Life as a long-haul trucker has always had its challenges — boredom, bad traffic and tough schedules.
But the coronavirus pandemic has added new problems, with closed rest stops and roadside restaurants, along with varying levels of compliance by both drivers and the individuals they encounter when it comes to wearing face masks. Drivers say it can also be tough for for them to get tested for COVID-19.
With several interstate highways and its location in the nation’s center, Chicago is a major trucking hub. Truck drivers offer a unique perspective on the coronavirus pandemic because they are one of the few groups of essential workers who have been traveling regularly between different regions of the country.
“We’re supposed to be America’s heroes, essential workers out on the road, but we can’t get anywhere to stop and eat dinner now,” said Bob Easom, 43, who lives in Delaware and drives in the Midwest and along the East Coast.
Even as businesses are starting to reopen, Easom said he still finds closed rest areas, restaurants that are open but have limited hours, and warehouses that take truck deliveries and refuse to let drivers use their restroom facilities.
To make up for the lack of roadside restaurants, Easom said he stocks up his in-truck refrigerator, but “you get tired of eating lunch meat and peanut butter and jelly.”
He carries plastic jugs for when he can’t find an open restroom, a trick that won’t work for female drivers.
Some drivers and truck stop workers wear masks when they are around others and some don’t, said Brenda Echols, 55, a long-haul driver with JKC Trucking, based in south suburban Summit. Echols said it worries her that so many truckers, who are in contact with so many people from all over the country, are so “lackadaisical.”
Echols said she has noticed people in urban areas are more careful than in rural areas about masks and hand sanitizer.
“We’re part of the supply chain that we worry about so much,” said Echols, who drives between Illinois and Texas. “When you have places that aren’t taking it seriously, it can disrupt that.”
Echols, who often delivers food products like eggs, said she always wears a mask and gloves when she gets out of her truck, and JKC requires masks for drivers whenever they’re around people. She recalls going into an Illinois truck stop recently and someone made a show of coughing, to make fun of her.
“He thought that was funny,” Echols said.
Truck driver Brenda Echols of JKC Trucking Inc. at Summit Cold Storage in Summit, May 15, 2020. Echols drives between Illinois and Texas. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Easom said he sees a range of mask habits among truckers and warehouse workers — some wear masks, some don’t, and some have them dangling about their necks. He said he sees less mask use in Indiana and Michigan than on the East Coast, and admits that he “hates wearing the damn thing.”
But the isolation of sitting behind the wheel of a truck all day may have an upside when it comes to the health crisis.
Todd Spencer, president and CEO of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, said the trade group has been “genuinely surprised” that more truckers have not been getting the virus.
Spencer said it has become easier for drivers to get personal protective equipment than it was in the beginning of the pandemic, with the Federal Emergency Management Administration distributing face masks. Also, truck stops are selling masks and hand sanitizer.
The Centers for Disease Control issued special guidelines for long-haul truckers and their employers. It recommends drivers wear cloth face coverings in public when social distancing is difficult, to regularly wipe down high-touch areas of their trucks, like door handles, and make a plan with their employers and families for what to do if they get sick on the road.
The CDC advises trucking companies to provide masks and other personal protective equipment and information on COVID to employees. The federal agency recommends that employers consider drafting non-punitive emergency sick leave policies if sick leave is not offered. The agency also suggests that employers should not require a positive COVID-19 test result or a doctor’s note for sick drivers to validate their illness, qualify for sick leave or return to work.
At the beginning of the pandemic, there were few drive-thru COVID testing sites that could accommodate trucks, making it hard for a driver who got sick on the road to get tested.
More testing sites are allowing truck tractors to come through, but there is a still problem with facilities not taking out-of-area residents, and many truckers are far from home, said Bob Stanton, a Batavia-based long-haul trucker and co-founder of Truckers for a Cause, which focuses on driver health issues.
Stanton, 62, is a Type 2 diabetic on high blood pressure medication who has sleep apnea, and his wife is a Type 1 diabetic. Because of their health concerns, if either got COVID, “it’s probably not going to go well,” Stanton said.
In late March, when it was apparent how serious the pandemic had become, “we had a long, heart-to-heart talk about whether I should go back to work.” They decided they couldn’t afford for him not to go back on the road.
Stanton noted that because most truck drivers don’t have sick pay, they will work while suffering possible coronavirus symptoms.
“They’re contagious and possibly spreading disease the whole time,” Stanton said.
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From closed rest areas to drive-thru testing limitations, truck drivers face rough road during coronavirus pandemic
From closed rest areas to drive-thru testing limitations, truck drivers face rough road during coronavirus pandemic
Life as a long-haul trucker has always had its challenges — boredom, bad traffic and tough schedules.
But the coronavirus pandemic has added new problems, with closed rest stops and roadside restaurants, along with varying levels of compliance by both drivers and the individuals they encounter when it comes to wearing face masks. Drivers say it can also be tough for for them to get tested for COVID-19.
With several interstate highways and its location in the nation’s center, Chicago is a major trucking hub. Truck drivers offer a unique perspective on the coronavirus pandemic because they are one of the few groups of essential workers who have been traveling regularly between different regions of the country.
“We’re supposed to be America’s heroes, essential workers out on the road, but we can’t get anywhere to stop and eat dinner now,” said Bob Easom, 43, who lives in Delaware and drives in the Midwest and along the East Coast.
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Even as businesses are starting to reopen, Easom said he still finds closed rest areas, restaurants that are open but have limited hours, and warehouses that take truck deliveries and refuse to let drivers use their restroom facilities.
To make up for the lack of roadside restaurants, Easom said he stocks up his in-truck refrigerator, but “you get tired of eating lunch meat and peanut butter and jelly.”
He carries plastic jugs for when he can’t find an open restroom, a trick that won’t work for female drivers.
Some drivers and truck stop workers wear masks when they are around others and some don’t, said Brenda Echols, 55, a long-haul driver with JKC Trucking, based in south suburban Summit. Echols said it worries her that so many truckers, who are in contact with so many people from all over the country, are so “lackadaisical.”
Echols said she has noticed people in urban areas are more careful than in rural areas about masks and hand sanitizer.
“We’re part of the supply chain that we worry about so much,” said Echols, who drives between Illinois and Texas. “When you have places that aren’t taking it seriously, it can disrupt that.”
Echols, who often delivers food products like eggs, said she always wears a mask and gloves when she gets out of her truck, and JKC requires masks for drivers whenever they’re around people. She recalls going into an Illinois truck stop recently and someone made a show of coughing, to make fun of her.
“He thought that was funny,” Echols said.
Easom said he sees a range of mask habits among truckers and warehouse workers — some wear masks, some don’t, and some have them dangling about their necks. He said he sees less mask use in Indiana and Michigan than on the East Coast, and admits that he “hates wearing the damn thing.”
But the isolation of sitting behind the wheel of a truck all day may have an upside when it comes to the health crisis.
Todd Spencer, president and CEO of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, said the trade group has been “genuinely surprised” that more truckers have not been getting the virus.
Spencer said it has become easier for drivers to get personal protective equipment than it was in the beginning of the pandemic, with the Federal Emergency Management Administration distributing face masks. Also, truck stops are selling masks and hand sanitizer.
The Centers for Disease Control issued special guidelines for long-haul truckers and their employers. It recommends drivers wear cloth face coverings in public when social distancing is difficult, to regularly wipe down high-touch areas of their trucks, like door handles, and make a plan with their employers and families for what to do if they get sick on the road.
The CDC advises trucking companies to provide masks and other personal protective equipment and information on COVID to employees. The federal agency recommends that employers consider drafting non-punitive emergency sick leave policies if sick leave is not offered. The agency also suggests that employers should not require a positive COVID-19 test result or a doctor’s note for sick drivers to validate their illness, qualify for sick leave or return to work.
At the beginning of the pandemic, there were few drive-thru COVID testing sites that could accommodate trucks, making it hard for a driver who got sick on the road to get tested.
More testing sites are allowing truck tractors to come through, but there is a still problem with facilities not taking out-of-area residents, and many truckers are far from home, said Bob Stanton, a Batavia-based long-haul trucker and co-founder of Truckers for a Cause, which focuses on driver health issues.
Stanton, 62, is a Type 2 diabetic on high blood pressure medication who has sleep apnea, and his wife is a Type 1 diabetic. Because of their health concerns, if either got COVID, “it’s probably not going to go well,” Stanton said.
In late March, when it was apparent how serious the pandemic had become, “we had a long, heart-to-heart talk about whether I should go back to work.” They decided they couldn’t afford for him not to go back on the road.
Stanton noted that because most truck drivers don’t have sick pay, they will work while suffering possible coronavirus symptoms.
“They’re contagious and possibly spreading disease the whole time,” Stanton said.
mwisniewski@chicagotribune.com
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JKC Trucking : JKC Trucking Inc in Summit, IL.
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