The wave of dockworkers testing positive for COVID-19 up and down the U.S. coasts has prompted maritime regulators to seek help directly from the White House.
In a letter sent Thursday to President Joe Biden, Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) Commissioners Carl Bentzel and Daniel Maffei asked that in addition to prioritizing dockworkers for vaccines – which they requested from the Trump administration in December – they should be given access, in the interim, to rapid testing to minimize port disruption while they handle record import cargo volume.
“We must provide immediate vaccination to the maritime workforce,” the commissioners stated. “While we recognize that prioritization for vaccination will be determined by the individual states, we believe that the administration should emphasize the need to keep the supply chain transportation workforce in mind as each state deploys rapid COVID-19 testing and implements the vaccination process.”