Contractor For MTA Short On Hand Sanitizer Days After Driver Tests Positive For Coronavirus
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) - The first driver of an MTA bus has tested positive for COVID-19 - and now other drivers are worried.
Investigative reporter David Goldstein found the depot where he worked was short of hand sanitizer.
The driver worked out of the yard in Carson. One of the workers there sent us video from inside the office area showing - at least on one particular day - empty sanitizers.
Drivers rely on sanitizer to keep themselves safe and the bus-riding public.
"My concern is the company is not doing anything to protect us," said one driver who asked us to conceal his identity.
When told all the hand sanitizers were empty, the driver replied, "They don't refill nothing. It's only about two they refill but everything is gone."
He works out of the Carson facility which is subcontracted by MTA to MV Transportation. On Monday employees got a letter telling them someone tested positive for the coronavirus.
Officials say they've sanitized the bus and surrounding areas where the person worked, but MTA drivers are concerned.
One of them sent Goldstein a picture of what they were given for protection last week: one mask, one pair of gloves and a tiny bottle of hand sanitizer.
"At first they told us it was for one week, but when we ask for more they told us they don't have anymore," he said.
"No more masks?"
"No more."
MTA says orders for new masks have been placed and say they'll make them available when they come in. And they say they've installed hand sanitizers in each bus division.
But at least on this day in Carson they were empty.
"Everyday I go to work my family, they cry and worry, but I'm the only person that provides for my family so I have to go to work," the driver said.
MTA says they're exploring equipping buses and trains with sanitizers for the public. And they say while masks are being provided to drivers, health authorities haven't mandated that they be used.
