COVID-19: TSA could better monitor its efforts to reduce infectious disease spread at checkpoints : report to Congressional committees

COVID-19: TSA could better monitor its efforts to reduce infectious disease spread at checkpoints : report to Congressional committees

Collection:
Health Policy and Services Research
Contributor(s):
United States. Government Accountability Office, issuing body.
United States. Congress, issuing body.
Publication:
Washington, DC : United States Government Accountability Office, June 2021
Language(s):
English
Format:
Text
Subject(s):
Airports -- legislation & jurisprudence
COVID-19 -- prevention & control
Government Regulation
Travel-Related Illness
United States
Genre(s):
Technical Report
Abstract:
Why GAO did this study. Within TSA, approximately 46,000 TSOs stationed across the nation's commercial airports perform screening and other activities that often require close interaction with passengers. As a result, both passengers and TSOs may be at an increased risk of infection during pandemics such as COVID-19. The CARES Act included a provision for GAO to conduct monitoring and oversight of the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This report identifies 1) what steps TSA has taken to reduce the spread of COVID-19 at passenger screening checkpoints; and 2) how TSA is monitoring TSOs’ implementation of amended safety and screening procedures, among other objectives. GAO analyzed TSA data on TSOs’ use of paid leave, reviewed documentation on policies and procedures, and interviewed TSA officials at headquarters and eight U.S. airports. We selected these airports to reflect diversity in the number of COVID-19 cases among TSOs, airport size, and geographic region. In addition, for six of these airports, GAO reviewed closed circuit television footage to observe how TSOs were implementing COVID19 procedural changes. What GAO recommends. GAO is recommending that TSA 1) take steps to strengthen monitoring of measures to reduce the spread of infectious diseases at passenger screening checkpoints and 2) analyze available data to identify patterns of success and failure in implementing COVID-19 measures across airports nationwide. TSA concurred with our recommendations.
Copyright:
The National Library of Medicine believes this item to be in the public domain. (More information)
Extent:
1 online resource (1 PDF file (iii, 75 pages))
Illustrations:
Illustrations
NLM Unique ID:
9918317484706676 (See catalog record)
Permanent Link:
http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918317484706676