“It’s really unsettling,” Elenez said. “I came home thinking everything was fine because I feel great, I spent half a day taking care of my 3-year-old granddaughter, then I wake up this morning and find out there’s a chance that I came into contact with somebody.”

People like this concern me. This person clearly knows practically nothing about the virus. If they did, they would know that feeling fine does not mean you are safe. If this person knew anything about this virus, they would have gone into isolation for at least 14 days after getting home from the airport. Also, if this person knew anything about the virus, they would know that it doesn't seem to be as dangerous for kids as it is for older adults.

Heck, if nothing else, this person should know that flying right now means you are at very high risk of coming into contact with somebody who has the disease. That's just common sense. The sentence about "waking up to find out there's a chance I came into contact with somebody" seems pretty ignorant. I mean, you just passed through at least two airports, coming into close proximity with hundreds or thousands of other people, touching countless things also touched by thousands of other people, sharing the same air as thousands of other people, and sitting crammed together in a pressurized compartment with hundreds of other people. OF COURSE there's a chance you came into contact with somebody who has the virus (not to mention countless other possible viruses and whatnot).

Tampong Yooyen, 30, of Sunnyvale wore a mask through the airport “just as a precaution"

Yooyen should instead stop being a Cargo Cult Asian and learn that them wearing a mask does nothing to protect themselves.

it does if it's a face-sealing N95 and worn properly. it's more important for people to wear them if they're sick, which is why so many in Japan wore masks during cold/flu season.. they think about others, which is often different from in the US (people sending their kids to school when sick, etc).

This ties in with What Bernie has been talking about working conditions of Americans.
Remember months ago when the mercury was running news stories about TSA workers complaining about working conditions?
It would be nice and helpful if the link that story to the story but no fear mongering is the name of the game.
These TSA agents were probably sick but couldn’t get time off because the boss said if you take time off you lose your job.
That’s what happen with the crew ship crew that was sick and still working.
Are used to work for UPS for a while and that’s what they used to do all the time .They wouldn’t let guys takeoff if they were sick
😢MaaahGaaah😩
But don’t mind me,
Everything is just hooked together that’s all. What affects one person affects everybody.
Trump/Biden 2020
Wow, whadda choice

Bend the knee to Biden already.

Triden or Bump you mean?
I see no difference

DNC picked Biden. Bend the knee to Biden. He is the future of the party, not Bernie!

The future of the party?
You are serious? What’s wrong with Bernie?
Grassy roots movements are too much bother?
All you wanna do is vote and let the billionaires do the rest?
Biden represents The past you mean.
Have you seen his cabinet picks yet?
You mean Bend the knee Kapernick style?
Sure

He didn't say there was anything wrong with Bernie [to him]. He said the DNC picked Biden => the DNC says there is something wrong with Bernie and Bernie is not the future of the party.

So the future of the DNC Establishment is 4 more years of Trump

And we still haven’t stop the flights from Italy. Unbelievable.

"According to the agency, the officers are receiving medical care and all TSA employees they have come into contact with over the past 14 days are quarantined at home."

What about the tens of thousands of customers they were in contact with over the past 14 days? One can only hope most of those exposed to this in the US are healthy and it won't get into their lungs. I sense we'll have more infected people than China after letting this run loose for a month without testing for carriers and clusters. They just found a cluster of 70 in Massachusetts that started from a meeting Feb 26 and 27 (someone from Italy attended... and that person would have gone through the airport, sat next to people on a plane, waited in line for security.. with different people around him/her at each stage).

Eeewy so many horribleness
Yikes

There is no checking anywhere or any medical screening on flights coming in from Asian countries SFO
But an Asian Customs Agent with tattooed hands was very aggresive in checking baggage of non Asian passengers for undeclared items
Must be a very liberal city SF learning to love the diseases brought to its shores as well
The most shocking part was in the midst of the Coronavirus outbreak the Chinese population was allowed to go ahead with the Chinese New Year's Day parade

Tattoo phobia?

What about a government run by a putz who doesn't hustle up testing (for over a month) because he doesn't want to know how many people in the US are carriers? would THAT be a "liberal" or just a menace to society?

Get lost troll !

Perfect. Friend flew out about that time. Nobody was wearing masks...except him. He said he felt foolish. But he wore it all the way to colorado...on the flight back, 1/2 the passengers were masks....

Unless they were N95 masks (and they were VERY careful how they remove them) or better they *are* foolish.

the mask wont protect him, it's not airborne LOL

the mask wont protect him if it's not a N95, or if he doesn't proper good hygiene and avoid literally touching anything he's touched lol.... it's not airborne LOL

I'm not so worried about touching stuff. I learned to wash my hands 10 years ago after shaking hands with a bunch of people at a meeting... went to a Taco Bell a couple doors away and licked a bit of sauce off my fingers - got sicker than a dog for two weeks. Last time I got sick was when the kid working at Burger King sneezed behind the counter up and into the air (at least not toward the food)... I still ordered my food, but should have left - if that happens, hold your breath and walk away (though can't do it on a plane).

Why do you keep saying it's not airborne? Per the CDC:

"Mode of transmission: Early reports suggest person-to-person transmission most commonly happens during close exposure to a person infected with COVID-19, primarily via respiratory droplets produced when the infected person coughs or sneezes. Droplets can land in the mouths, noses, or eyes of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs of those within close proximity. The contribution of small respirable particles, sometimes called aerosols or droplet nuclei, to close proximity transmission is currently uncertain. However, airborne transmission from person-to-person over long distances is unlikely."

www. cdc .gov / coronavirus / 2019-ncov / infection-control /control-recommendations.html

Even that information is somewhat misleading IMO. Because people are contagious for AT LEAST 14 days BEFORE showing symptoms, which means 14 days with no coughs or sneezes. That presumably means it can also be spread simply through breathing and whatnot (which is likely why they have failed to contain outbreaks on cruise ships, due to the virus potentially being spread through the ventilation systems).

Cool. He wore something that won't keep him safe...

Stop buying all those face masks that do not work so that the health professionals can have face masks that don't work. /s

If it was an N95 mask, it will keep him safe if he uses it properly.

That is why healthcare workers use them so they don't get sick. The problem is that this country is now being run like something you'd see in the 3rd world and we don't have enough masks for healthcare workers, so they are telling everyone else not to use them.

CDC recommendations say "use N95 masks (if you can get them) : www. cdc .gov /coronavirus/2019-ncov / infection-control/control-recommendations.html

If it was an N95 mask, it will keep him safe if he uses it properly

That's a problem as most don't know how to use it properly -- which includes specific careful ways to remove it. Most just grab the front and take off -- great they saved themselves breathing it it just to then coat their hands with it to then touch their eyes/nose/mouth with.

I stopped worrying about N95's a long time ago.

1. You can't get them.
2. If you find some, they're likely not the right size.
3. Most people don't know how to use them properly (incl. many healthcare workers).
4. If used properly, they're extremely unpleasant when worn for long periods.

No mask here. However, if I do get sick, I will wear a surgical mask to help prevent me from infecting others.

I have them, used them on a previous flight while stuck next to a clearly very sick toddler on his mother's lap who literally sent mucus flying everytime he coughed. Didn't get sick. They work.

Plenty of places to get training online how to fit and wear N95 masks. And yes they are bloody uncomfortable, but the alternative is much worse.

Why didn't you speak out to the mother? She should have been called out for not protecting others from their child's sickness.

Did that, but she just rolled her eyes at me. The airline should never have let them on the plane in the first place.

That is what I don't get about all this. IF YOU ARE SICK... STAY HOME!

You or I would seek out the training. Most won't.

But I won't be flying anywhere anytime soon so I'm confident I won't be placed in that situation.

Even an improper fit is probably still better than nothing. Maybe it is theoretically possible for some amount of the virus to get through, but probably still less than not wearing the mask at all.

"All TSA employees they have come into contact with..."
That rings hollow.
If they were TSA screeners, they have closer contact with thousands of passengers daily than they do with their fellow employees.

except that the corona contagion is not yet known....we dont know just how easily it is to catch this....if China is an example, i would think very contagious. All the employees, the entire airport should be cleaned.

I think they're making too big a deal of cleaning... they say CV can live on solid surfaces for 2 to 48 hours (based on similar bugs), but it doesn't matter as long as people wash/sanitize hands before touching eyes, nose, or mouth. The problem is person to person transfer.. I learned two years ago that the flu can be transfered by breathing - I sense this is the same. It's spreading too fast by asymptomatic people who probably aren't coughing and sneezing.

Just saw RM below says it can last 9 days on surfaces.. I'll look to confirm this, but people should be washing hands even for the flu season. This seems to transfer MUCH easier than the flu.

Don’t touch Anything solid for 9 days

It is known. It is airborne, easily aerosolized and can last on surfaces for up to 9 days.

The parameters aren't known, but it appears to be quite contagious.
Presumably the TSA agents got it from brief contact with a passenger.

If all three got it from one sick passenger being screened, that passenger must have been very contagious. They likely spread it to many others in the security line and nearby on the plane.

If they got the virus from separate passengers, it might be much more widespread than the current numbers indicate.

Or perhaps they got it during a group make-out session in the break room, and no passengers were infected. But that doesn't seem very likely.

If all three got it from one sick passenger being screened, that passenger must have been very contagious.

Or they are poorly trained and were careless by touching their face/eyes/nose/mouth/food without washing their hands first or carefully removing their gloves (only touching from the edges at the wrist) first.

This is spreading way too fast/easily for it to be due solely to carelessness.

not yet known? it's contagious enough that these agents probably got a lot of others infected.