With the vaccine mandate deadline and Turkey Day looming, how many TSA employees are still not inoculated? The agency isn't saying.
. In the first two weeks of November, TSA employees at 59 airports across the country have reported new infections. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 11,117 TSA employees have tested positive for Covid-19. In addition, 32 TSA employees and two screening contractors have died after contracting the virus.
A potential shortage of TSA employees couldn’t come at a worse time. Air travel is rebounding, with airport checkpoint screenings up to roughly 85% of pre-pandemic passenger levels, according to . The AAA is projecting that 4.2 million Americans will fly over Thanksgiving weekend, roughly double the number that flew last year but down 11% from pre-pandemic levels.
Last month, Pekoske said TSA was “building contingency plans” for a scenario in which it saw staffing shortages as a result of the mandate. But Kelley said that airport lines over the holidays will be long for reasons that have nothing to do with the mandate. He told the congressional panel that many TSA employees are leaving their jobs for a variety of reasons, but mainly due to “low pay and difficult work environments.”
“The long wait lines are just going to be there,” Kelley said, “because of the fact that there’s such a high turnover and the fact that we’ve not done an exceptional job in making sure that the workforce was replenished.”
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