US: TSA closing checkpoints as traveller numbers fall, coronavirus cases among officers rise

The TSA announced more than 20 new cases of coronavirus among its airport screening workforce on Friday. A total of 64 transportation security officers have tested positive since the outbreak began, according to data from the agency. Forty-six of the positive results came in the last 14 days. Amid the outbreak, the agency has closed checkpoints at some airports due to massive drops in passengers and, in some cases, coronavirus infections, according to an aviation official familiar with the matter. The agency on Thursday screened only 8% of the number of people it saw on the same day in 2019 -- the first day in the coronavirus outbreak that the agency has screened less than 10% of last year's traffic. The agency said Friday that it will begin supplying its officers with the N95 respirator masks that health care workers use as one form of protection against the virus. Officers were previously allowed to wear some masks, but not the N95. Many of its officers already wore protective gloves when interacting with the public, and since the start of the outbreak, the agency has required more officers -- such as those who handle passengers' identification cards and boarding passes -- to wear gloves, too. The union representing TSA officers, part of the American Federation of Government Employees, said it has been asking for permission to wear the respirators since January. <br/>