How a trucker performing an essential job got tangled in Texas’ self-quarantine order
Timothy Miles Bassett moves new trucks across the country, and after completing his most recent delivery in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, he was ready to get back home to his family in Sanger.
As an essential worker in the trucking industry, Bassett is exempt from the U.S.-Canada restrictions barring nonessential travel between the countries due to the novel coronavirus’ spread. He was one of the few people in the nearly empty Winnipeg Richardson International Airport on Monday and the only passenger on his flight from Winnipeg to Minneapolis that afternoon.
It was also in Winnipeg that he learned his second flight from Minneapolis straight back to Dallas was canceled, and Delta placed him on a flight to Atlanta, where we would then fly to Dallas instead.
He was even upgraded to First Class. It was such a surreal experience that he took videos of the nearly empty airports and flights to post to social media and share with family and friends.
But when he walked off the plane late Monday night into the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, a line of armed Texas Department of Public Safety officers wearing medical masks was there to meet him.
“I got really scared. Physically nervous. My hands started shaking,” Bassett said. “I thought I was about to be arrested.”
What Bassett didn’t know at the time, was that a proclamation from Gov. Greg Abbott had gone into effect at noon Monday — roughly 10 hours before he landed — requiring travelers returning from 10 locations to self-quarantine for 14 days upon their return to Texas. And one of the cities that had been added Sunday by the governor was Atlanta — the location of the last-minute flight Bassett had been put on.
The officers explained to Bassett that he needed to sign a form agreeing to self-quarantine. The executive order notes that quarantine requirements do not apply to people traveling for “military service, emergency response, health response, or critical-infrastructure functions, as may be determined by the Texas Division of Emergency Management.”
The Texas Division of Emergency Management’s website cites the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s guidance that lists critical infrastructure sectors and workers, and “employees supporting or enabling transportation functions, including truck drivers” are listed.
It was the first Bassett was hearing of the mandatory quarantine requirements. He explained that he’s an essential worker, and at the time had letters from his employers and the Consul General of Canada in Seattle stating that.
“I showed them the forms. They insisted I sign it anyhow and I refused to sign it,” Bassett said. “So they separated me from the rest of the group over to the side and said that, basically, I couldn’t leave until they straightened it all out and figured out what was going on.”
Bassett waited outside the gate, while other passengers signed the form agreeing to a mandatory self-quarantine, designating where they would stay for the next 14 days — or the duration of their trip if shorter. Penalties for violating the mandatory self-quarantine period include a fine up to $1,000, jail time up to 180 days or both.
After waiting for about 20 minutes, Basset said officers insisted he sign the form.
Bassett recounted that an officer told him, “‘You need to go ahead and sign it anyhow. As long as you’re not going to be around 10 or more people and as long as you’re going to leave the state, you can still bypass the 14-day quarantine.’”
But Bassett couldn’t guarantee that. While it was likely he might be dispatched out of the state for another truck delivery, he could easily come into contact with 10 people at work.
And self-quarantining for 14 days would be two weeks without any work. Bassett’s family was already struggling to pay the bills as it is.
What’s more, Bassett had documentation verifying his status as an essential worker that he felt should exempt him from the requirements to quarantine. The officer’s insistence made Bassett feel intimidated, and he refused once again.
“Without having a lawyer present, I was really faced with a lot of scary decisions to make as a truck driver just trying to do my job,” Bassett said.
An officer eventually asked to see Bassett’s driver license and took down his information, he said.
“’We’re just going to write on here that you refused to sign, and then I’ll turn that in to my supervisor,’” Bassett recounted the officer saying. “And that’s when I asked, ‘Am I free to go?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ And that’s when he gave me my paperwork back and I gathered it and walked away, looking over my shoulder waiting to see if I was being followed.”
In an email Thursday, Seth Christensen, a spokesman for the Texas Division of Emergency Management, cited the Department of Homeland Security’s guidance that truck drivers would be considered “essential services.” However, he noted that Abbott’s most recent executive order — issued Tuesday after Bassett had returned to Texas — “requires that in providing or obtaining essential services, people and businesses should follow the guidelines from the President and the CDC by practicing good hygiene, environmental cleanliness, and sanitation, implementing social distancing, and working from home if possible.”
When asked if the Texas Division of Emergency Management communicates and trains officers on which sectors are considered essential and are exempt, Christensen wrote that the division communicates with state agency partners at DPS, but does not train officers. He referred additional questions to the Department of Public Safety.
“First, let us assure you that we take any complaint regarding a member of our department and their conduct very seriously,” DPS wrote in an email Friday afternoon, referring the public to submit complaints through the Office of Inspector General’s website.
The agency declined to answer specific questions related to Bassett’s experience, but reiterated the exemptions outlined in the executive order.
“Exempt travelers are not required to complete the travel form, as the requirements outlined in the Executive Order do not apply to them,” the agency wrote.
DPS said its personnel working at airports have been given guidance on the executive order, its requirements and what is considered essential. The Governor’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
As someone who travels across the country for work and with family members who have asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Bassett said he understands the need for mandatory self-quarantines like the executive order requires.
He already is meticulous about washing his hands, leaving his suitcase outside the door and taking a shower as soon as he gets home.
But he’s also an essential employee, trying to do his part to ensure trucks can be delivered to transport needed supplies.
“I agree with the executive order. But (in) my situation, I’ve got product to move,” Bassett said. “I’ve got to get the trucks to the truckers and keep the medical supplies and food going. You make every trucker stop for 14 days in each state, then we’re going to have a huge problem.”
Bassett said he left his home in Denton to begin his deliveries on March 25 — the day before Abbott’s original restrictions on travel from the New York tri-state area and New Orleans had even been announced — and he said he wasn’t informed at the airport or on his return flight about the expanded quarantine orders. If he had been given advance notice, he said he would have chosen not to fly out of Atlanta.
“I would not have gone there at all,” Bassett said. “If they’re going to enforce it at the airport, I would think it’s pretty crucial they get that information through the airport, coming in through the airlines themselves and on to the passengers. Because we’re the ones that are ultimately going to be faced with a decision.”
When asked if travelers who were out of the state or aboard were notified in any way before boarding flights to Texas from restricted areas, Christensen said that travelers should be checking ahead.
“All Texans are required to stay home unless they are providing essential services. Those who must travel to provide essential services should check ahead and be aware that additional restrictions may be in place across the country because of the COVID19 pandemic,” Christensen wrote.
DPS pointed to a webpage it created with information on the travel restrictions, but declined to answer specific questions on whether travelers were notified ahead of time. The agency said it’s working with its partners at airports and in the airline industry “to communicate DPS’ role in enforcing the orders and what our presence at airports across the state looks like. This is being done in an effort to inform travelers of the restrictions and requirements currently in place.”
Bill Begley, a spokesman for the DFW Airport, wrote in an email Thursday that the airport does not play a role in executing or enforcing the governor’s executive order, and directed questions about the process to DPS.
Delta keeps a list of travel restrictions, including for Texas, on its website, and Drake Castañeda, a spokesman for Delta Air Lines, wrote in an email Thursday that Delta “remains in constant contact with federal, state and local officials in order to provide our customers the information they need to know for their travels as quickly as possible.”
Bassett knows restrictions and rules are changing constantly as the coronavirus spreads across the country, and he does his best to avoid hotspots when he can. But sometimes, it’s unavoidable.
“I got caught up in the middle of it,” Bassett said. “We all know it’s a whole new world, but I didn’t realize how quick it can change and it can happen while you’re in the air apparently.”
This story was originally published April 3, 2020 at 5:18 PM.
