Pittsburgh trash collectors slam officials over lack of protective gear amid coronavirus crisis: 'We risk our life'
Garbage collectors in Pittsburgh have urged the authorities to provide them with protective gear amid the coronavirus pandemic as they headed back to work on March 26.
The collectors began work just a day after they staged a protest demanding that the City do more to protect them from the deadly virus.
"We’re playing Russian roulette with every garbage bag that we’re grabbing," a trash collector, Sheldon White, told WPXI-TV. "Half the people don’t tie their bags, so when the stuff spills out, they tell you to pick it up. There’s Kleenexes that people blow their nose and cough in."
The employees were reportedly sent home on March 25 with pay as the department reportedly locked its doors and sanitized the headquarters after one employee was believed to have been exposed to a spouse who was presumed to have been infected with the virus.
A local union chief, Kevin Schmitt, while talking to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, said that the demonstration on March 25 was not a threat to strike but a misunderstanding. The mayorial spokesperson Tim McNulty also released a statement saying that the city was taking all the necessary precautions to prevent the spread of the virus, which included providing protective gear to refuse workers of the area.
"The City of Pittsburgh is taking all due precautions to protect refuse workers from the Bureau of Environmental Services who were sent home today due to fears over COVID-19 exposure, and has been taking these precautions with all essential city personnel since the start of the pandemic," the spokesperson reportedly said.
"The City has been following Centers for Disease Control guidance, including having Environmental Services buildings and trucks cleaned regularly; providing workers with protective glasses and gloves; and doing daily health screenings," he continued. "Workers are given gloves each day that they are not allowed to take home, and have been offered plastic gloves to wear under them if they wish. The City has provided Environmental Services workers wipes to regularly clean off their equipment, and the City has encouraged workers to wash their uniforms daily."
"Every morning workers are given a health care check-list to identify if they have any symptoms of the virus. This check-list has been mischaracterized as a 'release form,' which it is not," the union chief added.
Reports state that residents in Pittsburg are being encouraged to limit exposure to germs by keeping out their garbage in leak-proof bags without any tears or holes and are properly tied. Residents in the region have also been asked to maintain a distance of at least 50 feet from trash and recycling vehicles, reports state.
Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburg, has reported over 133 confirmed cases of coronavirus as of March 26. Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus cases in Pennsylvania increased by 50 percent to over 1,600 cases as record number of residents from the state filed for unemployment compensation. The number of deaths recorded in the state linked to the novel coronavirus also rose to 16 on March 26.