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Workers At LAX Feel Underprepared To Deal With Coronavirus

Passengers arrive last week at LAX wearing face masks. (Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images)
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Amid growing fears about the spread and impact of coronavirus, some workers at Los Angeles International Airport are saying they don't have adequate training or equipment to protect themselves.

Airport employees today passed out protective equipment and information to other workers. They also announced a contagious disease training will be done next week.

Maria Romero works at the airport. She said she wants to see airport or health officials talking to staff about best practices to avoid spreading the virusL

"We want to know, like, do we continue to help people? We should help people, of course, but do we have a distance?"

Romero says she has noticed hand-sanitizing stations and some signs about coronavirus around the airport. But, she said no one has specifically briefed or trained her on how to handle COVID-19.
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"I remember when we had the Ebola [outbreak], our union took us to a special training," she said.

The airport says it is doing frequent, deep cleaning, providing gloves to cleaning crews and updating staff on the airport's COVID-19 response, according to a statement released Friday. That's in addition to the signs and hand-sanitizing stations.

As of Friday, two screeners who check passengers arriving at LAX for signs of coronavirus have tested positive for the illness.

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