Workers for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) suffered a 64 percent increase in COVID-19 positive tests in the last month, the agency said.
In an insightful piece by Forbes, it was noted that most of the infected workers were screeners who come in close contact with passengers.
Although airline travel is not nearly back to what it was at this time a year ago – still down more than 60 percent due to the pandemic – there are certainly enough travelers who are coming in contact with TSA agents.
Since the beginning of March, 2,425 TSA employees have tested positive for the coronavirus and eight have died. Currently, 391 TSA employees have active COVID-19 infections, which is a 64 percent jump since October 3. In the same time period, the cumulative number of TSA officers with infections increased by 18 percent and one additional employee died.
In the past week alone, 37 U.S. airports have reported new infections in TSA officers. Miami International Airport leads the country with the most TSA coronavirus cases with a tally of 140 since mid-March.
In California, more than 130 TSA agents at the state’s airports have come down with COVID-19 since the pandemic began in March, with more than half of them at Los Angeles International.
