WASHINGTON (WRIC) — The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is bolstering its efforts to prepare for spring break travelers amid the coronavirus pandemic to reduce physical contact, even as passenger volumes are expected to increase.
According to a Tuesday release, technology upgrades across airport checkpoints are being made, as well as recruitment and vaccination efforts for officers and personnel.
“There is no higher priority than our operational readiness as well as the health and safety of our workforce and the traveling public,” Senior Official Performing the Duties of the TSA Administrator Darby LaJoye said. “Since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve installed new credential authentication technology and computed tomography equipment at hundreds of checkpoints that greatly reduces the need for physical contact between our officers and the traveling public.”
Spring break typically represents one of TSA’s busier travel seasons, starting in late February and lasting through April. But agency officials anticipate that the average daily passenger volume will remain well below pre-pandemic levels.
Regardless of the number of travelers in an airport or at a security checkpoint, face masks for both employees and passengers are required throughout all domestic transportation modes. Since the implementation of the face covering mandate for travelers on Feb. 2, TSA officials say there has been near-100 percent compliance at airport checkpoints.