Originally Posted by
detpilot
If you're aware that the tower will be closed, or is likely to, then I agree. But carrying a ton of extra fuel all over the US because "Corona" is not something I'd do - if you find yourself in a pinch you have options. We're not flying into Diego Garcia here. There are tons of reasons to add fuel, but that's not a good one at least in my opinion.
If there were ever a reason to carry contingency fuel, this is it, with multiple ATC centers and towers closing sporadically.
With jet fuel now under $1/gallon, it's less than $300 to carry an extra 2000 lbs of fuel. It buys time to hold rather than divert. And if everything goes OK, you're not going to burn 2000 lbs of fuel by carrying it as insurance.
Now, what's a divert cost?