CLEVELAND — We're on day 33 of the partial U.S. government shutdown, and travelers are continuing to feel the impact across the country.
As first reported by ABC News, nearly 10% or 2,700 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers across the nation called in sick on Tuesday.
According to TSA data obtained by ABC News, Atlanta and New Orleans saw the biggest impacts, with nearly 40% of officers calling out in each airport.
The call-outs are coming as TSA employees received their first $0 paycheck last week, per ABC News.
Organizations, like PETA, are trying to close the gap on TSA employee insecurities by bringing Cleveland Hopkins TSA workers three suitcases packed with pantry items.
"PETA is here delivering delicious and nutritious vegan food to the dedicated TSA workers at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport to show them support during this challenging time," PETA Campaign Logistic Organizer, Racheli Holstein, told me on Wednesday. "Our donation brightened the day of the TSA workers here at the airport."
Vegan jerky, vegan mac and cheese, chili beans, and other protein-packed goods were donated to Cleveland Hopkins TSA employees on Wednesday.
"We will continue showing up at different airports across the country delivering food to support the TSA workers during this challenging time and show people that it's easy to go vegan," Holstein said.
How long this shutdown will last is unknown, though, and that is what makes some travelers, like Logan Reed, nervous.
Reed told me he's planning to travel to California soon.
He said he's only concerned about what the TSA lines might look like on the West Coast.
"The last time I went, the line was pretty long," Reed said.
At Cleveland Hopkins, though, it's a different story.
I stopped by the airport Wednesday afternoon and stayed for about two hours.
All three checkpoints were open and moving rather quickly.
The airport's wait time was slated for 15 minutes or less.
I asked one traveler to start a timer on his phone to see how long, from start to finish, it would take to get through the security line just before 5:30 p.m.
He sent me a screenshot of the finished timer, showing that it only took him and his friends six minutes and 49 seconds.
Hayden Macko, one of the friends with him, told me they'd shown up to Cleveland Hopkins for their trip to Ireland about two hours early and were happily shocked to see no lines.
"There's nobody here at all," Macko said. "It looks great. There were more people when we flew out a couple months ago to Vegas, so yeah, it looks like it'll be pretty quick."
He's hoping that when they come back from Ireland later this week, they'll have the same luck.
Reed is not only traveling soon, but he also works at a restaurant in the Cleveland Hopkins airport.
He said he hasn't heard any complaints from customers who are traveling through.
"Actually, I was just talking to a customer today, and she was telling me how her TSA experience was pretty good. She went through in 10 minutes, so yeah, it was pretty nice," Reed said.
We'll continue checking in at the airport to see if anything has changed.
