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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Subways Will See First Off-Hours in a Century as NY Tackles Contact Tracing

Governor Andrew Cuomo’s daily Covid-19 press conference featured mayors old and current Thursday, as New York City tackles the vital practices of subway sanitation and contact tracing to control the toll of Covid-19.

MANHATTAN (CN) — Governor Andrew Cuomo’s daily Covid-19 press conference featured mayors old and current Thursday, as New York City tackles the vital practices of subway sanitation and contact tracing to control the toll of Covid-19.

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the new transit schedule in a rare virtual appearance at the governor's briefing, announcing that, for the first time in the modern era, New York will become the city that sleeps a little.

The subway trains have run 24-7 for nearly a century, but beginning next month they will shut down the for disinfection every night between 1 and 5 a.m., to make riding safer for the city’s essential workers during the virus pandemic.

“Conditions on the New York City subway system for a variety of reasons have rapidly deteriorated,” Cuomo said, before opining on the immensity of the undertaking. “How do you even disinfect a train?” he asked.

De Blasio chimed in to say the city would provide resources for New Yorkers experiencing homelessness and taking shelter on trains. 

“Yeah, we’re going to do something unprecedented … but we’re also going to do something that’s going to protect people,” the mayor said. There’s no end date yet for the nightly shutdowns. 

Former New York City Mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg also made a remote appearance at the governor’s press conference to discuss his new contact-tracing program in conjunction with two entities he funds: Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and public health nonprofit Vital Strategies. Bloomberg and de Blasio also both unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic presidential nomination last year.

Bloomberg announced that Hopkins had developed a remote training class for potential contact tracers to take. These individuals would have to pass a test before permitted to practice. He mentioned that a “playbook” of tracing protocols would be shared publicly, and that Vital Strategies is working on three smartphone apps to help tracers, and the public, record and track the spread of the virus. 

“As tough as these times are, we are New Yorkers. And we’ve been through a lot together, and we’re going to get through this together again,” Bloomberg said.  


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