Delta Air Lines has strengthened its policy for protecting staff and passengers against the coronavirus, announcing it now requires medical screenings for those who can't wear face masks due to health reasons, CNN reported on Monday.
"We encourage customers who are prevented from wearing a mask due to a health condition to reconsider travel," according to a statement. "If they decide to travel, they will be welcome to fly upon completing a virtual consultation prior to departure at the airport to ensure everyone's safety, because nothing is more important."
Delta will examine the result of the screening to determine whether the passenger can fly without a mask. The virtual consultation will be carried out by STAT-MD a company that, according to its website, "provides inflight emergency consultation as well as fitness-to-fly ground screening."
Delta already announced last month that passengers who do not wear a mask or abide by other safety requirements "risk future flight privileges” with the airlines. The company stressed that those who don’t comply with the request for medical screening also could be banned from future flights.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian told employees last month in a memo that the airline already had banned some passengers for refusing to wear masks on board."
He also has urged the federal government to make mask wearing on flights mandatory, saying he has held discussions on the topic with the White House.
Other airlines also have recently taken steps to strengthen the use of masks while flying.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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