It Shouldn't Take This Detroit Bus Driver's Coronavirus Death For You To Cover Your Coughing
Public workers are expected to keep their mouths shut, to serve their community, and to put themselves at greater risk so that everyone else has essential services available to them.
A Detroit bus driver died from coronavirus after posting a video to his Facebook page complaining that passengers were openly coughing and not covering their mouths.
The driver was visibly vexed over the situation, saying "I feel violated. I feel violated for the folks that were on the bus when this happened." He posted the video on March 21 and then, two weeks later, passed away from coronavirus complications.
This is a haunting reminder that while most of us are able to quarantine and self-isolate during this pandemic, there are essential public workers who are being exposed to the disease every day of their lives.
As people, we can all be better about flattening the curve, but it is still evident that while some might take coronavirus seriously, others simply do not think it is as big of a deal as it clearly is.
And, unfortunately, we may only come to realize that after people like Jason Hargrove pass away from a situation that could've been avoided.
In the video, Hargrove said, "I'm trying to be the professional that they want me to be and I kept my mouth closed... At some point in time, we got to draw the line and say enough is enough... To those of y'all watching, this is real and y'all need to take this seriously."
Public workers are expected to keep their mouths shut, to serve their community, and to put themselves at greater risk so that everyone else has essential services available to them. In this case, that created a situation where a public worker died from the disease because his duty outweighed his ability to speak up for his and his passengers' health.
These workers deserve to be protected, but protection can only come from us actually caring about each other enough to cover our mouths and to practice social distancing and self-isolation.
We need to remember that this pandemic puts everyone at a greater risk of dying. But simple exercises like coughing into our elbows, social distancing from people, and self-isolating as much as possible will actually help to save others' lives like Hargrove's.
