VIRUS FEARS RIDE SHOTGUN
Truckers thinking twice about trips to U.S.
It’s getting to the point where he’s afraid to walk through his front door.
Grant Warburton, a longhaul truck driver for the last 25 years, is worried about COVID-19 — particularly when his destination is south of the border.
“Every single time I go into the states,” he said, “I feel like ... ‘Is this going to be the day I bring it home to my family?’ ”
Warburton, who lives in Cambridge, isn’t the only driver watching what’s going on in the United States with growing concern.
Drivers, he said, are already beginning to refuse runs to the U.S. A buddy of his this week turned down a load destined for Georgia.
“I think that that’s going to be a growing trend,” he said.
“At some point, I’m going to make that decision myself. Just me alone, that’s just one truck off the road and it won’t make much difference,
but what if it becomes a growing trend?”
As reported by the Toronto Sun last week, Canadian truckers sounded an alarm over a lack of basic amenities needed to make life on the road possible.
Drivers told the Sun that businesses, freight terminals and gas stations were refusing to let them use washrooms and that places to eat were becoming scarce.
Canadian truckers are now concerned about what they see as widespread disregard for even the most basic measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, putting them at risk.
“I think what people are not really understanding is that these truck drivers from Canada, we’re going home,” he said from just outside of Syracuse, N.Y., on his way to Philadelphia.
“We’re staying with our families, like myself. I’ve got nowhere else to go.”
Warburton said his wife developed a regimented routine for his return: Gloves on, clothes straight into the laundry and he goes upstairs for a long shower.
Everything, from his boots to cellphone, is thoroughly disinfected with Lysol.
“Only then am I allowed into the house,” he said.
While some northern states seem to be getting the message, he said, the problems get worse the farther south they go.
Truck-stop dining rooms are open, there are no notices on doors, no hand sanitizer, gloves or masks at terminals.
“I’m just in there to do paperwork and get the hell out of there,” he said.
I’m just in there to do paperwork and get the hell out of there.
Grant Warburton