Garbage and recyclables pile up as omicron takes its toll | AP News

  • 📰 AP
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 46 sec. here
  • 2 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 22%
  • Publisher: 51%

United States Headlines News

United States Latest News,United States Headlines

The omicron variant is sickening so many sanitation workers around the U.S. that some cities have had to delay or suspend garbage and recycling pickup, angering residents shocked that governments can’t perform this most basic of functions.

Nashville City Council member Freddie O’Connell was just as surprised as his constituents when he received notice before Christmas that the city was halting curbside recycling.

The highly contagious variant hit just when Americans were generating a lot of trash — over the Christmas holidays. Combine that with a relatively low vaccination level among front-line sanitation workers and you have a “perfect storm for delayed collection,” the association’s executive director, David Biderman, said this week.

“We’re getting calls, emails, everything. People are understandably frustrated,” said Atlanta City Council member Liliana Bakhtiari.Atlanta officials said Monday that because of the worker shortage, recycling and yard waste will be picked up “as staffing allows.”In Louisville, Kentucky, sanitation workers stopped picking up yard waste in early January until further notice. Residents can drop off branches and clippings at Christmas tree collection sites.

“When people are out, we can’t just hire to replace them,” he said. “We have to give them time to get well.”

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.

Most of those 'angry' people are the same who are refusing to get vaccinated, wear masks, or socially distance. And who probably look down on those picking up their trash. Screw them.

Motherfuckers just trying to speed up the Digital Age Collapse huh

Should have done an actual lockdown and mask mandates. Then there would be far fewer cases.

Well, what the hell did they think would happen when people caught the virus? It makes you sick, sometimes to the point of hospitalization. They want the virus to spread, this is what happens.

US literally going to shit

And robots can't exactly stand in for COVID-positive workers, because the factories making them are competing for parts with car makers, crypto miners, gamers, telecommuters...

There you go 'Let it RIP 4 my freedums' people. Your selfish selfentitlement has consequences of your own making. None of them good.

Maybe we could try implementing a pandemic response built around actually saving human lives instead of sacrificing everything to ensure share prices don't go down a few pennies Just thinking it's like the one thing we haven't tried yet

They're still collecting money for the service though. I wonder how much is going to the workers?

I wonder how many of these “angered residents” are anti-vaxxers/anti-maskers. Bitching about garbage service seems right up their self-absorbed, entitled alley.

We are victims of the MeFirst lifestyle.

This is what happens when everything is driven by short term profit and the long term cost to society is given no thought. Media saying what's profitable, not what is true. People unable to tell fact from fiction. Businesses putting profits above health. There is no going back.

Good job at amplifying the (small fraction) of Karens/Kens in the general population ! American media - reliably giving the megaphone to those who least need or deserve it. Our stress = their profits.

If only there were precautions we could have taken to limit the disease spread.

And the lesson will be that we should automate trash collection, not treat actual human workers decently

I've heard a lot of 'do your part' during the pandemic. Waiting a little longer to have your garbage picked up is part of that.

American People: We refuse to pay more than the absolute minimum for services American People: We refuse to take steps to mitigate Covid Also the American People: Why did these services break down when Covid tore through our area?

Was “sickening” the right word to use here?

Sounds like a good time for the corporations to roll out all that automation they’ve been threatening they’ll have to move to if they increase wages.

ZOMFG it is almost as though our collective refusal to vaccinate, isolate, and mask up have returned to bit us in the ass! Wow.

Isn’t it subcontracted out to private contractors essentially everywhere in the US? Some small cities have only one collection service; many larger metros may have more than one.

Who do they expect will do this when people are sick and can’t work?

This is what let it rip is, lmao. Congratulations, you played yourselves.

Stop letting disease rip through society without any mitigation. This will only get worse with the way things are going.

Its been weeks since I’ve had garbage pick up in Fort Wayne, Indiana RepJimBanks

If only there was a free and widely available vaccine.

Everybody is suck what did u expect would happen. WTF

You mean there are consequences for not taking a threat seriously

IWriteAllDay_ Government continues to mismanage pandemic in favor of corporate interests aka donors.

Wife's cochlear implant surgery scheduled twice, cancelled twice, now postponed indefinitely. If only there had been something Americans could have done to prevent this! If only. (Hint: vax and masks.)

Didn't NYC issue a vaccine mandate for city workers that backfired? Could this be the issue in other areas as well?

I thought the virus was a hoax.

Maybe those angry citizens should examine why the workers are getting sick and go get vaccinated themselves. This isn’t a surprise if you watch the “real” news.

governments? I thought most waste companies are private?...Mine is...

We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 728. in US

United States Latest News, United States Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

AP Week in Pictures: Asia | AP NewsJan. 7-13, 2022 This photo gallery highlights some of the most compelling images made or published by Associated Press photographers in Asia and Pacific. The gallery was curated by AP photo editor Shuji Kajiyama in Tokyo.
Source: AP - 🏆 728. / 51 Read more »

Machine Gun Kelly takes knee under tree, Megan Fox says yes | AP NewsLOS ANGELES (AP) — Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly are engaged. The actor and rapper have decided to legalize their dramatically eccentric coupling, according to Instagram videos that each posted Wednesday. This dude is CAF! trash loves trash No one cares
Source: AP - 🏆 728. / 51 Read more »

Biden pays silent tribute as Reid lies in state at Capitol | AP NewsWASHINGTON (AP) — The late Harry Reid was remembered Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol as a “legendary leader,” a hardscrabble Democrat who rose from poverty in a dusty Nevada mining town to deliver landmark legislation from the Senate's most powerful position. Lincoln's GOP Party of 1976 pledged unwavering support for 'speedy ratification' of EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT! 46 Years Later, America Asks: Will GOP finally fulfill its promise ? God Bless Harry Reid 🇺🇲 VotingRights EndTheFilibuster USHistory sad. he was good in law and order svu May God continue to bless you ma'am I never believe it's going to work out because I have lost a lot in different places I know one day they will face the judgment. I really appreciate you,👉SarahMich321
Source: AP - 🏆 728. / 51 Read more »

Official: Police used fake DNA reports during interrogations | AP NewsPolice in Virginia Beach used forged documents that linked people's DNA to a crime to get them to confess or cooperate with investigators, Virginia's attorney general says. The city says the police department ended the practice last year. Wtf?! May God continue to bless you ma'am I never believe it's going to work out because I have lost a lot in different places I know one day they will face the judgment. I really appreciate you,👉SarahMich321 rope
Source: AP - 🏆 728. / 51 Read more »

Jason Momoa, Lisa Bonet split after 16 years together | AP NewsLOS ANGELES (AP) — Jason Momoa and wife Lisa Bonet have ended their 16-year relationship. A joint statement posted on the “Aquaman' star's Instagram page Wednesday that he and his wife were parting ways. 😳 Love is dead. Who fucking cares!
Source: AP - 🏆 728. / 51 Read more »

SKorean rescuers locate man at collapsed construction site | AP NewsSEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean rescue workers at a collapsed construction site in the southern city of Gwangju located a man amid a pile of debris and broken concrete on their third day searching for six missing construction workers, officials said Thursday.
Source: AP - 🏆 728. / 51 Read more »