CNN reported that more than 10,000 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers have now tested positive for COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. According to TSA numbers released September 13, 2021, more than four in every five employees who tested positive worked at airport security checkpoints.
The TSA recorded its 10,000th case during the first week of September, 2021 a representative for the agency said. As of September 17, 2021, the total confirmed cases of COVID-19 among employees had risen to 10,243.
Of the 65% of workers who responded to an agency-wide survey, 72% said they are fully vaccinated. 26 have died after contracting the virus.
Florida was high on the list of those infected. At Miami Airport (MIA) 513 TSA agents were infected, Fort Lauderdale Airport (FLL) had 370 TSA agents infected and Orlando Airport (MCO) had 356 infected.
Being a federal agency, the TSA is required to mandate that all workers be vaccinated for COVID-19 by Nov. 22, 2021 per an executive order signed by President Joe Biden earlier this month. The TSA has also continued to urge employees to get their shots, most recently in a statement issued on the passing of Robert Logan, Jr., a TSA officer at Boise Air Terminal (BOI) in Idaho who became the latest employee to die of COVID-19.