Metro to test its workers for COVID-19 every week
Metro, unable to mandate COVID vaccines among its nearly 4,000 workers, will begin testing them for the coronavirus weekly.
Officials still are developing the program to test workers at various sites, such as bus garages and rail operations facilities, said Karen Kauffman, chief human resources officer for Metropolitan Transit Authority.
Results of the tests will be submitted to Metro’s HR department.
Workers who have not received the vaccine will be required to submit to weekly testing, Metro spokeswoman Tracy Jackson said.
The transit agency is offering up to eight hours of pay for workers to receive the COVID vaccine, but, per the executive order of Gov. Greg Abbott, cannot require employees to submit to inoculation.
Metro, notably its bus operators and police, has been significantly affected by COVID, despite efforts to limit their exposure and find cases quickly.
Plastic shields were installed on buses to protect drivers as riders pass in and out of the front door, and sanitizer stations were added to vehicles by spring 2020. Metro also began checking the temperature of anyone coming into a transit facility.
As of Wednesday, 681 employees and 142 contractors — many Metro bus operators and others working for First Transit, a national transit staffing company — have tested positive for COVID since March 2020. Seventy-two of those positive tests have come this month.
Riders, meanwhile, will need to a don a mask to hop on buses and trains into 2022, Metro CEO Tom Lambert said.
As previously reported in Washington, the Transportation Security Administration is extending its requirement for masks on all public transit, including airplanes, from Sept. 13 to at least Jan. 18, 2022, Lambert said.
On a conference call with transit officials earlier this week, Lambert said TSA leaders confirmed they would make a formal announcement Friday.