Delta Air Lines is developing a "full testing protocol" to monitor Covid-19 among its employees, CEO Ed Bastian said in a memo to employees on Thursday.
The carrier is working with the Mayo Clinic and Quest Diagnostics to conduct both active virus and antibody tests for all employees. The program will begin in Minneapolis next week and will then expand to Atlanta, Detroit and New York, Bastian said.
In May, the infection rate among Delta's customer-facing employees was about five times below the national infection rate, according to Bastian.
Delta also has created a "global cleanliness organization," led by airport customer service operations and strategy VP Mike Medeiros and reporting to chief customer experience officer Bill Lentsch. That group will "own the execution and continued evolution of our standards and policies to ensure a consistently safe and sanitized customer and employee experience," according to Bastian.