Multiple TSA Officers Test Positive for Coronavirus
Three California-based Transportation Security Administration workers have tested positive for the coronavirus, the TSA announced Tuesday.
The three employees work at Mineta San Jose International Airport, the TSA said in a statement.
“The officers are receiving medical care and all TSA employees they have come into contact with over the past 14 days are quarantined at home,” the statement said.
“Screening checkpoints remain open and the agency is working with the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], as well as the California Department of Public Health and the Santa Clara County Public Health Department to monitor the situation as well as the health and safety of our employees and the traveling public. We will update as more information becomes available,” the statement said.
The airport remains open for business as it and the TSA said health and safety are top priorities.
SJC has been informed by @TSA that 3 TSA employees have tested positive for #COVID-19. The safety & health of our employees and the traveling public are #1. We continue to follow @HealthySCC guidance for preventing the spread of COVID-19, and remain open for business. #SJCUpdates pic.twitter.com/QtSdEU8AI6
— Mineta San Jose International Airport (@FlySJC) March 11, 2020
We continue to monitor with concern the evolving outbreak of #COVID19. The health and safety of #TSAofficers remains my number one priority. We are working with local health officials to take containment steps for employees and passengers. https://t.co/onWlQpznOD
— David P. Pekoske (@TSA_Pekoske) March 11, 2020
Despite that, many are concerned that the presence of the virus among TSA workers could mean it has already spread.
If TSA officers go tested positive for #coronavirusus then travelers who were checked with them had a high chance of getting the virus. Those travelers then could spread to others.
Very dangerous now because the virus can be contagious during the incubation period. https://t.co/iN8Ty3xyxp
— Minh Doan (@minhdoan82) March 11, 2020
I’ve been saying this for weeks. TSA agents, baggage handlers, gate agents and airport workers have been exposed to the coronavirus and potentially spreading the virus to millions of unsuspecting passengers all over the world — and no one is talking about it. https://t.co/BO9JMg4kMz
— Seph Lawless (@seph_lawless) March 11, 2020
Santa Clara County, where the airport is located, is the leading county in California for coronavirus cases with 45, according to KNTV. One person there has died form the disease.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar said in an interview that aired Wednesday that the U.S. is in the early stages of the spread of the virus.
“We’re seeing a real explosion of cases in Europe, we’re seeing increasing cases here in the United States which we’ve been clear we would see,” he said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
“We’re still, I’d say, in the beginnings of spread of this disease in the United States,” Azar said.
“But that’s why we’re taking such aggressive containment measures at the border as well as mitigation steps in local communities,” he said. “We’re going to see more cases. This is a virus, this will spread. We need to take steps to slow that, buy ourselves time.”
Azar added that time matters.
“If we can slow the spread, if we can contain these clusters in certain communities, bring that speed down,” he said, “the hope of course is that, like most respiratory diseases, as we get to warmer weather, as people disperse and just naturally distance themselves with outdoor activities, et cetera, this can help actually slow things down. So we’re working always to buy time so that we mitigate impact here in the United States.”
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