Lowdown
The Vaccine and Towing
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Steve Calitri Editor-in-Chief scalitri@towman.com
s I write this it looks like the vaccines coming on the market to inoculate the public against Covid-19 are safe and effective. This should help tow business owners who found it tough enough to recruit operators before the pandemic struck. Those people most concerned about contracting Covid will get inoculated and not be afraid to be in close contact with other people, like motorists. Right now a pressing question is this: will towing be prioritized as an essential service industry that will move toward the front of the line for getting the vaccine? Many states have identified tow truck operators as first responders and have given them the privileges of other essential services and front-line workers fighting the pandemic. Homeland Security’s CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency) put out an advisory in March of 2020 which suggested that any service supporting the transportation industry be considered “essential service” as relating to the pandemic. In speaking to Cindy Martineau, executive director of the Towing and Recovery Association of America, she believes the CISA directive indicates towing is considered an essential service by the federal government. Towers who have been active with state highway authorities have fought for this recognition for decades. During the Spirit Ride of 2017 and 2018 which interacted with Police and Fire Departments in over 300 U.S. cities, it was clear that towing was gaining due respect from these traditional first responders and being recognized as one of the team. But the media, the public and the politicians still need to realize that towers are indeed first responders.
50 • January 2021 | Towman.com
Reporting and projections on the pandemic from the Center for Disease Control and the media have been often misleading and inconsistent in its claims. The death rate reported is usually erroneous. When total cases of infections are totaled, including the projected number of nonsymptomatic cases, the fatality rate is only a small fraction of one percent. Given all the media misinformation, the general public fears for its life whenever they step foot outdoors. Will the propagandizing media still beat the drum to drive fear into the public in spite of these vaccines that have proven to be 95% effective? Will governors and mayors persist in their lockdown strategies that have severely injured our economy and small business owners? It will take the first quarter before we know the answer.