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US cities witness trash piles as COVID infects sanitation workers

Saturday, 15 January 2022 3:02 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 15 January 2022 3:02 PM ]

This picture shows trash bags piled on a street in Manhattan following a delay in garbage disposal by sanitation workers in New York on October 28, 2021. (File photo by AFP)

US residents have been forced to deal with mounting piles of garbage as trash disposal has been delayed or suspended in many American cities as waste crews find themselves understaffed due to omicron variant outbreak.

US media reported on Friday that trash had obstructed sidewalks and blocked storm drains across the country after delays due to a shortage in sanitation workforce.

The rapid spread of the omicron variant, which accounted for 98.3% of US coronavirus cases last week, has led to a disruption in the waste disposal sector.

Omicron becomes dominant COVID variant in US

The fast-spreading Omicron variant has become the dominant strain of COVID-19 in the United States, according to the CDC.

Officials said they cannot just replace the sanitation workers who call in sick during pandemics.

“When people are out, we can’t just hire to replace them,” Philadelphia Streets Commissioner Carlton Williams told the AP. “We have to give them time to get well.”

He said around ten to fifteen percent of the city’s sanitation workforce were off work on any given day.

Sanitation Commissioner Edward Grayson told local television station PIX11 that at New York City’s Department of Sanitation up to twenty-five percent of the workforce were out sick at any one time around early January.

Other sectors have been also affected by the pandemic with thousands of teachers, firefighters, police and other workers, who provide vital services, reportedly calling in sick.

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