Third TSA agent at JFK gets coronavirus
A third Transportation Security Administration officer conducting screenings at JFK Airport has been diagnosed with the coronavirus as federal officials prepare to close down and consolidate security checkpoints at area airports, authorities said Friday.
A Federal Aviation Administration technician also tested positive for the coronavirus, causing a thorough cleaning of tower facilities, officials said Friday.
The TSA confirmed that a third officer assigned to the Queens airport has tested positive for COVID-19.
“The individual is quarantined and resting at home,” a TSA spokeswoman said in a statement. “TSA employees who work the same shift and may have come in contact with the officer who tested positive during the past 14 days have been alerted about the situation so that they can take action as appropriate.”
The screening checkpoint the TSA agent worked remained open Friday, although the agency is preparing to consolidate checkpoints because of the lack of travelers coming into area airports.
On Thursday, the TSA shut down a security checkpoint for United Airlines travelers leaving Terminal A2 at Newark Liberty International Airport. Airline travelers will now have to go to Terminal C at Newark Airport for luggage drop and a TSA screening.
“As a result of the significant dropoff in the number of passengers combined with a higher than usual number of TSA officers who have called out to take care of family members or due to their own personal high-risk factors associated with COVID-19, the Terminal A-2 checkpoint has been consolidated,” TSA officials said. “[We] will be consolidating checkpoints as necessary at all airports to continue to provide security screening at airports.”
At the same time, the FAA ordered a thorough scrubbing of the JFK tower, temporarily moving all airline traffic operations to another location on airport property.
An FAA technician assigned to the air-traffic control tower was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Thursday, although he had not been at the airport since March 11 and never entered the “tower cab” where department and arriving flights are coordinated, officials said.
Moving operations to another location is part of the FAA’s “longstanding contingency plans to ensure continued operations.”