I’ll bet these fine soldiers never thought they were signing up to drive school buses when they enlisted. But Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker has activated 90 Guardsmen to serve in the areas of Chelsea, Lawrence, Lowell, and Lynn, with another 160 available for additional communities should the need arise. The Drive and Jalopnik have the details.

Basically, there just aren’t enough drivers to do the job. Many are on the older side of the spectrum, and more vulnerable to COVID-19. Since schools are excellent incubators of illness, quite a few of these drivers have opted to stay home and stay safe.

This wasn’t an issue last year because just about everyone went remote. But this year many school administrations have decided that the pandemic is over, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, and resumed normal in-school operations. Many of these schools have since returned to partial or fully remote learning upon the spread of COVID-19 among students and staff, which no one could possibly have seen coming except for doctors and scientists, and who listens to them anymore?