As coronavirus cases started popping up across the country, U.S. Postal Service Mail Handler Karleen Somers had noticed a co-worker coughing uncontrollably.

“He could hardly stand up and this was a big guy,” Somers said. “He’s normally very strong.” He refused to get tested for the coronavirus when asked by co-workers, she said.

In March, she said that postal workers did not have enough personal protective equipment and were informed that two people employed by the Westchester Processing & Distribution Center in White Plains had tested positive for the virus.

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After interacting with that co-worker, Somers said, she “began to feel ill.” Although she wasn’t coughing or sneezing, her sinuses bothered her.

Days later, Somers, who is more than 60 years old, eventually went to the doctor and tested positive for the virus.

“Once they [the Postal Service] found out that people were testing positive, they should have been more proactive,” she said, adding that USPS should have initially been more assertive in giving out protective gear, enforcing social distancing and disinfecting commonly used areas.

When she informed the USPS nurse that she had the virus, Somers claims that co-workers who were in her vicinity were not immediately contacted, despite her providing a list of people she was in contact with.

National Postal Mail Handlers Union Westchester Branch President Alberta Prieto declined to comment.

With only mild symptoms, Somers self-quarantined at her home that she shared with her husband, who had a kidney transplant in February. Somers said they tried to maintain their distance in their modest-sized home but her husband eventually started getting symptoms.

“I had no idea how bad things were. My husband doesn’t complain and I guess he figured, you know, he’ll get over it, whatever. But then he got his results and he also tested positive.”

Days later, she would find her husband unresponsive, lying on the floor. He was taken to a hospital and died on April 1.

“I would trade places with him. He was so gentle," Somers said of her husband.

"It's not fair. They're not making sure that people really understand that if you’re sick, really stay at home and don't come to work because you think you can come to work,” Somers said.

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Postal Service spokesman George Flood said in a statement the Postal Service is ensuring that more masks and other protective gear are available and distributed at every location to reduce the health risk to USPS employees.

Moreover, Flood said that USPS has updated its leave policies “to give our employees the ability to stay home whenever they feel sick.”

The Postal Service has 630,000 employees. Nationally, more than 350 USPS employees have tested positive for COVID-19. Flood declined to say how many USPS workers in Westchester have contracted the coronavirus.

Late last month, the National Association of Letter Carriers reported that Rakkhon Kim had died from the coronavirus. The 50-year-old worked at the West Farms Station of the Bronx, New York Post Office.

Michigan postal worker Anthony Smith also died of the coronavirus. He was a mail handler and worked for the Postal Service for 30 years, according to the National Postal Mail Handlers Union.

The bigger picture

The already beleaguered Postal Service is facing a daunting financial situation amid the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, the USA Today Network reported.

The agency, which relies on fees rather than taxpayer funds to finance itself, has seen rising net losses in revenue for over a decade, but the onset of the coronavirus has been a particularly tough blow for the Postal Service.

According to reports from the agency, the total volume of mail delivered during the week of March 29 is down a quarter from the same time in 2019. While deliveries of packages were up 11.7% over the same period, the acute losses have raised concerns, USA Today reported.

“As the Postal Service continues to spend resources in response to this crisis, the national decline in economic activity has led to a rapid drop in mail volumes and a significant loss in needed revenues, which puts our ongoing ability to provide our vital federal service at risk,” U.S. Postal Service spokesman David Partenheimer said in a statement to USA Today.

Despite placing much of the blame on her husband’s death on USPS, Somers said that she wants to go back to work. She had not been back to the office since she contracted the virus and her husband’s death and she believes that going back is going to be difficult.

“I don't know how I'm going to react, walking in that building. I have no idea,” she said.

Tiffany covers Yonkers and breaking news Click here for her latest stories. Follow her on Twitter @T_Cusaac. Sign up today for a digital subscription.