State's Largest Airport Shuts Down Entire Terminal After Disgusting Discovery at Gates
Hawaii’s largest airport, Daniel K. Inouye International Airport on Oahu, briefly had to shut down a portion of gates in Terminal 2 due to some sickening and unwanted visitors — bedbugs.
The Hawaii Department of Transportation was first alerted of the situation on May 29, according to SFGate.
HDOT staff then immediately tried to clean and “remove items they thought had attracted the bugs.”
But the efforts were for naught, as the following day they were contacted once more.
As Southwest Airlines operates out of Terminal 2, a manager with the airline found a sample of the pests and alerted HDOT.
HDOT told SFGate, “Following best practices, we are closing the three affected gates tonight and a pest control company will apply preventative control measures.”
The affected area, gates E5, E6 and E7, were closed and will continue to be monitored to ensure the bedbugs are gone.
“Additional deep cleaning will take place per recommendations over the next three weeks to prevent recurrence,” HDOT Director Ed Sniffen said, according to KITV.
“Southwest and the Hawaii Occupational Safety and Health Division have been updated on the actions HDOT is taking.”
KHNL reported portions of the carpet in the terminal were also removed during the cleaning efforts.
Southwest Airlines told the outlet “they work to maintain a clean facility and defer to HDOT on this specific matter.”
No flights were said to have been impacted.
The Daniel K. Inouye International Airport estimates at any given hour there are roughly 10,000 people in the airport.
Hawaii’s Department of Health states, “Bed bugs are transmitted from place to place as people travel.”
“They can be in the seams and folds of luggage, overnight bags, folded clothes, bedding, furniture, or anywhere else they find a place to hide.”
In April 2018, the Kansas City International Airport in Missouri found an infestation of bedbugs in a chair, promoting the area to briefly close.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention adds, “Most people do not realize they are transporting stow-away bed bugs as they travel from location to location, infecting areas as they travel.”
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, bed bugs can still cause public health issues despite not being known to transmit diseases.
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