3 TSA officers test positive for coronavirus in California

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Three officers working with the Transportation Security Administration at the Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport tested positive for coronavirus, according to a statement from the agency.

The agency said screening checkpoints are open, but other workers the three may have come in contact with are quarantined at home for the next 14 days.

“TSA confirms that three Transportation Security Officers who work at Mineta San Jose International Airport have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus," The agency said in an email to the Tampa bay Times. The officers are receiving medical care and all TSA employees they have come in contact with over the past 14 days are quarantined at home. Screening checkpoints remain open and the agency is working with the CDC, 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.”

TSA has not released the identity of the officers or said what their jobs were, however, NPR reported Tuesday that TSA union officials said the three were screeners who would’ve come in contact with thousands of passengers traveling through the airport.

“Just by the nature of the job, Transportation Security Officers are in a vulnerable position in the case of an outbreak like this,” James Mudrock, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1230 in California, told NPR.

The union said this is the first time coronavirus has been confirmed within the agency.

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