Coronavirus: Bus Driver Who Complained Of Coughing Rider Dies

DETROIT, MI — A Detroit Department of Transportation bus driver has reportedly died from the new coronavirus just a week and a half after complaining about a coughing passenger on his bus.

The Detroit News on Thursday reported that 50-year-old Jason Hargrove died Wednesday from the coronavirus.

The death came days after Hargrove took to his personal Facebook account to sound off about the passenger coughing on his bus. Hargrove begins the video, which he posted March 21, by saying the coronavirus "is real," and added that people need to take it seriously.

"For you to get on a bus, and stand on the bus, and cough several times, without covering up your mouth, and you know that we're in the middle of a pandemic, that lets me know that some folks don't care," Hargrove said in the video, which lasts nearly nine minutes.

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Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said in a news conference Thursday afternoon that the video has been reviewed and conversations are taking place regarding how to address people who seem to ignore safety protocols surrounding the coronavirus.

Detroit was hit hard this week by the new coronavirus, with several residents becoming ill with COVID-19. The president of the city council announced via social media that she had tested positive. That news followed acknowledgment that a Michigan Department of Corrections officer from Detroit had died from the virus.

As of 10 a.m. Thursday, Detroit led the entire state in total number of coronavirus cases, with more than 2,800 reported cases and 101 deaths.

Additional numbers were expected to be released at 3 p.m. Friday.