Budapest metro to shut down due to lack of personnel sick with coronavirus?

According to Deputy Mayor Kata Tüttő, the continuous functioning of metro line M2 is in danger. So many of their staff are out due to having been tested positive for coronavirus.

When we think about the pandemic and all the people that are currently infected and in isolation at home, thus not being able to work, we rarely think about the fact that some of these people are actually workers of essential services. We usually just concentrate on the increasing number of covid infections, people in hospitals or victims lost to the epidemic.

In reality, there are some people whose absence can be felt more strongly than that of others. By no means we try to state that these people are more valuable; it is merely a fact that some people’s work directly influences others. Like in the case of a metro driver. If the last man standing among the personnel of metro line M2 of Budapest falls as well, the whole service needs to shut down as the capital will literally not be able to operate it. Unfortunately, we are getting closer to this scary moment, as Deputy Mayor of Budapest Kata Tüttő said in an evening programme of ATV on Monday. According to her,

they are two sick workers away from having to shut down the metro line mentioned.

This, already on its own, would cause significant turbulences in the city and its people’s lives.

“If those people operating the metro become unable to be on the job, we can not substitute them. If two more people fall ill, we very probably will need to shut down the metro as we literally are at the point of having that many sick employees.” – said Kata Tüttő.

In case this does happen, simple bus lines would carry out the substitution of the metro. However,

according to the BKV bus drivers’ syndicate, the group also suffers from having a scarce staff due to infections.

They already officially asked to immediately stop using the vehicles’ front doors in order to try to save more effectively their drivers from getting infected.

The capital has already asked the government for the vaccination of these essential workers, without whom not only public transport but the whole city’s overall transport would be in danger.

Mayor Gergely Karácsony offered to completely organise these employees’ vaccination procedure, setting up inoculation centres and drawing up a vaccination schedule; the only thing they asked for was the vaccine itself.

As he says, the capital is completely capable of organising all of it on its own with their companies. The capital’s public works company FKF and the Centre for Budapest Transport BKK can both do the job as quickly as possible, especially after having to close down a complete station park or FKF due to the increased number of infections. The lack of vaccination in these companies concluding a public service can easily endanger the whole of public transport, cleaning of public spaces and waste management.

Budapest pushed the agenda, and finally, their voice was heard. In the upcoming three days, 138 employees of BKV will be inoculated in the Szent Imre Hospital. Moreover, the same process will be soon started for the staff of metro lines, as well. It is a crucial step to keep the city moving, in quite a literal sense.

Read alsoHungary in need of international help to treat Covid patients as hospitals get overloaded?

Source: atv.hu