Public works road crews left off vaccine priority list thus far
Osten: ‘some push to get them moved up’
Norwich — Back in fall, when the state was setting priorities in anticipation of the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines, City Manager John Salomone was lobbying hard for public works road crews to be declared essential workers and get high priority status.
His pleas, noting that these workers were needed to keep roads and sidewalks cleared, went unanswered as the first winter storms hit in December and snow fell frequently in late January and early February. More snow or sleet is possible this weekend and later next week.
“It’s very frustrating,” Salomone said Friday. “I’ve been on this soapbox for months on this.”
The Norwich Public Works Department has taken some precautions, trying to keep workers somewhat separated. But with the city’s many steep and narrow streets, some plow routes require two workers in the trucks. Public Works Director Patrick McLaughlin said normally, four trucks have two occupants, but he has cut that in half to two trucks. And the department lunchroom is closed.
McLaughlin said he would consider nearly all the department’s 53 employees to be essential, including plow drivers, mechanics who service the trucks and custodians who clear public walkways. The department has had “a few people” out on COVID-19 quarantine at different times, luckily spread out enough so that plowing was not greatly affected.
For the Feb. 1 storm, the city Public Works Department received help from a certified plow driver who works at Norwich Public Utilities to help clear city streets.
State Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, whose district includes Norwich, said she has heard the complaint about public works employees left off of the priority list from several towns.
“There is some push to get them moved up in the priority list,” Osten said during a weekly teleconference call Friday morning with Norwich city leaders. “I’ve heard that comment several times from groups. It was one of the priorities the state was considering, keeping the roads open and lights on. But at this point, they’re not in the priority group, so unless they’re 65 years old, they are not a priority.”
Salomone said the city included public works employees in the list of essential workers slated to be vaccinated at the end of Phase 1b, after residents age 65 and older. But Uncas Health District Director Patrick McCormack said Friday there are 365,000 residents in the 65-plus age group, and state officials expect vaccination of that age group to take three to four weeks before inoculations are opened to the next priority group.
“The problem will solve itself by April,” Salomone said, “when we won’t have any more snow, hopefully. I don’t see that the state is moving it up. I’ve made that comment a number of times, and I think I’m becoming an annoyance with the state on it. There’s a lot of people competing for essential workers, and that’s the problem. You realize how many people are essential workers. It’s a broad base, and it becomes difficult.”