TSA staffers to drop masks except in high-risk places
Most New England counties are low, medium
The Transportation Security Administration told its employees and contractors that masking rules will follow federal tracking of community COVID-19 levels.
“To be consistent with CDC guidance, TSA requires all federal employees, contractors and visitors to wear a mask inside federal buildings and TSA workspaces, which includes screening locations, when in areas with high community levels of COVID-19, whether vaccinated or not,” federal agency tasked with securing airports and other mass-transit services wrote in an internal directive a spokesman shared with the Herald.
TSA agents and contractors working in New England airports are not currently required to mask up, as all the airports in the region are in communities with low or medium community COVID-19 levels, based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines.
“TSA Employees, contractors, and visitors are not required to wear a mask inside federal buildings or workspaces in areas with medium or low community levels of COVID-19,” according to the memo.
New England isn’t alone: based on the CDC’s most recent community level compilation — calculated April 14 for the preceding week — only 14 counties in the country are listed as “High,” compared to 175 “Medium” and 3,035 “Low.”
The calculations are made on a weekly basis based on the higher level of either new COVID-19 admissions per 100,000 people in the county- or equivalent administrative-level geographic area or the percentage of inpatient beds occupied by COVID patients in the seven-day average.