Delta Airlines staff is 78% vaccinated
More Delta Air Lines employees are getting vaccinated against COVID-19 since the company announced that those who aren't will see a health care insurance surcharge of $200 a month.
About 20,000 of Atlanta-based Delta's 80,000 employees were still unvaccinated when the airline announced the penalty two weeks ago, according to the company's chief health officer Henry Ting.
Now, about 20 percent of those unvaccinated employees have decided to get the shots, Ting said during an Infectious Diseases Society of America briefing on Thursday.
As a result, 78 percent of Delta employees are now vaccinated.
The surcharge won't take effect until Nov. 1. So far, "we've seen no employee turnover" as a result, Ting said.
A survey last December by the Society for Human Resource Management found that 28 percent of workers said they would not get the vaccine even if it meant losing their jobs.
But, "while people are saying that, there is a great degree of cognitive dissonance around what they will actually do," said the organization's chief knowledge officer, Alexander Alonso. Employers estimate that less than 2 percent of employees have left their jobs because of a vaccine mandate or an employer strongly encouraging vaccination, he added.
Assisted Living Locators opens Chattanooga unit
Michelle Faber, a senior care advisor who lives in Ooltewah, has opened a Chattanooga franchise of Assisted Living Locators to offer free guidance to help people locate assisted living and in-home care options throughout Southeast Tennessee and North Georgia.
Faber will meet personally or online to help seniors and families with online assessment tools and offer tours of vetted home health, hospice, assisted living, memory care and adult family homes.of
"Seniors and their families need a trusted advisor to help them navigate what can be an overwhelming amount of information," Faber said. "Assisted Living Locators offers a complete assessment of a senior's needs and recommends a plan that provides the full continuum of care."
Faber is available at 423-290-7684 or at assistedlivinglocators.com/chattanooga
Ford to end car production in India
Ford Motor will stop making cars at two plants in India, ending a long and costly effort to build a presence in one of the world's largest emerging auto markets.
Ford said Thursday that it will stop production at a plant in Sanand, in western India, this month and will stop making vehicles and engines in the southern city of Chennai next year.
The company has lost more than $2 billion in the past 10 years in India, Ford CEO Jim Farley said in a statement. "We are taking difficult but necessary actions to deliver a sustainably profitable business longer-term and allocate our capital to grow and create value in the right areas."
Other major automakers have also struggled to gain a foothold in India, where people tend to buy smaller, more affordable cars than in the United States and Europe. General Motors stopped selling cars in the country in 2017. Roughly half of all new cars sold in India are made by Maruti Suzuki, in which Suzuki of Japan owns a majority stake.
The withdrawal from India is the latest move by Ford to pare losses from its international operations. In January, the company said it would close its three plants in Brazil. Before that, it closed several plants and eliminated several thousand jobs in Europe.
McDonald's adds vegan burgers in Great Britain
McDonald's will begin selling a vegan burger in the United Kingdom and Ireland this month.
The McPlant burger, developed with Beyond Meat, features a plant-based patty on a vegan sesame bun with vegan cheese, vegan sauce and other toppings. Both the patty and cheese are made with pea protein.
The McPlant will be cooked separately from other McDonald's sandwiches with dedicated utensils. It will go on sale in 10 restaurants this month before being rolled out to 250 more later this fall. The McPlant will be sold in all McDonald's in the U.K. and Ireland in 2022.
The Chicago-based burger giant said Thursday that vegan burgers have appeared on menus in some of its regions before. But this is the first time a vegan burger - accredited by the Vegetarian Society - will be sold by McDonald's in the U.K. and Ireland.
The company said it decided to make the McPlant vegan to meet customer expectations in the U.K. and Ireland. It has not said when the McPlant will go on sale in the U.S.
McDonald's has also tested the McPlant burger in Denmark, Sweden and Austria, but in all of those markets, McDonald's used regular cheese and mayonnaise, so the sandwich wasn't vegan.