The shelter-in-place orders and severe restrictions on travel have decimated air travel, which has dropped over 90 percent since the virus spread outside China.
More than 50 percent of all U.S. planes have been grounded, and the industry is rapidly losing its financial reserves despite the government aid package of $50 billion (a.k.a. our tax dollars).
With people afraid to fly and air travel plummeting, airlines are lobbying for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to take the temperatures of passengers before boarding. They want to prohibit people with fevers from flying, saying it will help restore confidence for those on board.
Some members of Congress, including Representative Bennie G. Thompson of Mississippi, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, question the temperature-taking requirement of the TSA. “I cannot find any law that gives TSA the authority to perform temperature checks,” he said.
Members of the TSA point out that taking someone’s temperature is not always and accurate measure of whether or not they have the virus. Temperature checks fail to identify asymptomatic carriers and will unfairly prevent people with non-infectious medical issues from traveling.
TRENDPOST: The airline industry’s push to take temperatures will discourage, not increase, air travel. Whether departing or returning, potential passengers will fear that if they are found to have a temperature, they will be quarantined, hospitalized, and/or reported to health authorities.
