US bus driver dies of COVID-19, 11 days after passenger coughed
Detroit bus driver dies from coronavirus 11 days after complaining about passenger coughing without covering her mouth.
Late last month, a public bus driver in Detroit, Jason Hargrove, posted a live Facebook video about a woman coughing on his bus several times without covering her mouth.
At least eight or nine other passengers were on the bus while the woman was coughing, he said, and she made no attempt to cover her mouth.
Keep reading
list of 4 itemsMexico’s teachers seek relief from pandemic-era spike in school robberies
‘A bad chapter’: Tracing the origins of Ecuador’s rise in gang violence
Why is the US economy so resilient?
“Hey, look, listen, man. Let me tell you something,” Hargrove says in the video. “This coronavirus s*** is for real and we are out here as public workers, doing our jobs trying to make an honest living and take care of our families. But for you to get on a bus and stand on a bus and cough, several times without covering up your mouth and you know that we’re in the middle of a pandemic, that lets me know that some folks don’t care.”
Hargrove also said he had tried to disinfect the bus afterwards and promised that he would take off all his clothes and shower as soon as he got home.
Less than two weeks after this video was taken, Hargrove died of coronavirus.
The president of the local transit union told the press that Hargrove had started feeling sick just a few days after he posted the video.
Four days before Hargrove’s live stream, Detroit’s public bus drivers had shut down most of the city’s bus services for a day in protest against unsafe conditions for themselves and their passengers.
In response to their concerns, the city announced on the day of the protest that all bus fares would be cancelled during the pandemic and that buses would be cleaned more regularly.
They also said that drivers will receive gloves and sanitary wipes and that passengers would be required to board and exit at the back door of the bus instead of the front door, which is directly beside the drivers.
Hargrove’s death sparked a discussion about the dangers for employees who still have to go out and work during the outbreak.
This report was produced and edited by Al Jazeera NewsFeed’s Seena Khalil.