A traveler in a protective mask walks through Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA) in Arlington, Virginia, USA, on Tuesday June 9, 2020.
Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | fake pictures
Checking airport temperatures may not be the best way to kill travelers with Covid-19, the head of the Transportation Security Administration said Tuesday.
The TSA and other industry officials have urged all travelers to wear masks throughout the airport and on board, but the federal government has not determined whether to carry out temperature checks on passengers.
“A decision has not been made,” TSA administrator David Pekoske said in a call with journalists.
“I know that talking to our medical professionals and talking to the Centers for Disease Control is that temperature controls are not a guarantee that passengers who do not have an elevated temperature will also not have Covid-19,” said Pekoske. The reverse may also be true, where travelers may have temperatures but not coronaviruses.
Other issues are what to do with travelers who have high temperatures and which government agency would oversee the evaluations, he said. Regulators would also need to find out where to conduct that examination, ideally at entrances to large public spaces, such as departure lounges.
“But as we all know, there are other opportunities for people to come into closer contact with other passengers,” said Pekoske, using an airport’s car rental site as an example.
The aviation industry is grappling with how to keep travelers and employees safe in the pandemic, and ensuring that customers feel comfortable flying again. US airlines are now requiring travelers to wear masks on board and have threatened to deny them flights if they don’t comply.
Demand has recovered from the lows of more than five decades reached in April as the traditional high season of summer travel begins, but remains well below recent levels.
An average of about 482,000 travelers a day passed through US airport checkpoints in June to Monday, more than 80% less than in the same period in 2019, according to federal data.
.
