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MIT study: Subways a ‘major disseminator’ of coronavirus in NYC
nypost.com
16 Apr 2020 ~~ By David Meyer
A new study argues that city subways and buses were a “major disseminator” of the coronavirus in the Big Apple.
The paper, by MIT economics professor and physician Jeffrey Harris, points to a parallel between high ridership “and the rapid, exponential surge in infections” in the first two weeks of March — when the subways were still packed with up to 5 million riders per day — as well as between turnstile entries and virus hotspots.
“New York City’s multitentacled subway system was a major disseminator — if not the principal transmission vehicle — of coronavirus infection during the initial takeoff of the massive epidemic,” argues Harris, who works as a physician in Massachusetts.
While the study concedes that the data “cannot by itself answer question of causation,” Harris says the conditions of a typical subway car or bus match up with the current understanding of how the virus spreads.
“We know that close contact in subways is fully consistent with the spread of coronavirus, either by inhalable droplets or residual fomites left on railings, pivoted grab handles, and those smooth, metallic, vertical poles that everyone shares,” he writes.:
Comment:
Ever get on a subway car at 7:00 or 8:00 AM to get to work? Hmmm, like packing them into sardine cans... For a virus like the Flu or Wuhan Covid-19 t's the ideal petri dish to spread viruses.... We look at NYC as a source, but the transit systems in Chicago, California's BART, Boston's MBTA, DC's Metro System etc., all are the means by which the virus has been able to spread easily.
MIT study: Subways a ‘major disseminator’ of coronavirus in NYC
A new study argues that city subways and buses were a “major disseminator” of the coronavirus in the Big Apple. The paper, by MIT economics professor and physician Jeffrey Harris, point…
nypost.com
A new study argues that city subways and buses were a “major disseminator” of the coronavirus in the Big Apple.
The paper, by MIT economics professor and physician Jeffrey Harris, points to a parallel between high ridership “and the rapid, exponential surge in infections” in the first two weeks of March — when the subways were still packed with up to 5 million riders per day — as well as between turnstile entries and virus hotspots.
“New York City’s multitentacled subway system was a major disseminator — if not the principal transmission vehicle — of coronavirus infection during the initial takeoff of the massive epidemic,” argues Harris, who works as a physician in Massachusetts.
While the study concedes that the data “cannot by itself answer question of causation,” Harris says the conditions of a typical subway car or bus match up with the current understanding of how the virus spreads.
“We know that close contact in subways is fully consistent with the spread of coronavirus, either by inhalable droplets or residual fomites left on railings, pivoted grab handles, and those smooth, metallic, vertical poles that everyone shares,” he writes.:
Comment:
Ever get on a subway car at 7:00 or 8:00 AM to get to work? Hmmm, like packing them into sardine cans... For a virus like the Flu or Wuhan Covid-19 t's the ideal petri dish to spread viruses.... We look at NYC as a source, but the transit systems in Chicago, California's BART, Boston's MBTA, DC's Metro System etc., all are the means by which the virus has been able to spread easily.
