Since the start of the pandemic, more than 100 postal workers across the country have died of coronavirus.
Officials at the Postal Workers Union say that last week, 18,750 postal workers were in quarantine because they were either diagnosed with COVID-19 or exposed to it.
Nick Casselli, president of the local union chapter, says the Philadelphia area is no exception.
He says that several positive cases are being diagnosed and reported every day.
“When you come to work and your coworker is positive for the coronavirus, however dangerous it is, and how harmful it is. It’s scary to come to work,” said Casselli.
The Post Office was already dealing with an accumulation in November, after prioritizing the avalanche of ballots in the mail that preceded this year’s elections.
The result is countless people still waiting for their vacation packages to arrive almost a week after Christmas.
This is twice as stressful for small businesses that depend on customer satisfaction.
Tara Lieberher, of Harleysville, Montgomery County, launched a silk and elastic pillowcase business just five weeks ago.
“When I should be focusing on getting more orders and taking this to people. I’m spending all my time on the phone with the post office, trying to find out where everything is, ”she said.
But Casselli says that although they have few employees and are overworked, postal workers are still working 24 hours a day.
“We are trying to fix this ship, but now, but the perfect storm really put us behind the 8 ball,” she said.
Postal workers say they are gaining ground in delivering overdue orders, but do not expect to be fully recovered for a few more weeks.
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