Two Anchorage-based Alaska Airlines customer service agents have tested positive for the coronavirus, leading to the quarantine of approximately two dozen colleagues who may have been in close contact with them.
The two agents did not work with the public during most of their shifts at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport before testing positive, according to Alaska Airlines spokesman Tim Thompson. They tested positive separately. Their cases were confirmed by the airline in separate emails to employees last Monday and Friday.
There are about a dozen quarantined employees for each infected agent, Thompson said. Their job duties primarily include training, flight search (office work), but sometimes involve assisting passengers at the counter or gate.
State officials on Monday reported the highest number of new confirmed daily infections in Alaska since the pandemic began in March (141, including 64 fishing industry workers), but there were no new deaths. One hundred people have been hospitalized with the virus in total.
Alaska Airlines also sent Anchorage ground operations employees an email Sunday implementing a mandatory social distancing policy in light of “growing concern over the spread of COVID-19.”
Under the policy, which went into effect immediately, employees must maintain a 6-foot distance from each other in work and rest areas, unless there is “a direct operational need” to be closer to a co-worker. The airline already requires masks, except while eating or on the outside ramp.
