Driving Under The Gun. Transit Bus Drivers Dodging the Bullets of COVID-19. Part 1

When showing up to work becomes a game of Russian Roulette

Each passenger that enters the doors of a forty-foot transit bus potentially is a blank bullet or a live hollowpoint aiming straight to the head of the bus operator and, by extension, his or her family.

The front-facing employees of the nation’s mass transit agencies are getting more and more concerned about the risks they take daily, as they welcome riders onto their buses. Infected customers do not wear Scarlette Letters upon their persons that read: Coronavirus, stand back, do not interact.

And Bus Operators in Broward County are no different from their counterparts in other counties/cities.

Unless someone is displaying the COVID-19 symptoms, by the way, these symptoms are similar to the common cold — there is no way of telling who is a carrier of this stealth killer.

President Trump and healthcare practitioners aptly refer to the deadly coronavirus as an invisible enemy. It is an enemy that knows no boundary, nor does it respect political affiliation or party lines. Although Mitch “Bonehead” McConnell (R) and Nancy “Fugazi” Pelosi (D) would have the public believe so.

It is a killer of black, white, young, old, male and female — and the notches on its pistol are growing faster than a Stealth Bomber moves through the sky to wreak havoc on its unsuspecting enemies.

At last count, the Covert-19 has killed more than 13,000 Americans, and over 400,000 residents have tested positive for the Grimm Reaper throughout fifty states.

There are many frontline employees from various companies and organizations, working in the service industry — nurses, doctors, police officers, and store clerks, etc., etc., the list goes on.

But the ones who are traveling around in sealed Petri dishes are Transit Operators.

Medical experts have informed us that the COVID-19 killer is not a bacteria — it is a virus — meaning it is a dead organism, it cannot move around on its own volition.

Subsequently, coronavirus needs a host (human or other entity) to move it around and take it from one place to another, “to seek out new hosts and map out new civilizations and to boldly go where no other man-made virus has gone before” — hence mass public transportation, the gift that keeps on giving to COVID-19.

Experts warn that the Covert-19 survives longer on specific dry surfaces, and it’s less likely to survive in hot as opposed to cold.

COVID-19 comes in the form of microscopic droplets that are invisible to the naked eye.

But if the Covert-19, for example, is picked up by the circulating air conditioning unit of a transit bus — those droplets then stand a much higher chance of finding a host, either by entering through the ears, nose, eyes of someone or landing on a skin surface of a bus operator.

Broward and Dade county transit officials and county authorities have taken measures to protect its frontline employees from the invisible enemy.

But some Bus Operators argue that it’s not enough and it’s too little too late. Operators have highlighted the fact that MCI buses (used on the Express Routes) have only one entrance/exit. Additionally, the MCI riders — some of whom themselves are frontline workers (nurses and other healthcare providers leaving work) are permitted to sit in the proximity of the driver.

One frustrated Broward County Transit (BCT) bus operator said, “They ain’t listening to us. They don’t give a damn.”

His statement was made after he was threatened by a passenger who wanted to stand next to him in violation of BCT’s new guidelines put in place to help protect drivers from coming in close contact with riders. Press Release: Social Distancing Guidelines.

BCT has provided hand sanitizer to its employees and is awaiting masks for Operators that are on back-order.

BCT Fares Suspended

Bus fare collections have been temporarily suspended on all bus services, including TOPS! Paratransit.

Broward County asks that members of the public limit their use of buses and TOPS! Paratransit services to essential travel only.

Social Distancing Guidelines

BCT customers will enter and exit the bus using the rear doors only, except customers who require the use of the wheelchair ramp, which remains available at the front door.​

Riders are asked to please practice safe social distancing protect yourself, other passengers, and the bus operators.

Control Group: What are the “real” numbers?

The  Hype Factor and the Hyperbole President of the United States.

President Trump, who is known to exaggerate just about everything he says as being the biggest and the best, is now on the other side of the experts where he is downplaying the effects of the Covert-19.

Most medical doctors believe COVID-19 is a long term menace to society, while President Trump seems to think that it is a flash-in-the-pan nuisance.

Is this disease a killer of the elderly only, or is it an equal opportunity destroyer of life?

Some younger employees (in their 20s) have developed a sense of over-confidence that could lead to a disastrous outcome for themselves and coworkers. Please do not believe the hype of the virus, causing the death of some elderly nursing home residents — in their 80s and 90s. That is hype.

Those people were slated to die soon because of their age.

That is, people everyday and everyday people. Isn’t that life?

Andrew “Grand-standing” Cuomo: Dog Catcher elected as Governor of NY State. WTF. More people died on his watch than the number of people who died in the attack on Pearl Harbor or the attack on the World Trade Center. And he wants to challenge Trump on everything.

Yet some people are chanting: Cuomo for president. He should be happy he has not placed on trial for malfeasance and malfeasance.

NYPD over 1 in 5 officers have booked off sick, and 2000 officers tested positive for COVID-19, the symptoms that cause the coronavirus. They know these numbers because they are testing, if there is no testing, then no knows the severity of the spread of the virus.

Staff Writer: Clinton Franklin

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