for the most prevalent flu strains in a given season, you end up in situations like the 2015 and 2018 seasons where the range is even wider and the official estimate is 50,000 or 60,000. Very similar to the current projections for COVID-19.

I think the lock downs were necessary to get a handle on things, but I also think now that there is a handle on things (according to the models) we need to start marching towards normalcy. I also believe, as we start to open back up, the public will become more accepting of the risks associated with the virus, much like they are with other risks experienced throughout all aspects of life. If/when there is a spike in cases, there should not be another lock down.