10 of Port Authority’s 12 covid-19 cases linked to West Mifflin garage

The Port Authority of Allegheny County reported Tuesday its 12th employee has tested positive for covid-19.

The vast majority of the public transit agency’s coronavirus cases reported so far — including the latest one — are linked to the same West Mifflin maintenance garage.

“We are concerned,” Port Authority spokesman Adam Brandolph said, “but right now we are working with local health officials, we are taking their advice and taking all the precautions that are deemed to be necessary to stop the spread.”

Ten of the dozen employees infected with the highly contagious disease — including eight maintenance workers and two bus drivers — work out of the West Mifflin facility on Lebanon Road near Noble Drive, just north of the Allegheny County Airport.

“Obviously, we are looking at this (outbreak) very closely,” Brandolph said. “All of the cases predate the date of the most recent ‘deep cleaning’ that we did there.”

It’s unclear when each employee displayed symptoms, with the first case dating to late March.

The Port Authority is awaiting the test results of nearly 100 employees.

No Port Authority employee has died of covid-19, Brandolph said. Most are recovering at home on paid leave.

The maintenance worker who tested positive for covid-19 on Tuesday last went to work in West Mifflin a week ago, on Tuesday, April 21. That was a few days before Friday’s latest “deep cleaning” of the garage, and is quarantining at home, Brandolph said.

The garage also underwent a deep cleaning and sanitization the prior weekend, April 18-19.

Starting Sunday, all West Mifflin garage employees have been getting their temperatures taken at the beginning of their shifts. No more than 10 maintenance workers may be active in the garage at a time.

Any employee with a temperature above 100.4 degrees will be sent home, with pay, until they are cleared to return to work by their medical provider.

“First and foremost, we don’t want anybody working who is sick or who has any symptoms,” Brandolph said. He lamented that it remains unclear how many people may show no symptoms, or have the disease and yet display no symptoms.

The Port Authority also is disinfecting vehicles more frequently, promoting social distancing, having customers board from the back doors, limiting the number of passengers on vehicles and asking riders to cover their faces when riding to help stop the spread of the virus.

As of Tuesday night, the Port Authority has 97 employees awaiting covid-19 testing, including those who came in contact with employees who have tested positive, Brandolph said. Employees must remain home until their test results are returned, even if they don’t have covid-19 symptoms.

Fifty-two employees have returned to work since testing negative for the virus.

The Port Authority has more than 2,600 employees, including 1,300 operators and 800 mechanics.