Italy reports 793 dead in the past day.
Nesrie
6097
Brief news on the truck front, had a call with my dad which was actually not too bad although he is… tired.
Anyway, one of his routes is actually TP. Apparently if you haul something that’s on a list, which includes TP at the moment, they can run longer, fewer breaks, and for more hours, for the week. This is an effort to keep things moving. This sounds super scary but this also puts them back to what they did a number of years ago before the new regs came in.
Less than good news, they’re trying to limit trucks coming into warehouses from the areas most affected… why is this bad? Well you have to have pick-ups and deliveries to and from areas badly hit too, so… it seems a little more logical to have the trucks keep moving and maybe not have the driver get out… do the signing and things remotely.
Lastly, the medical cards might be an issue. There is some confusion on these. Truck Drivers have to keep their medical cards active… these are essentially physicals, DOT physicals. Some of them are coming up due, and they’re not sure if they’re allowed to run if they can’t get into medical offices to do them when several of the offices are closed or not taking patients in person. Ordinary circumstances say they can’t run without that being current. Emergency might allow them to keep running, but they just not sure. Most of the individuals are not going to risk their CDLs to keep running without that exam if they believe it’s still a requirement.
These are long-haul so, the state by state stuff is… well, it’s challenging when some states are doing different things.
That’s going to ripple through every open airport in the US. Though I have to think ground stops across the country are coming soon.
Get a copy faxed to the doctor from a kinko’s, they can do consult over the phone to get a couple of pieces of info needed. That’s what I would do. They can fax the filled form directly to the HR department of the trucking company. Doctors should have a fax at home.
Nesrie
6100
Most of these drivers are owner-operated; they’re on their own, and I thought the Medical Examiner Certificates had to be in person. That might not actually be true. They need a physician to sign it, and the local providers might’ve have required them to come in, not sure on that piece.
It’s not really a secret truck drivers are a bit notorious for some health issues like high blood pressure, so some of them might not even get it released for the full 2 years to begin with.
Seems like a possibility those low Russian numbers are on the up and up.
I think you’re right, I’m looking at the forms. Is it this? Yeah it looks unclear…
https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/medical/driver-medical-requirements/medical-applications-and-forms
It also says the doctors who do this need to be on a special registry so it’s not all doctors.
KevinC
6103
Just lots and lots of spontaneous pneumonia cases.
Oghier
6104
Authoritarian governments are probably better suited to handle plagues than liberal democracies. Also, Putin may evil, but nobody thinks he’s stupid.
Regarding airport closures: unclear how long these local ones related to outbreaks last, given some resumption at Chicago within a couple days.
Nesrie
6106
I’ve never actually seen the form. It looks like what he describes.
This whole thing is frustrating. My dad says he is up to 14 hour days (this is now legal wasn’t before), 70 hour weeks (again allowed under new regs), and he and a few others will be stopped in the next few months because this card of theirs is going to expire, and they’re not sure if the same Emergency thing that allowed them to run longer without breaks and more hours if they’re hauling something essential, or something on a list that includes TP, allows them to keep going if they can’t find a doc. There might be a couple of truck stops (some are open now), that have clinics in them they’re looking into.
This industry needs a united information front.
I think exams are temporarily suspended, like he thinks they might be.
https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/emergency/general-emergency-faqs
It wouldn’t be a minor thing to be wrong about that though. I wonder if that office is still open.
Quaro
6108
Try Instacart from the phone app. Even when it says no spots available, they usually delivery within same day if you order in the morning.
Where are you seeing that the only cases are imported? Their new case went up to 126 yesterday according to the WHO situation report, which is a 2-3x increase from the daily numbers for the past week.
Thank you. I was quite proud of that.
