Traffic & Transit
MTA Touts Coronavirus 'Temperature Brigade'
The transit agency takes 3,500 employee temperatures daily to ensure the virus doesn't spread between bus and train workers and the public.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK — MTA ridership may have fallen during the coronavirus but that doesn't mean its workers' temperature should rise.
That's the message MTA officials sent Saturday as they announced an expansion of the transit agency's "Temperature Brigade" — an effort to check employees' temperature to make sure they're not showing signs of COVID-19 infection.
More than 3,500 temperatures are checked every day at 70 rotating locations, according to a release.
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"Our goal is to provide the optimal level of protection for our heroic employees, as well as extend that assurance to essential workers riding our trains and buses," said MTA Chief Safety Officer Patrick Warren in a statement. "We are heading toward having our Temperature Brigade Program test our entire workforce periodically prior to their reporting to work, an important measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19."
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MTA is projected to lose up to $8.5 billion this year after ridership plunged 95 percent amid the pandemic. One recent MIT study also found the city's public transit system was a "major disseminator" of coronavirus — a conclusion strongly disputed by MTA officials.
The temperature checks with contactless thermal scanners began March 13, about the time ridership started to significantly drop and days before Gov. Andrew Cuomo's "stay-at-home" order.
One in 1,000 employees have exceeded the 100.4 fever threshold, according to a release. They're sent home and told to receive medical guidance before checking back with MTA, the release states.
MTA officials on Saturday also applauded Cuomo's announcement that transit workers will have increased access to coronavirus testing.
"This is a crucial step forward in our fight against this pandemic and I thank our heroic workforce for their courage, commitment and sacrifice during this unprecedented challenge," said Patrick Foye, MTA's chairman and CEO, in a statement.
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