Miami International Airport is in the lead in the country for the highest number of COVID

Miami, Florida – Far in front of other large hubs like JFK in New York and Los Angeles, Miami International Airport is in the lead for the highest number of COVID cases.

The Transportation Security Administration began tracking COVID cases in March 2020.

According to the current data, 515 people have gotten sick at MIA. Of those, 492 were TSA Screening Officers.

Miami isn’t the only airport with high numbers, Fort Lauderdale and Orlando are in the top five.

A TSA spokesperson explained, “The numbers among our officers have from the beginning of the pandemic tended to track the spread in the communities in which we live.” It also mentioned that both Miami and Fort Lauderdale had some of the newest technology to reduce touchpoints and mitigate the spread of disease.

It’s good that the TSA keeps track, but it doesn’t tell the whole picture, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Hany Attallah at Jackson Memorial Hospital said.

“We need to take a really close look at whether these people are vaccinated, the vaccines have been shown to be preventative, vaccine uptake has not been shown to be as great in Florida as other parts of the country,” he said.

Dr. Attallah also said that the TSA has put in a number of helpful measures to limit the spread of COVID-19.

“They tend to be busier airports with more staff, I think it would be interesting to look at the percentage rather than just the raw numbers of people who work for TSA who getting infected but those are all things that undoubtedly contribute to this as well,” he explained.

According to the TSA, travelers should not be more concerned than they have been since the pandemic has started. Since the pandemic began, two MIA TSA employees have died in 2020.