In a first for U.S. airports, the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is piloting rapid coronavirus testing for flight crews and terminal employees. 

The goal is to eventually scale the program up and allow passengers to get tested as well, but figuring out how to accommodate potentially thousands of tests per day could be a challenge. 

"The thing that we're looking to get out of this is scalability," Doug Yakel, public information officer for SFO, told Cheddar. "Although initially this program is designed just for employees at the airport, we want to take some of the lessons that we learned here and think about applying them to a larger audience, namely passengers."

The hope is that rapid testing will allow the beleaguered airline industry to embrace a new post-COVID reality. 

"If you think about the way air travel is changing, there's a new normal that's emerging," Yakel said. "We envision that some sort of health certification is going to be a part of that."

The way it works now is that employees register and then visit a designated testing site within the terminal. Once they're tested using a nasal swab, they wait in a set area until the results arrive — sometimes as quickly as 15 minutes.  

Yakel said the goal is for employees to come to the testing location and know their status before they leave the premises. 

Currently, employees can pay for the test through their insurance, or their employers can pre-purchase a block of tests for a set number of workers. 

The airport is currently testing fewer than 50 people per day but plans to scale up quickly. 

"We think we have the capacity for several hundred a day, but obviously if you introduce a much larger audience you need the facilities, you need the personnel, you need everything that goes with it to scale it up, but we're off to a good start," Yakel said. 

For now, SFO has not a set timeline for opening the testing site to passengers. 

Share:
More In Business
Starbucks’ Change Flushes Out a Debate Over Public Restroom Access
Starbucks’ decision to restrict its restrooms to paying customers has flushed out a wider problem: a patchwork of restroom use policies that varies by state and city. Starbucks announced last week a new code of conduct that says people need to make a purchase if they want to hang out or use the restroom. The coffee chain's policy change for bathroom privileges has left Americans confused and divided over who gets to go and when. The American Restroom Association, a public toilet advocacy group, was among the critics. Rules about restroom access in restaurants vary by state, city and county. The National Retail Federation says private businesses have a right to limit restroom use.
Trump Highlights Partnership Investing $500 Billion in AI
President Donald Trump is talking up a joint venture investing up to $500 billion for infrastructure tied to artificial intelligence by a new partnership formed by OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank. The new entity, Stargate, will start building out data centers and the electricity generation needed for the further development of the fast-evolving AI in Texas, according to the White House. The initial investment is expected to be $100 billion and could reach five times that sum. While Trump has seized on similar announcements to show that his presidency is boosting the economy, there were already expectations of a massive buildout of data centers and electricity plants needed for the development of AI.
Load More