The outbreak of COVID-19 infections in the city of Santa Fe’s Transit Division has taken another life.
A male supervisor in the bus system is the latest fatality — the third this month. Two city bus drivers also died of COVID-19.
City spokesman David Herndon confirmed the most recent death after I asked about it.
“Sadly, a transit supervisor passed [Monday] due to COVID,” Herndon wrote in an email.
Herndon said neither the man’s co-workers nor members of the public were at risk of infection.
“He tested positive and did not return to the workplace after Thanksgiving and therefore represented no health threat to co-workers,” Herndon stated. “As a supervisor, his work did not bring him in contact with the public.”
The city administration has closed ranks regarding every infection, saying transit workers could not have spread the contagious disease to others. But some in town are challenging the city’s claims, most notably about barriers and masks keeping buses safe for all.
At least a dozen city transit workers contracted COVID-19 during the fall. In addition to the three who have died, nine others were infected, say people who are familiar with the agency.
Whether the bus drivers and transit supervisor who died were vaccinated is still unknown to the public. Herndon said he could not respond to questions about their medical history until “receiving guidance” from the state Environment Department’s Occupational Health and Safety Bureau.
The state agency is investigating whether the city took the necessary steps to prevent transit workers from being exposed to COVID-19.
City policy has a certain leeway in regard to employee vaccinations. It requires workers to prove they are fully vaccinated, or they must undergo a weekly test to determine if they have the contagious disease.
Herndon said another transit supervisor tested positive Monday for COVID-19 and went home immediately.
“At this time he is asymptomatic. The employee’s office has been disinfected,” Herndon stated Tuesday.
Since the two bus drivers died earlier this month, Herndon and Thomas Martinez, operations director of the bus system, have described city safety procedures as strict and sound.
“There has never been an assessment, based on CDC guidelines of time and distance of exposure, that a contagious driver came into close contact with passengers,” Herndon wrote in an email.
He said bus drivers are issued masks and gloves, and they can request face shields.
What about dissidents?
“The one driver who refused to wear a mask no longer works for the City,” Herndon stated.
Not everyone is convinced the system is working so well.
Thom Cole, a former reporter for The New Mexican and the Albuquerque Journal who now works in state government, told me he recently rode with two city bus drivers who didn’t wear face coverings.
“I took the bus a couple weeks ago up and down Cerrillos Road while my car was in the shop, and neither driver was wearing a mask,” Cole said.
Martinez claimed transit drivers work in a system that blocks interaction with riders. He said a barrier separates customers from the the driver when they board.
Former employees of the transit system said Martinez’s description was not accurate.
First, they pointed to the city’s paratransit vehicles and MV-1 vans, which have no barriers between driver and riders.
“There’s nothing there, not even plastic,” said one former employee of the transit system.
As for the larger city buses, there is no all-around barrier separating riders from the driver. Rather, customers pay their fare in an open area at the driver’s side. Only in back of the driver’s seat does a barrier exist.
Herndon extolled other aspects of the transit system.
He said the buses have “robust air-filtration systems.” The city, he stated, is committed to using other strategies to blunt the coronavirus.
He cited a procedure in which buses at least twice a week are “fogged” with a disinfectant. Herndon said one procedure is effective for a month.
Vigilance is ongoing, Herndon said.
“If a driver were to learn of COVID-positive status by email during a shift, the vehicle would come out of service immediately and be disinfected,” he stated.
The city’s stand that every precaution is already taken leaves an important question unanswered: How did at least a dozen transit employees catch COVID-19, including three lethal cases?
It’s a line of inquiry Mayor Alan Webber should make sure is explored.
Once the mayor finishes explaining why the city again missed the deadline for filing its audit with the state, he should make time for what ails the bus system and its employees.
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Third employee of Santa Fe bus system dies of COVID-19 - Santa Fe New Mexican
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