FILE - In this June 17, 2020 file photo, a TSA worker, right, checks a passenger before entering a security screening at Orlando International Airport in Orlando, Fla. A high-ranking Transportation Security Administration official says the agency is falling short when it comes to protecting airport screeners and the public from the new coronavirus, according to published reports. A federal office that handles whistleblower complaints has ordered an investigation. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)
A Transportation Security Administration official charges that the agency helped spread COVID-19 by failing to provide enough protective gear for airport screeners who are in close contact with travelers every day.
The top TSA official in Kansas, Jay Brainard, says the agency didn’t train staff for the pandemic and barred supervisors like him from giving screeners stockpiled N95 respirators in March when facial coverings such as surgical masks were hard to buy.
“I have no doubt whatsoever that our people became Typhoid Marys and contributed to the spread of that virus because TSA senior leadership did not make sure (screeners) were adequately protected,” Brainard told The Associated Press on Friday.
Brainard filed a complaint against his own agency with the Office of Special Counsel, which handles whistleblower complaints, earlier this month. Late Thursday, the special counsel ordered TSA’s parent agency, the Homeland Security Department, to conduct an investigation.
The TSA said in a statement that it has followed guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in deciding protection standards for workers.
Spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said that at the start of the virus outbreak, TSA told employees that masks were optional, then made them mandatory at airport checkpoints in the first week of May.
Airport officers are required to wear nitrile gloves when they screen passengers. They must change gloves after every pat-down, and travelers can request the use of new gloves at any time, Farbstein said. Eye protection has remained optional for screeners.
Farbstein added that plastic barriers have been installed at security checkpoints and areas where checked bags are dropped off for screening.
Brainard disputed parts of the TSA statement, saying screeners have not been told to change gloves after every pat-down. He said new guidelines that took effect last week still have gaps, including no procedure for how to handle travelers who appear to be sick and little or no contact-tracing after TSA personnel become sick.
Brainard’s complaint and the special counsel’s demand for an investigation were earlier reported by the Washington Post and National Public Radio.
TSA whistleblower says agents spread virus to passengers...
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