As Canada reached over 6,000 cases of COVID-19 cases, the government has advised everyone to stay at home and avoid non-essential travel. As a result, people have rushed to the supermarkets and left shelves empty. To keep the economy afloat and important necessities on hand, non-medical frontliners are working double-time. A part of these frontliners includes truck drivers.

Truck drivers have been classified as essential workers and allowed to continue travelling across provinces and territories. Normally, these drivers transport as much as 38.7 billion worth of goods each year.

“I made the decision, I haul groceries,” says a trucker from New Brunswick who continues to travel between Canada and the United States. He promised to go into isolation only after the country had recovered from the pandemic.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has acknowledged the sacrifice these professional drivers make as they try to maintain their own safety while keeping the supply chain running.

“We need to keep working to try and make sure we can continue to get these essential goods while people are continuing to take risks while people are continuing their essential work,” he says.

Professional drivers face increasing challenges during the pandemic as border controls become stricter and rest stops are harder to find. Fortunately, some companies offer free rooms and showers for drivers passing by.

“Everything is shutting down for us — no food, no showers,” laments one driver. “Some places are open for drive-thrus but a lot of places won’t let us walk through drive-thrus. Everybody wants their product delivered but they want to shut everything down on us.”

The Canadian Trucking Alliance as well as other transport groups ask that civilians take the time to thank a truck driver.