The union for Halifax’s bus drivers says it’s too soon to drop mask requirements on city transit.
The province is ending masking and all other COVID-19 public health restrictions Monday.
The city was quick to align with province, setting the end of masking for city services the same day.
Ken Wilson, President of ATU 508, says it’s premature.
“At the same time that Public Health and the Nova Scotia government has left certain restrictions in place for healthcare and other sectors,” he says. “HRM seems to be the first out of the gate.”
Wilson says busses are crowded, enclosed, and poorly ventilated spaces, the ideal place for COVID-19 to spread.
He says we know the virus thrives on buses; they were major areas of concern and often included in exposure warnings throughout the pandemic.
Wilson says there is still higher than normal absenteeism from drives, either because of COVID-19, isolation, or stress.
“Anxiety, we’re starting to see an increase from operators,” he says. “I’m hearing from a few operators, over the last couple of days, that they’re concerned about standing loads, they’re concerned about no one wearing a mask.”
Wilson says they’re encouraging bus drivers to continue wearing masks while at work, especially on crowded busses.
He says they also convinced Halifax to keep the plexiglass driver barriers in place, but couldn’t convince them to block the seat directly behind the driver.
Wilson says masking should remain on busses, for a couple of weeks or a month, until we see the impact dropping restrictions has elsewhere.
He says removing restrictions on transit right away will make buses little more than the test case for how COVID-19 will spread after health measures end.
