Has your trash collection been late in Coral Gables? This may be why
COVID-19 infections among sanitation workers across Miami-Dade County have led to a delay in service at some businesses, apartments and condo buildings in Coral Gables in recent weeks, according to the city and contractor Waste Management.
Spokespersons for Coral Gables and the company say the city’s biweekly trash collection was pushed back after two Waste Management crews were sidelined due to coronavirus infections and exposure, causing some backup in service.
The contract workers handle garbage and recycling for all commercial and multi-family residential properties in the city. Waste Management does not handle any single-family homes in the City of Coral Gables.
On Wednesday, Waste Management spokeswoman Dawn McCormick said Coral Gables was the only city affected by the most recent infections, but did not disclose how many workers were out sick.
“We regrettably have had some service delays in Coral Gables over the past few weeks,” she wrote in an email. “We are working diligently to catch up and expect to do so by the end of this week.”
Coral Gables spokeswoman Martha Pantin told the Miami Herald that Waste Management is responsible for two of seven total routes in the city for garbage pickup. Pantin said because there were coronavirus-related issues throughout the company’s 15 county-wide routes, they were unable to reallocate resources to help out Coral Gables.
Affected residents were mostly concentrated in the north part of the city, as well as on Edgewater Drive, in Deering Bay and in commercial buildings in the south part of the city, Pantin wrote in an email.
“Obviously it’s something we immediately checked in on, worked with them and we look forward to returning to normal,” she said.
To catch up, Waste Management workers have increased service on the two affected routes, according to Pantin, who said service should be back to normal by the end of the week.
She said throughout the pandemic, Waste Management has experienced issues with drivers throughout the county due to the virus. Increased workload has also been a complication: During the pandemic, for example, the Gables saw an 11% increase in garbage, a strain exacerbated further when staff is out due to COVID.
Waste Management has endured past outbreaks in Florida: At a Brevard County Commission meeting in July, a Waste Management public affairs manager said a summer spike in COVID-19 cases significantly impacted their workforce statewide. At one point, 69 Waste Management drivers were not working because of coronavirus infections, the representative said.
McCormick wrote in an email that there have been impacts on “a small portion of our Miami-Dade County team members.” She did not answer questions regarding the length or the extent of the delay, how many residents were affected or what the quarantine rules are for Waste Management employees.
Coral Gables has been contracting with Waste Management since January 2011.
While Waste Management contracts with Coral Gables for trash pickup on commercial and multi-family properties, other residences are serviced by city sanitation employees, which had COVID-19-related problems of their own earlier this year. Last month, the city notified residents via email that its own sanitation division has been understaffed due to COVID-19 infections, which sometimes required quarantining the entire crew for seven days. At one point, about one-third of its employees were sick.
The city’s COVID-19 policy maintains that employees who test positive for COVID-19 may come back to work upon a negative test or at least 10 days after the onset of symptoms.
The infections among Waste Management workers come as Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava has loosened COVID restrictions and prepared to lift a countywide midnight curfew at 12:01 a.m. on April 12. Levine Cava cited declining hospitalizations and deaths, and the increasing availability of vaccines Monday in announcing her decision.
The county on Wednesday reported 1,060 new cases and six new deaths, putting its pandemic totals at 454,405 cases and 5,930 deaths.
This story was originally published April 7, 2021 at 6:37 PM.