Page 21 - ATR 2 2020 digital

Healthy for the Long Haul

How trucking is coping with a pandemic

By David Monteith
Contributing Writer

Fist bumps and elbow taps replaced
handshakes, then people were asked
to decrease contact and increase the
space between each other to at least 6
feet. Before “social distancing” became
a household term, Arkansas fleets and
drivers moving goods to and from the
west coast were among the first to notice
the impact of the new virus, known as
COVID-19 because shipments from over-
seas had dropped dramatically.
On Jan. 20, the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) con-
firmed the first known case in the
U.S. Less than two months later, on
Wednesday, March 11, Governor Asa
Hutchinson announced the first pre-
sumptive case in Arkansas. That same
day, the World Health Organization
declared the virus to be a pandemic,
because, at the time, it had spread to In early March the impact of the cities and counties who have residents
114 other countries. The coronavirus pandemic was becoming evident to testing positive for the coronavirus
has now spread to every state, and as it Arkansas drivers. Arnold said, “We had growing every day, drivers are bound to
has spread, many in the trucking indus- one customer basically tell us that they pass through areas in which the risk of
try have been asked to do more, while will ask the drivers, when they get to exposure is high.
others have had to suspend operations. guard shack, a series of questions. Have
Every day has been a whirlwind of they been out of the country? Have they CONTAGION BASICS
information. And the critical role the been to any of the hot spots, the world- According to the World Health
trucking industry plays in the supply wide hotspots? Are they running fever? Organization (WHO), the most likely
chain has become evident, as have the And if they are, they’ll not allow them way to contract the virus is through
links in the trucking chain. Charles on their property.” person-to-person contact via “respira-
Arnold, Chief Operating Officer of Screenings have now become more tory droplets.” These droplets can be
Twin City Transportation based in Little commonplace with drivers often being inhaled by being near an infected per-
Rock, says driver health has become asked to stay in their cabs after arriving son when they cough or transferred
a top priority for both companies and at their destinations. The concerns are via touch if someone coughs into their
customers. understandable. With the number of 

ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT | Issue 2 2020 21