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A Detroit bus driver, who posted a Facebook video about the perils of his job after a woman coughed openly on his bus, has died of the novel coronavirus.
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Just two weeks ago, Jason Hargrove, 50, posted an angry Facebook video describing how a middle-aged woman got on the bus and coughed four or five times without covering her mouth. Hargrove died Wednesday night of COVID-19.
“We out here as public workers, doing our job, trying to make an honest living to take care of our families, but for you to get on the bus and stand on the bus and cough several times without covering up your mouth, and you know we’re in the middle of a pandemic, that lets me know that some folks don’t care,” Hargrove said in the March 21 video.
“This is real … For us to get through this and get over this, man, y’all need to take this s— serious. There’s folks dying out here,” he added.
Glenn Tolbert, the president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 26 and multiple news accounts, confirmed Hargrove’s death to the Detroit Free-Press. Tolbert said that Hargrove began feeling sick just a few days after the incident with the coughing woman.
Tolbert, who also has tested positive for COVID-19, called it a “trying time” for the whole department. Tolbert added that bus drivers are “really worried” and “obviously scared.”
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan told the Free-Press that he was personally touched by Hargrove’s story, and called him someone “who knew the risks and was vocal about the risks,” yet still went to work.
Last month, bus drivers were worried about this actual thing happening and briefly shut down public transportation by calling in sick. A day after the shutdown, Detroit officials made some changes. They said passengers should enter and exit from the rear of the bus and must keep the first row of seats, which are located behind the bus drivers, empty to maintain adequate distance.
Those concessions are not enough and some bus drivers are still concerned.
“I just think the protections that have been put in place are inadequate for what’s going on out here,” bus driver Roderick Nash told the Free Press. “In my personal opinion, the mayor and the governor needs to shut everything down for a couple of weeks.”
Megan Owens, executive director of Transportation Riders United, called bus drivers “essential” workers and said their routes would continue. But she added that they need assurances that higher-ups are doing what they can to protect them during the outbreak.
“It’s essential our buses keep rolling,” Owens said, explaining that some healthcare professionals rely on the buses to get to work. “But just as essential is management doing everything it can to minimize risk to those drivers.”