In the days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced it has shortened its recommendation for isolation and quarantine following a new COVID-19 case from 10 days to five days, some are questioning the timing of the announcement. Specifically, they note the change came right after airlines struggled to staff flights all holiday weekend long, leading to thousands of flight cancellations.

“We said we wanted to hear from medical professionals on the best guidance for quarantine, not from corporate America advocating for a shortened period due to staffing shortages,” Association of Flight Attendants-CWA International President Sara Nelson said in a statement a day after the announcement. “The CDC gave a medical explanation about why the agency has decided to reduce the quarantine requirements from 10 to five days, but the fact that it aligns with the number of days pushed by corporate America is less than reassuring.”

Ahead of the holiday weekend staffing shortages, Delta CEO Ed Bastian asked the CDC to shrink quarantine guidelines for fully vaccinated individuals who experience breakthrough COVID-19 infections. Multiple airline CEOs had also discussed their concerns regarding staff shortages earlier in the month.

“With the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, the 10-day isolation for those who are fully vaccinated may significantly impact our workforce and operations,” Bastian wrote in a letter to CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky last week. “Similar to healthcare, police, fire, and public transportation workforces, the Omicron surge may exacerbate shortages and create significant disruptions.”

Nelson sent her own letter to Dr. Walensky two days later, saying her decisions on the matter “should be based on science, not staffing, and they should be made by public health professionals, not airlines.”

“We’re really concerned that’s going to put workers in a bad position of choosing whether to stay home and be safe and take good measures for public health or be forced to come to work and feel like they’re going to lose their job if they don’t,” Nelson said in a television interview Tuesday night. The next night, in a different television interview, the nation’s top infectious disease expert came to the CDC’s defense on the change on quarantine and isolation guidelines.

“For most of the time for most of the people that level of virus diminishes to the point where the CDC feels, and I don’t disagree with them at all, that wearing a mask is ample protection during that second half of a 10-day period,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said.