Louis Armstrong International Airport ranks third among U.S. airports for the number of Transportation Security Administration employees who have been infected by the new coronavirus, according to a report the federal agency issued Wednesday.

Twenty-six TSA employees who work at Armstrong Airport in Kenner have contracted the COVID-19 virus during the pandemic, including 25 officers who screen passengers, the report said. The most-recently diagnosed of those agents last worked at the New Orleans-owned airport on April 7.

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The grim figures leave New Orleans with more TSA agents stricken by the highly contagious respiratory illness than all airports but John F. Kennedy International in New York City, which had 89 employees test positive, including 84 screeners; and Newark Liberty International, which had 44 employees test positive, including 36 screeners.

The main airports of much larger cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Phoenix reported between one and nine infected agents, the report said.

The TSA report does not explain why the airports rank where they do. But the New York and New Orleans metro areas have reported some of the nation’s highest per capita rates of COVID-19 infections.

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As it became clear in February that COVID-19 was spreading from China to other parts of the world, the union representing TSA employees pleaded for all officers to be equipped with N95 respirator masks, which filter out 95% of liquid and airborne particles and therefore are effective protection against particularly infectious diseases.

The American Federation of Government Employees said TSA officers were deserving of the masks — which are in short supply and have primarily been reserved for frontline medical workers treating COVID-19 patients — because they screen more than 2 million passengers and crew members on average daily in airports across the country.

“Through pat downs and other screenings, (TSA officers’ jobs) bring them in close and nearly constant contact with the travelling public, including international passengers entering the United States from overseas,” an AFGE statement dated Feb. 10 said. “Our officers are exposed to all the contaminants, illnesses and diseases that may accompany those travelers.”

The TSA report Wednesday said the agency has taken steps to protect officers and travelers during the pandemic.

Such measures include equipping TSA officers with N95 respirators, surgical masks, gloves and eye protection, an agency spokeswoman said.

The spokeswoman also said that all officers — whether or not they are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms — have been authorized to take up to 14 calendar days of leave "to assess their health status and coordinate personal and family matters."

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Other safety measures include keeping people in checkpoint lines as far apart from each other as possible, staggering checkpoint lines, and providing guidelines to employees about how to properly clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces as well as equipment.

The COVID-19 crisis has driven the number of passengers and flight crew navigating security checkpoints at the nation’s airports down to historic lows. Armstrong Airport is open only for “essential travel and cargo operations that get personnel and supplies where they need to go,” a message on the facility’s Twitter account said Monday.

Overall, 412 TSA employees had tested positive for COVID-19 as of Wednesday.

Of those, three had died. They had most recently worked at Newark Liberty, Atlanta's airport and at TSA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, the agency said.