If U.S. Steel’s Gary Works plant is a “superspreader” of COVID-19 cases in the area, it’s the workers’ fault as much as the company’s lack of protections, many steelworkers insist.

“It’s a shame so many people that I work with call this a Democrat hoax and don’t believe in COVID or wearing marks,” one union officer told me. “The company has cleaning companies come in to constantly disinfect. Hourly employees also run disinfecting machines. We are provided masks, hand sanitizer and other safety equipment. The sad reason this keeps spreading is most people still refuse to wear a mask.”

This union official contacted me regarding allegations from a few steelworkers that the company isn’t doing everything it can to safeguard its workers. And, by contagious extension, the rest of Northwest Indiana, I wrote in my Dec. 17 column.

At the Gary Works and Midwest plants in Northwest Indiana, U.S. Steel employs roughly 3,600 workers, according to company figures. Earlier this month, a company report to employees cited a total of 419 confirmed cases. Five days later, that number was up to 457 confirmed cases. And this is only confirmed cases.

“I think U.S. Steel is doing a good job with its COVID response,” said another worker, a union employee at the company’s Midwest plant in Portage who attends classes at the Gary plant. “They are disinfecting areas constantly and preaching safety practices. I don’t know what else the company can do when dealing with the virus.”

I’ve heard from more than a dozen U.S. Steel employees in response to my initial column on this issue. Similarly, I am not disclosing workers’ names because they fear retribution from management, or co-workers, if they speak publicly.

One worker, who’s also on the plant’s safe team, blames co-workers, not the company.

“I can tell you the biggest reason COVID is so widely spread there isn’t because management isn’t doing anything. It’s because of the employees,” he said. “They are told every day that COVID is real and to wear your masks.”

At least three-fourths of the plant’s workforce does not regularly wear masks, which are plentiful and free, he said. Bleach water is supplied to wipe down equipment. Hand sanitizer is available in bottles and pumps, located most everywhere in the mill.

“The truth is a lot of people want the plant to shut down and also receive full pay plus the $600 a month that people were getting (from unemployment insurance),” he said. “Then they would still (complain).”

Meghan Cox, a U.S. Steel spokesperson, said the company has instituted numerous programs and precautions while following the latest guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “We are doing everything we can regarding precautions during a pandemic,” she said.

One worker told me if the company threatened any kind of punitive recourse against those employees who don’t follow CDC-recommended rules for public health, too many workers there would then file grievances about unfair company tactics, he said.

“All some workers want to do is complain about everything but don’t do anything about it,” he said.

Others still insist the company is not properly protecting its workforce, who commute to both plants from communities across the region, where infected workers get tested and recorded.

“I can guarantee you that the company is not following proper protocol,” another worker told me. “I personally questioned safety (protocols) about the spraying and sanitizing they are supposed to do when someone in the work area has tested positive. No answers or actions have or are being taken. Instead they are forcing employees to work so many hours, which is unsafe, because production comes first.”

Dr. Roland Walker, Gary’s health commissioner, said his office is monitoring the numbers at both Gary Works plants, where some workers I spoke with tested positive for the virus weeks ago and nothing was done to contain the outbreak, they said.

“In the month of November about half of us tested positive over the course of a week or two. This company did nothing during that time period to combat the potential of a virus spread. After the first two guys tested positive, they didn’t even come clean our break room shanty,” one worker told me.

“No additional space was provided so we could socially distance during our break periods. They could have grouped us off to limit our contact with others. But they did nothing. How do you eat your lunch, with a mask on, in a small trailer with 12 guys?”

“One of the first guys that tested positive is still off work and has extensive lung damage,” he said. “We don’t know when or if he will be able to return to work.”

“As soon as I felt symptoms I became fearful. Not for myself, but for my family,” said one worker, a husband and father whose family members have preexisting health ailments. “We immediately social distanced. I stayed mostly in the master bedroom and if I came out for any reason I always wore a mask.”

Some workers have discussed if there were legal groundwork for a class-action lawsuit for neglect.

“But we know where that leads — to us losing our jobs. So although we may think it, we most likely won’t take action,” one worker said.

As with most other social issues facing our society, this steel mill serves as a telling microcosm of our country in regard to this pandemic: an overall lack of critical mass concernment; the politicizing of governmental protocols; and some people convinced their personal rights are being wrongly seized for public health.

“I hear employees complain all the time about how they are always being treated unfairly, but no one ever quits the mill,” one worker said. “COVID is just one more thing to complain about. If it were raining gold bricks in their backyard, they would (complain) if one bounced into the neighbor’s lawn.”

jdavich@post-trib.com