DUBLIN, Va. — As the Coronavirus crisis worsens and the needs of Americans continues to grow, truck drivers are needed now more than ever. They deliver everything from our most basic goods, to the ventilators and medicines needed to fight the pandemic.
But on the highways, truck drivers are struggling to find their own basic necessities as they drive longer and longer hours to bring us what we need.
"It’s definitely taking a toll, that’s for sure," Erika Fickes, a driver from York County said.
"Being on the road, you still have to grocery shop, stop at Walmart to get what you need. Sometimes I may have a small window to get a product for the customer. If a Walmart isn’t where I need to stop for the night, it gets difficult with their change in hours because now I have to stop in the day. It makes it a lot harder to get supplies because truck stops don’t have everything," Fickes said.
Traveling across nearly a dozen states, if not more, in the last two weeks, Fickes said she sees worsening affects across each route she drives.
"I've been to Walmarts in at least ten different states. You can't find anything," Fickes said.
"The grocery stores, there's nothing anywhere. It's everything," Fickes said.
When asked which states she's visited seemed hit the hardest, Fickes said, "It's between New York and Pennsylvania."
At times, with certain rest stops closed in a few states, one of them recently being Pennsylvania before rest stops re-opened, Fickes struggled to find a place to rest.
"I've went 45 minutes or an hour over my designated time so I have somewhere safe to stop and sleep for the next morning," Fickes said.
In the last two weeks, she's hauled water, salt and more. As of Thursday, she was hauling empty M&M wrappers to Hazelton, where they stock the wrappers with chocolate: one of her less vital, but of course still important hauls.
However, freight prices are up in this time of crisis, with drivers being asked to go over their previously enforced 11-hour drive limit per day with ten-hour breaks. Now, they're pushing themselves harder than ever before.
"If you have a product that's essential right now, you can go over your allotted time you're allowed to drive during the day," Fickes said. "Hand sanitizer, water, any medical supplies because everything is so scarce right now."
Drivers continue to pull through to deliver the most vital resources to communities across the country. Now, the focus is less lawn furniture and cars, more water and bleach. But, whatever the product, Fickes wants the public to remember one important thing.
"Everything that everybody has comes from a truck," Fickes said.