More than 100 Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority workers have tested positive for COVID-19, including 52 bus drivers, four subway motor persons, and five trolley motor persons.
Of those who have tested positive for the virus, six have recovered, and one employee died. Decreased ridership and public safety concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic have led the agency to alter services, and the MBTA is focusing on employee and rider safety as the number of confirmed cases in the state increases.
“The MBTA has taken aggressive steps to protect the health and safety of its customers and the workforce, and T officials will continue to engage with public health professionals and peer transit agencies to work toward implementing additional safeguards for riders and employees,” said MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo.
MBTA employees who may have contracted COVID-19 are being tested at the COVID-19 Emergency Responder Testing Facility at Patriot Place, next to Gillette Stadium in Foxboro. According to Pesaturo, about 30 employees are being tested in Foxboro each day. The MBTA has 2,683 vehicle operators across its entire transit network.
Subway and bus employees are having their temperatures taken at the beginning of their shifts, and any person with a temperature of over 100 degrees is being asked to leave the property immediately and contact their health care provider, Pesaturo said. Personal protective equipment, including masks, gloves, and goggles have also been provided to employees.
Furthermore, all MBTA vehicles are being disinfected each day, and “high-contact surfaces” are being cleaned and disinfected during mid-day layover periods, Pesaturo said. Travel for nonessential purposes is discouraged.
At street-level boarding sites for buses and trolleys on the Green Line and Mattapan Line, the MBTA has implemented rear-door boarding to encourage social distancing, Pesaturo said. There have been no layoffs by the agency during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
Steve Poftak, general manager of the MBTA, released a video-recorded statement with Dr. Ashish Jha, a K.T. Li professor of Global Health and director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, about the importance of social distancing and wearing masks.
Jha said all workers and riders should be wearing masks as a “unified front” against COVID-19, and use hand sanitizers as much as possible.
“For those of us that are out in the community on the T or the bus or in a grocery store should have something covering our masks,” Jha said. “When I think of MBTA workers, I think of people that are essential to keeping our economy and our lives running.”
“Our frontline workers are driving the buses and operating the subways and commuter trains,” said Poftak, who added that a large portion of MBTA riders right now are essential health care workers. “(They) are making it possible for essential workers at places like hospitals and grocery stores to get to work.”
The MBTA has eliminated all shared trips on The RIDE, and has closed its “CharlieCard” store.
While some services have been decreased — with commuter rail stops becoming more infrequent — other services have been bolstered to allow essential health care workers to get to work. For example, five trains now arrive in Boston before 7 a.m. to allow doctors, nurses, other medical professionals, and emergency responders to get to medical facilities.
Riders at the Central Square MBTA station in Lynn on Wednesday had differing opinions about riding the commuter rail line during the pandemic, but many said it was necessary to get to work.
Alex Ortega said he and his girlfriend take the commuter rail into Boston frequently as grocery store workers and to see family. As they see the number of fellow passengers decrease, they wonder if they should stop taking the commuter rail themselves.
“It’s good in one way, because it’s like, ‘Less people I’m around, less chance I get coronavirus,’” Ortega said. “But it’s also kind of scary, like there’s a reason people are staying home and not getting on (the commuter rail).”
Others said they would continue riding no matter what.
“I don’t have a car, and this is how I travel,” said Lynn rider Willy Ortiz, who is an essential worker at a “sober home” in Boston. “It’s what I’ve got to do, and if I get sick, I get sick.”