Detroit bus driver, who called out coughing rider, dies just days after contracting the virus
A bus driver in Detroit, Michigan has died after contracted coronavirus, days after he posted a video criticizing a female passenger for coughing without covering her mouth.
The 50-year-old Hargrove was annoyed that the woman had taken no measures to cover her mouth while coughing when she was on his bus.
The death of the driver highlights the risks facing by public sector workers in US, who come into contact with infected people through their jobs as many others are isolating themselves to halt the spread of the coronavirus.
Jason Hargrove, a Detroit bus driver, made a video about a coughing passenger on his bus. Days later Jason became ill & died from Covid-19 RIP #JasonHargrove 💔💔#COVID19Pandemic #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/Q6P6W8rch0 via BNODesk
— San (@sanosbo1) April 4, 2020
“We’re out here as public workers, doing our job, trying to make an honest living to take care of our families,” he said on the Facebook post on March 21.
“But for you to get on the bus, and stand on the bus, and cough several times without covering up your mouth, and you know that we’re in the middle of a pandemic, that lets me know that some folks don’t care” he said in a recording adding that, “for us to get through this and get over this, y’all need to take this seriously”.
Four days after recording the video outside his bus, Hargrove, a father of six, died from complications of coronavirus, according to local media reports.
It isn’t clear how he got Covid-19.
His video has since been viewed more than half a million times, and featured on many prime-time US news shows, where he has become the face of millions of low-wage workers who put themselves at risk to provide essential services during the lockdown.
