Road crews across West Michigan have been working all day ahead of Wednesday's inclement winter weather, anti-icing the roads and loading up their trucks. But unfortunately to some local drivers, there may be less snow plows on the road in Kent County during the storm.
Seven percent of Kent County Road Commissions crews are out because of COVID-19. Eleven out of 150 drivers are sick or in quarantine due to close contact with a person who contracted the virus.
Director of Operations Jerry Byrne, though, says he isn't worried.
"Staffing because of COVID-19, like everyone else, is a concern, a concern but not a worry," he says.
Byrne says people on the roads shouldn't notice any change to service, and they're stocked on supplies like salt and sand.
"We can put supervisors driving trucks and mechanics driving trucks," he says. "We can look to our neighbors to see who may be able to share or who needs help."
Byrne says phone lines might be busy if other employees get put behind the wheel.
"If they're calling for request for service or they want to talk to someone, that supervisor might be driving a truck," he says.
There'll still be more than 100 snow plow drivers hitting the roads to clear snow.
The Kent County Road Commission doesn't have a vaccine mandate, but as of Monday, Jan. 10, drivers will have to share their vaccination status so the commission can comply with state and federal testing and quarantine requirements.
"We're going to do everything we can to fill the trucks when it snows," Byrne says.
On the lakeshore, Ottawa County truck drivers are ready to go with 65 road crews and 20,000 tons of salt in stock. The road commission hasn't run into much of an issue with COVID-19 affecting their staffing.
"We're pretty good with staffing. We've got pretty much all hands on deck," Communications Administrator Alex Doty says.
"Right now, [COVID-19] hasn't been an issue for us. [We've had cases] maybe here and there over the last few months, but nothing widespread to cause a huge dent in our workforce. Knock on wood, that's not something that's caused an issue for us."
The Muskegon County Road Commission is also fully staffed ahead of the winter weather.
"Like with any storm, we're gonna have crews working around the clock. I can reassure you of that," Maintenance Superintendent Andrew Nichols says. "We're prepared. We're ready to be out there."
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