Portland Airport PDX will require face coverings for anyone inside the airport
Portland International Airport accommodates more than 50,000 travelers on an average day, but the coronavirus pandemic has left it sparsely populated. Many flights have been cancelled and international travel has been restricted. Typically crowded parking garages, arrival and departure areas, and security lines are wide open, and baggage carousels sit motionless.
Starting Monday, anyone at Portland International Airport will be required to wear a face covering.
The Port of Portland issued new guidelines Wednesday, citing the need to protect the health and safety of passengers, employees and contractors at the state’s largest airport.
The rules come less than a week after Gov. Kate Brown’s order requiring some businesses, such as grocery stores, to require face coverings and her suggestion that other businesses promote such behavior.
The port already required employees to wear face coverings, following the Centers for Disease Control’s April recommendation. A spokeswoman said all airlines and some airport contractors were already requiring face coverings.
PDX is still seeing as much as a 95% decline in passenger volume compared to the same time in 2019, a dramatic reduction that is playing out around the world. The airport temporarily ceased transpacific and transatlantic air travel and suspended flights to Mexico and Canada as well.
“This is a critical piece of helping restore and build confidence in the travel process,” wrote Dan Pippenger, the Port of Portland’s chief operating officer, in a statement of the face-covering rules. “We believe this policy supports public health guidance to help keep PDX employees and passengers healthy, and it aligns with our airlines’ best practices and with other airports to create a consistent and expected experience for travelers.”
The new rules will apply to anyone in the airport, except for children under the age of 2 and people who have a medical condition that renders them unable to cover their faces.
It’s not clear how long the rules will remain in effect.
Port officials said the face coverings don’t need to be N-95 respirators or surgical masks, meaning that homemade cloth coverings are adequate.
The port is also shuttering areas inside PDX where people often gather to await returning friends or family.
The port said those people should wait to welcome passengers until they arrive at their residence, unless someone requires medical assistance.
Th airport has also reconfigured spaces to help promote social distancing and made other changes.