Editorial: Transit workers are front-line soldiers in covid war
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Much of the language surrounding the coronavirus pandemic is comparable to that of warfare.
We talk about fighting the disease. Having a battle plan. Deploying assets. And more than anything, we talk about the front lines.
As in any war, that is where things get real. With covid-19, the front lines are the places where people who keep the world turning interact with the masses and, therefore, the virus.
Foremost, there are the medical personnel who treat the sick in emergency rooms, intensive care units and nursing homes. There are the emergency medical technicians and paramedics who staff ambulances and respond to 911 calls. There are the home health workers.
But there are other critical flanks. The police who respond to problems of all kinds. The corrections officers who maintain the peace in jails and prisons where the disease is flourishing. Firefighters who pull people out of crashed cars and burning buildings.
There is little doubt those jobs are crucial. But there are others in the trenches, too. Others facing as much risk doing jobs just as vital.
Ask the families of Patrick Hazlett and Marlon J. Lucas. The two Port Authority of Allegheny County bus drivers died last week, just days apart, the first transit worker casualties in the area. Hazlett was buried Friday in Plum Creek Cemetery.
Nationwide, transit workers have been among the early victims of covid; in New York City, nearly 130 had died by mid-May.
The people who keep the trains and buses running are the people who keep the hospitals staffed, the police departments running and the other front lines filled with vital workers. They also connect the public to the vital medical services they need in the pandemic.
That is why the Port Authority leadership has asked the state to prioritize transit workers when it comes to distributing the vaccine to front-line personnel.
“Our front-line employees are heroes, and they must be protected,” said spokesman Adam Brandolph. “Without them — without public transit — so many people across Western Pennsylvania would be without access to essential services, particularly now when they need it the most.”
It is a simple expression of support and appreciation. But that isn’t why Gov. Tom Wolf should agree.
He should do that because securing transportation lines is something a good general would do while fighting a battle.
For months, covid has been popping up among Port Authority staff. A total of 194 employees have tested positive for the disease, with 127 of them in November alone. It is surprising that it has taken so long for one of those positive tests to turn deadly.
Protecting the workers who keep the county’s population moving protects the people who fight the good fight. And that’s how this war will be won.