The Port of Virginia began testing the temperatures of anyone coming on to its restricted facilities Thursday, including the port’s two biggest container terminals.
Anyone whose temperature is 100.4 degrees or above will be denied entry, along with anyone who declines to take the infrared, no contact temperature screening.
The Virginian-Pilot found at least one other terminal on the East Coast — the Port of Baltimore’s Seagirt Marine Terminal — had started screening for temperatures.
Also on Thursday, Bill Burket, the port’s director of the maritime incident response team, said during a webinar with customers and cargo owners that an employee has tested positive for the coronavirus, according to Joe Harris, a spokesman. The person last reported to work March 21 at Virginia International Gateway, Harris said.
The temperature screenings could impact thousands of people: port employees, harbor pilots and ocean carrier representatives, along with the large number of International Longshoremen’s Association workers who report to the port every day. They will be screened at Norfolk International Terminal and Virginia International Gateway. There was no set end date.
Truck drivers will not be screened as no physical interaction happens when they are working on the port, according to a post on the port’s website.
“It is one of the best things we can possibly do … to protect the employees,” said Thomas Little, the International Vice President of the International Longshoremen’s Association in the port of Hampton Roads, which includes Newport News Marine Terminal, Norfolk International Terminals, Portsmouth Marine Terminal and Virginia International Gateway. “We have to do everything we can to stop the possible spread of this virus.”
Temperature screenings will begin shortly at Portsmouth Marine Terminal, Newport News Marine Terminal and other terminals, according to the port.
Gordon Rago, 757-446-2601, gordon.rago@pilotonline.com