WATERBURY, Conn. — School bus drivers in Waterbury say their job isn’t worth risking their health and the health of their family. They are voicing safety and communication concerns following a colleague testing positive for COVID. This is the second Waterbury bus driver to test positive in less than a week. In addition, 15 Waterbury students have tested positive so far this year, seven of them were doing in-person learning.
A Waterbury School bus driver posted on Facebook that they have COVID.
Bus driver Juanita Jones said, "Nobody told bus drivers anything." Her colleague Sonya Minnis said, "I think if she didn’t post it, we never would have known anything about it."
Waterbury Schools says, “The city’s contact tracing team was engaged immediately. The bus drivers are contracted by Durham School Services. In a statement, they said, “Our internal communications method is being explored regarding notification to our employees.”
Edward Flavin, the Director of Communications for National Express, the company that owns Durham School Services told FOX61 that they should have done a better job communicating the news of an employee testing positive to fellow employees. He said going forward they will be posting letters in common areas of the bus terminal.
Minnis said, "My message to them is we want to work. It’s not that we don’t want to work we want to work but we want more safety." The drivers say they feel forgotten about. "You made teachers essential workers. What about the drivers, what about the janitors, what about the cooks? When they go to work, we go to work too."
They want help in the form of bus monitors.
"We are drivers, parents, teachers, cops, nurses, and psychiatrists," said Minnis. The bus drivers are also calling for more cleaning, better PPE, and a company provided testing regiment.
Juanita Jones said, "It scares me for the fact that I have a 13-year-old son at home who has sickle cell anemia disease, so he has a weak immune system."
In a statement, Durham School Services said, "Our buses are cleaned and disinfected twice a day, once after the morning routes and then again after the afternoon routes. In addition, we provide EPA approved anti-bacterial cleaning supplies to drivers to enable them to spot-clean any surface that becomes contaminated during the route prior to the start of school...We can confirm that PPE is available and provided to our drivers and monitors each day. Upon arrival at work, temperatures are taken for each employee and a new mask is provided."
Waterbury Schools and Durham School Services says the bus that the infected person was driving has been taken out of service and the driver will quarantine for 14 days. The city of Waterbury does provide free COVID testing.