Subways to halt from 1-5 a.m. daily for cleaning
NEW YORK » New York City’s subway system will shut down each day from 1 to 5 a.m. to increase cleaning of trains and stations during the coronavirus crisis, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Thursday, two days after he called conditions in the subway “disgusting.”
The closures, to start next week, will mark a rare instance of subways not running 24/7.
Meanwhile, a Navy hospital ship sent a month ago to relieve stress on hospitals has left the city, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg is backing a state effort to trace the spread of the disease, and the city said it would hand out free face coverings while increasing enforcement of social distancing measures.
Here are the latest coronavirus-related developments in New York.
Subway
Subway trains, which had been disinfected at least once every 72 hours, will be cleaned once ev
ery 24 hours starting May 6, Cuomo said. Buses, vans and other alternative transportation will be provided for essential workers at no charge while the system is closed, he said.
Cuomo said the increased cleaning is a “daunting challenge,” but vital to keeping subways safe. They’ve continued to see high density while much of the rest of society practices social distancing. Images posted on social media in recent weeks have showed packed subway cars.
Dozens of transit employees have died of the coronavirus and the system has become a haven for homeless people during the crisis. Globally, making public transit safe is seen as a big hurdle in potentially easing lockdowns.
“You have to disinfect every place a hand could touch on a subway car. Every rail, every pole, every door,” Cuomo said. “Or, coughing, sneezing, wherever droplets could land.”
Cuomo highlighted a front-page report Tuesday in the New York Daily News chronicling incidents of indecent exposure, filth, people stretching out on seats and other problems.
He said the situation was “disrespectful” to essential workers who need the subway to commute and unsafe for homeless people who are congregating in trains without face masks or other protections.
Subway ridership has plunged by 92% since the start of the pandemic and the shutdown is planned for the part of the day where it is lowest. During the crisis, around 11,000 people have been using the subway during the time.
Commuter trains serving Long Island and the city’s northern suburbs will also be disinfected every 24 hours, he said. City buses will continue to run around the clock but will be rotated out of service for cleaning.
Ship sails off
The 1,000-bed USNS Comfort hospital ship left New York City for its home port of Norfolk, Va., on Thursday, having treated just 182 coronavirus patients. A surge in cases in the hard-hit city fell short of the worst-case projections.
Eleven people being treated on the ship died from coronavirus and several ship personnel came down with the disease, the Defense Department said.
“The situation has changed but we’re not done,” Gen. Terrence O’Shaughnessy, commander of U.S. Northern Command, said as he saw the ship off.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said last week he and President Donald Trump agreed the Comfort was no longer needed in New York City.
Better numbers
The Comfort’s arrival last month came amid projections showing the state needing to double hospital capacity to 110,000 beds by the end of April. Hospitalizations peaked far below that, at 18,825 on April 12, falling considerably since. The tally of new hospital admissions fell Wednesday to 933, lowest since March 24.
More than 18,300 people in the state have died from coronavirus, though the total doesn’t include more than 5,300 deaths in the city that were attributed to the virus on death certificates but weren’t confirmed by a lab test.
On Wednesday, 306 people died from the disease, the lowest daily total since March 29, when there were 253 fatalities. The state peaked with 799 deaths in one day on April 9.
Bloomberg aid
New York City’s billionaire former mayor is putting up $10.5 million to help the state track and stem the spread of coronavirus through what’s known as contact tracing.
Michael Bloomberg said Thursday his Bloomberg Philanthropies charitable foundation will help hire and train thousands of investigators and provide technological assistance, including developing apps to aid their work.
Contact tracing involves tracking down people who’ve been around someone with the virus so they can get tested and quarantine themselves if they’re positive.
Free face masks
New York City is assigning more than 1,000 employees to enforce social distancing guidelines and distribute 275,000 face coverings at parks and other public spaces as the coronavirus pandemic stretches toward summer, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
The city also is ramping up coronavirus testing and production of gowns for health care workers. De Blasio said 11 coronavirus testing sites will perform 14,000 tests this week, increasing to 43,000 tests at 30 sites by the week of May 18.
City businesses that weren’t making any surgical gowns before the pandemic are now producing 125,000 a week, de Blasio said.