BERKELEY (CBS SF) — Quarantining workers have reportedly left post offices in the Berkeley/Albany area without enough staff to fully operate, adding to ongoing service woes including a budget crisis and operational changes brought on by White House efforts to consolidate control of the service.
According to a report from Berkeleyside, eight post offices are short-staffed after two workers tested positive for COVID-19 in mid-July and their co-workers self-quarantined.
Another worker based in Oakland who delivered mail to Berkeley died from complications related to COVID-19, Berkeleyside reported.
“Berkeley has never been impacted like this,” one postal worker who has quarantined at home for about two weeks told Berkeleyside. “We have never had such a shortage of clerks and customers aren’t being told what is going on.”
The postal worker shortages in the Berkeley/Albany area come as the embattled service is facing what could be a flood of extra mail-in ballots for the November election.
