Active COVID-19 cases among MBTA employees have declined significantly in recent weeks, likely reflecting an increasing pace of vaccinations, General Manager Steve Poftak told the agency’s board on Monday.
The T has 18 workers currently ill with the virus, Poftak said, a significantly lower level than the more than 100 at the start of the year and roughly half as many as in the week of April 17.
“We moved around in that band between 35 and 50 active cases for much longer than I would like,” Poftak said. “We are down to 18 active cases at this point and headed in the right direction. That is good news and consistent, obviously, with what we’re seeing in the community.”
A similar trend is in place at Keolis, which operates the T’s commuter rail: active cases are down over the past two weeks and a marked improvement from the winter, when the company had to slash service because of a COVID-inflicted worker shortage.
Poftak repeated his call for all MBTA employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
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