More than 500 Transportation Security Administration employees have tested positive for the coronavirus — including almost 200 from New York City area airports, officials said.
Five of the 505 TSA workers have died after being diagnosed, while 212 have recovered from the virus, according to data provided by the agency as of Thursday.
The largest number of confirmed cases at airports where TSA employees or screening contractors have tested positive were found at John F. Kennedy Airport in Queens, where 105 TSA workers have been diagnosed, including 98 screening officers, data shows.
Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey had the second-highest total — 56 employees — followed by LaGuardia Airport, where 32 TSA workers have been stricken with the bug.
Mark Barisonek, 63, a veteran TSA officer at Newark, died Tuesday, TSA officials announced.
“For nearly 16 years, Mark dedicated his career to the TSA mission,” the agency said in a statement. “He was an integral member of Team Newark and will be remembered fondly by those who knew him and worked alongside him.”
Barisonek is the second TSA worker at Newark to die from COVID-19. Francis “Frank” Boccabella III, a 39-year-old explosive detection canine handler, died on April 2, becoming TSA’s first employee to succumb to the disease, officials said.
Other hotspots across the country include Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, where 27 TSA employees have tested positive, and Miami International Airport, with 18 workers.
