STM driver tests positive for COVID-19

Press release

A driver based at the Lasalle bus garage has tested positive for COVID-19.

Montréal, March 27, 2020 – The Société de transport de Montréal (STM) has been notified that a driver based at the Lasalle bus garage has tested positive for COVID-19. The driver, who is now in self-isolation, last worked on March 20.

The STM’s priority is to ensure the health and safety of its employees and clientele. It therefore launched an investigation as soon as the COVID-19 case was confirmed, in order to identify all of the employees who had been in close contact with the driver in question. The STM will contact these people and take the appropriate measures.

The STM identified the bus in which the driver worked to make sure that it was properly cleaned.

The public health authorities consider that people who have had only transient interactions (e.g., walking by the infected person or being briefly in the same room) are at low risk, and advises that they simply self-monitor for the appearance of symptoms. Self-isolation is not required. However, people who believe they may have contracted the virus must absolutely avoid using public transit.

In addition to increasing the cleaning frequency of its facilities and distributing over 10,000 bottles of cleaning and disinfectant solution to its employees, the STM has already implemented measures in the bus network to limit direct contact with customers:

  • Bus boarding is by the back door only, except for customers in wheelchairs.
  • The front door and aisle must not be blocked.
  • The seat behind the driver must be left empty at all times.

This is the third confirmed case at the STM.

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medias@stm.info