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Tax Watch columnist David McKay Wilson checked in on the slowdown in air travel in Westchester.

Three weeks ago, business was booming at Westchester County Airport.

There were so many travelers flying from HPN that the 1,200-space parking garage was at capacity, with a dozen cars parked on the grass by the structure's exit, and scores of others redirected to the terminal’s overflow lot.

On Wednesday, about 200 cars were left in the garage. The overflow lot was emptying out. The car service concession at the terminal had let go of most of his employees. And Delta gave word it planned to reduce its operations there on April 2 when it would eliminate four regularly scheduled flights to Detroit and Atlanta.

The airport is also dealing with the 14-day quarantine of five airport employees who worked the overnight shift on March 13. That's when one worker went home after he reported symptoms associated with COVID-19.

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On Tuesday, he tested positive for the virus, said Airport Manager Peter Scherrer. He remained quarantined. Four others on the overnight shift were quarantined as a precaution.

Scherrer said the infected worker suffered mild symptoms and reported he was ready to get back to work. But Scherrer said he must stay out the full two weeks.

“We want to get back to normal,” said Scherrer. “Business is light, and we are doing all the things we are told to do.”

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The slow-down at HPN reflected the reticence for travel nationwide, with resorts closing down, cruises canceled and businesses holding meetings remotely instead of in-person to lessen the probability of spreading the virus.

Scherrer said that the airport was disinfected Monday night as part of its heightened response to the outbreak. Other initiatives include supplying gloves, hand-washing facilities and sanitizing gels for staff and working with health authorities on entry-exit control issues.

He said that heightened sanitation procedures could become the new normal at HPN.

“We might want to do this each year during flu season,” he said. “And now we have to incorporate pandemic procedures into our emergency manual.”

Tim Gieger, general manager of County Trip Service, which has a booth by the terminal’s baggage claim area, was fielding calls from customers cancelling reservations. Very few were making new ones. With prospects so bleak, so quickly, he has cut most of his drivers and clerical staff.

Meanwhile, he was working seven days a week, 10 hours a day, to keep his business open for those who were still flying.

He’d heard from relatives in Italy, where the death toll from COVID-19 neared 3,000, including 475 on Tuesday alone. They told him they weren’t venturing outside.

“I fear it’s going to get worse before it gets better,” said Gieger, of LaGrangeville. “I hope it gets better. I want to bring my staff back.”

Gieger wasn’t impressed by President Donald Trump’s proposal to send $1,000 to every American to counter the abrupt downturn in the nation’s economy.

“What does $1,000 get you?” he wondered.

Watching Trump speak at a news conference on a terminal television was David Fullman, who drives a shuttle back and forth to HPN’s overflow lot on the entrance road. By noon, he hadn’t made a single trip to the lot.

“I’m still here because flights are still coming in,” said Fullman, of New Rochelle. “I’ve had no customers today at all.”

Among the travelers were Purchase College sophomore Brett Cotov and his father, Tony. They were traveling back to Naples, Florida. That came after Purchase shifted to distance learning. So they packed up his room, put his belongings in storage in White Plains and headed south. Cotov, majoring in scenic design at the Conservatory of Theatre Arts, said work on the school’s production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night was over, with the play canceled for the spring semester.

“It’s really annoying,” he said.

He’ll have company when he arrives in Florida. He is a triplet, so his siblings will be joining him back home in Naples.

Follow Tax Watch columnist David McKay Wilson on Facebook or Twitter @davidmckay415.