After a Korean Airlines flight attendant was diagnosed with coronavirus (COVID-19) after passing through LAX last week, Mayor Eric Garcetti sought to calm travelers’ fears. He said LAX was being disinfected every hour.
During an hour-long stakeout at the airport’s Bradley International Terminal arrivals area Friday morning, there was no sign of an hourly wipedown by airport workers. Workers emptied trash cans, but didn’t clean door handles or seat arms or handrails during that time.
The international arrivals area is only a very small part of the airport, so it’s not clear what the frequency of cleaning was in other areas, including the more secure ticketed passenger areas.
Los Angeles World Airports spokesman Heath Montgomery said workers are “deep cleaning and sanitizing” restrooms, handrails, door handles and other public areas of the terminals. The airport has added more than 100 hand-sanitizing stations around the airport and hosted Centers for Disease Control screeners at the airport, he said.
Individual businesses like snack stands and currency exchange places are doing their own frequent cleaning. And a traveler coming in on a flight from New York said a terminal worker was wiping down the escalator handrail behind her and other passengers.
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