3 more Port Authority workers test positive for covid; total now 51

Three West Mifflin bus garage workers tested positive for covid-19 in the past week, bringing Port Authority of Allegheny County’s employee coronavirus case count to 51, officials said.

The majority of workers who tested positive since March — 44 employees, or 86% — recovered from the disease after quarantining and have been cleared to return to work, Port Authority spokesman Adam Brandolph said Wednesday afternoon.

Seven are on paid leave at home with symptoms or as a precautionary quarantine.

The newly confirmed cases involve workers at the West Mifflin bus garage. All three reported having family members who recently tested positive and remain in self-quarantine at home, Brandolph said.

An employee who tested positive Friday last worked Sept. 7; a second employee tested positive Monday and last worked on Sept. 9; and the third employee, who tested positive on Tuesday, last worked Sept. 10.

The agency reported no new cases last week.

In the first week of September, four employees who work at the “T” light-rail facility in Upper St. Clair tested positive, days after another employee of the same facility, a mechanic, tested positive.

Cases also have been reported among bus drivers and mechanics at facilities in Ross, the South Hills, Pittsburgh’s Manchester neighborhood and Port Authority’s Heinz 57 Center.

The 51 employees who have contracted covid-19, represent less than 2% of Port Authority’s more than 2,600 employees, including 1,300 drivers and 800 mechanics.

Port Authority officials remind riders they are required to wear face coverings at stops and stations and when board and riding vehicles. Vehicle capacity limits remain in place to ensure social distancing.

The agency is reporting weekly updates and sharing real-time data on how full buses are during the pandemic at portauthority.org/coronavirus.