-Hey, I care about you. I don't want you exposed.
So, again, I'm telling you, this is it right here.
Y'all got to take care of each other.
If you're sick, go home. -Alright.
-Don't come in.
Look, our people are no different than anybody else.
They're no different than the police officers
and firefighters.
They're putting themselves out there to potentially
be exposed more than the people that are staying at home.
You all know as well as I do you got a hard job.
You are just like every other first responder right now.
-I pray that none of us get sick.
We're out there. We're out there in it.
They want you 6 feet distance.
In the truck, we're not 6 feet distant.
And we just got to make sure we keep ours--
all three of us keep ourself up,
and if one of us sick, don't come in.
Like, spare the next person. -Yeah.
-I just want to let you all know this is serious.
You know what I'm saying?
I just lost my son this morning with coronavirus.
-What? !
-And I'm here.
He live in Detroit. He just passed away.
32 years old, you know?
-I mean, right now, it's scary.
It's more responsibility because you never know
if you're going to be sick, maybe.
So, it's scary.
But it's a job that we got to do, too.
-The worst thing in the world would be that we're going out
with this virus out there in this city
and the trash ain't gettin' up!
The true danger is to our people in this right now
is that they still have to come in,
they still have to be around and in close proximity
to more people,
and that's the danger in this virus, right?
Get that social distancing.
And our folks may not have the liberty
to do that every day, all day.
Wednesday -- Wednesday -- I will have the clear from Earl
for y'all to work modified tours of duty.
We give them the masks, they put the masks on,
get in the truck, windows down.
Try to keep some airflow going on in there so it's not --
We're lessening as much as we can any exposure
they'll have from each other.
And, really, at this point, that's the best we can do
with our folks in the vehicles.
-We're doing recycling on Capitol Hill.
It's a big route.
You coming with us? -Yeah.
-Okay.
-You got time for me to get some napkins?
I'm going to go get some napkins to blow my nose.
-When I came in the morning, let me tell you what happened.
I got my stuff to clean the truck.
Before they get in, I clean the truck.
We got hand sanitizer.
We really need more hand sanitizer.
We got masks, we got gloves, we got everything.
So, we try to be as safe as possible.
-Additional weeks, local officials say
the number of new coronavirus cases
still remains enough of a concern
to extend the social- distancing restrictions
imposed to slow the spread
of the potentially deadly respiratory disease in Italy.
Nearly 100,000 people have been infected
in the span of just 5 weeks in
Italy, surpassed only by the United States.
-I do take pride in my job
'cause if I don't do it, then who gonna do it?
Somebody got to be the one to go out there and get it.
That's a must.
The trash must continue to get up.
I don't know.
Somebody just left it on the can.
It says, "Thank you to our wonderful recycling crew.
We appreciate you so much."
My job don't stop.
I got to go to work rain, sleet, or snow.
I got to be out there.
I know there's a virus out there,
but I just got to make sure I do to protect myself, you know?
'Cause people losing their lives off of it.
This is something new to me.
I try not to think about it.
-Good morning.
I'm Muriel Bowser. I'm the mayor of Washington, D.
C.
As of last night,
we now have 401 confirmed cases in Washington, D.
C. , and, sadly, 9 deaths.
Our message remains the same -- stay home.
-Can't collect the trash through the Internet.
We got to be out there on the ground.
That's our job.
Collecting trash is a pass/fail business, right?
You either did or you didn't.
There's no in between.
And our guys feel that every day in making sure they're getting
through their routes and they're getting every can
and they're putting the cans back where they go
and they're doing that work.
You know, if that fails, then that truly is,
to society, a failure of society and a failure of government.
And we're not gonna let that happen.
-It's a really important job.
Really, a very important job.
So, sometimes people, they don't see it,
because we're in the alley.
Some other people, they see the job, like,
"Oh, the trash man."
So, it's some kind of demeaning, but it's our job.
-Whew.
I pray if I pass soon, it be over with.
It's another lesson.
You got to believe and trust in God,
'cause nothing we can do.
Nothing nobody can do about it.
Until that day, yes, I will still be out there
collecting your recycling and trash.
We knew what we signed up for when we applied for the job.
We knew we had to be essential workers.
In case of emergency, we got to be here.
-A lot of people, my co-workers, they are all scared.
Even I feel like it's a scary part.
Because it's the first time you see,
I've seen, something like that.
I've never seen something like that in my life.
But, thank God, we got a job right here, so.
Right now it's a really dangerous job.
We got to keep going.