NORWALK, Ohio — Concerns about coronavirus  are keeping most of us indoors — but not essential workers like nurses, police, and even tow truck drivers.

  • With fewer cars on the road there are fewer accidents, leaving drivers sitting idle
  • It's difficult to follow social distancing when helping people stuck on the side of the road 
  • Drivers say when they do get a call, they are taking the necessary precautions to keep their trucks virus-free

“It’s like somebody shut the water spigot off in the towing industry. There’s nothing. I betcha there’s millions of tow trucks sitting across the country,” said Wayne Sweeney, manager at Interstate Towing in Norwalk, Ohio.

With the stay-at-home order in place, the roadways across Ohio have been almost empty. And with fewer cars on the road, there are fewer accidents, so tow truck drivers have been sitting idle.

Wayne Sweeney is a tow truck driver for Interstate Towing in Norwalk. He says helping people stuck on the side of the road is difficult because you can’t really follow social distancing.

“it’s always a worry every time we pick somebody up. We don’t know if they are carrying it, if they are not, we don’t know if they are sick, but it’s our duty, it’s our job to get them off that road so nothing happens. That’s what we do, we’re essential workers,” said Sweeney.

Even though business for the towing industry may be slow, he says the company he works for has not had to lay of any of its 60 employees because of contracts that are in place.

Drivers say when they do get a call, they are taking the necessary precautions to keep their trucs virus-free.

“Every time we do a tow we are coming back here and disinfecting the trucks with Lysol wipes and Clorox. We have a good supply here and we are doing our best to keep the employees safe, keep the trucks clean and the customers safe at the same time,” said Sweeney.