City To Start Daily Temperature Checks Of All Bus Drivers
Plans for new mass-testing protocols were ramped up after a driver tested positive over the weekend.
Later this week, Honolulu bus and Handi-Van drivers will start getting daily temperature screenings before they start their shifts, city transit officials said.
They鈥檒l also get occasional COVID-19 tests at work starting Friday.
The new mass-testing protocols come after a city bus driver tested positive for the virus Saturday. The driver had started to feel sick last Monday but continued to drive through the week. He didn鈥檛 get tested until Friday, transit officials said at a press conference Sunday.
Oahu Transit Services, which runs TheBus and Handi-Van for the city, had already been planning to take such steps, but the driver鈥檚 positive test hastened that plan, said Roger Morton, the company鈥檚 president.
The thermal screening equipment arrived on Friday. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 think we were going to put them in service quite as early as they are,鈥 Morton said at a follow-up press briefing Monday.
More than 2,000 OTS employees, including the drivers, will be occasionally tested at work for COVID-19, he said. After the first round, on Friday, they鈥檒l assess how frequently to test going forward — and it will largely depend on whether any results come back positive, Morton added.
If there are no positives they鈥檒l consider doing that testing once a month, he said.
Wayne Kaululaau, president of the Hawaii Teamsters 996, said the union, which represents the drivers, is in 鈥渟trong support鈥 of the measures. The union鈥檚 office, he said, will be closed Monday and Tuesday because one of their staff members met with the driver who tested positive.
Since the pandemic hit, any drivers who feel sick are supposed to report to OTS鈥 human resources department and stay home, company officials said.
鈥淓ven though the driver apparently broke our rule鈥 by continuing to drive, OTS feels the need to support him now that he鈥檚 sick and use it as a 鈥渓earning event鈥 for the rest of the staff, Morton said. OTS doesn鈥檛 plan to discipline the driver — but it could discipline subsequent drivers who violate TheBus鈥 policy, he added.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very unfortunate, I wish it hadn鈥檛 happened, but right now my aloha is toward the driver – he鈥檚 sick and we鈥檙e going to do what we can to support him.鈥
Drivers get 15 days of paid sick leave and any unused can be carried over to the next year, according to Morton. They also get 21 days for vacation, which can鈥檛 be carried over. Drivers can use those days to stay home either if they feel sick or they feel vulnerable to the disease, he said.
If they run out of sick and vacation days, the drivers can remain on unpaid leave without being punished, Morton added.
