The Regional Transit Authority has lost three of its employees to the novel coronavirus in recent weeks, while about one in eight of its workforce has been sickened by the disease.

The agency, which employs roughly 550 people, confirmed the deaths and infections this week but did not identify affected employees, except for one: Alex Wiggins, the agency's CEO, was infected with COVID-19 and has recovered.

Wiggins said he spent three days in the hospital in late March after chills and shortness of breath. He returned to work last Monday.

"I truly count myself among the lucky survivors, with what was ultimately a mild case," Wiggins said in a text message.

In addition to the three RTA employees who have died from COVID-19, 69 have contracted it, the agency's marketing manager Arian Randolph said Monday.

The RTA's bus and streetcar operators interact daily with residents who rely on public transportation to get to and from doctor's appointments, grocery stores and other destinations in the city, putting the workers in the same position as grocery clerks and others at essential businesses whose jobs put them at increased risk of exposure to the disease.

The same issue of transit operators being exposed to riders — and the disease — has been playing out within public transit services across the country.

Thousands of transit workers have been infected and dozens have died from the fast-spreading disease, according to John Costa, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, the largest labor union representing transit and allied workers in the U.S. and Canada. In New York, the virus has also taken the lives of 41 employees of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the city's buses and subway as well as many commuter trains.

The Federal Transit Administration said it made $25 billion available to transit agencies through the relief bill recently passed by Congress, which can be used to get protective gear or pay for time off. But like hospital workers and other essential service providers, transit officials have often been unable to find enough gear.

In an effort to protect employees and riders that still rely on the agency amid state's stay at home orders, Wiggins said on March 11 that the RTA would add the use of a special disinfectant to target COVID-19 to its daily cleanings of buses, streetcars, paratransit vehicles and ferries. Crews would then deep clean the vehicles every two to three days, he said.

But as infections in the city began to rise, the agency took a series of other steps to try to limit community spread.

On March 17, the RTA began running all of its buses and streetcars on a Saturday schedule on weekdays, cutting frequency significantly. Almost two weeks later, the RTA waived fares indefinitely, canceled service on 14 routes and made deeper cuts to service on three other lines.

In early April — around the same time the first employee death was reported by WDSU — the agency began building and installing plexiglass barriers on its buses and streetcars to protect drivers.

The agency also gave each operator at least one N95 mask, surgical masks, gloves and hand sanitizer. Employees are being asked to wear a surgical mask over their N95 mask to prolong its life.

And on Sunday, the agency suspended overnight service on all lines indefinitely.

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Randolph did not name the employees who died or provide a breakdown of their positions within the agency. But she said some of the employees were transit operators, while others were maintenance staffers or administrators.

"RTA remains committed to the safety of our operators and riders," she said. "We continue to encourage riders to only use transit for essential travel and practice social distancing on the vehicles."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.