Once this pandemic is over the city is going to have to clean the subways. What they should do is shut them down for a day. In the process they will need to remove all the homeless people who have taken refuge on it. I am not saying to arrest or incarcerate them. They shouldn't be harmed in any way and when they are removed it should be to a place that can assist them. Unfortunately, since Covid19 more displaced people have ended up on the subways and they have taken up entire seats and sections. A train will enter the station and there will be a car full of people because the next car has up to six homeless people stretched out across several seats. It is bad for a number of reasons but it makes social distancing less effective as people pack single cars to escape or to get a seat. These folks aren't wearing masks so that further complicates things. Some of these people have mental illnesses which makes things even worse. Close to a month ago someone started a fire on a northbound #2 train outside of the 110 Street station, killing the train operator and seriously damaging the station. It was reported that a cart on the subway may have been used to help start the fire.
Where to put all these people? I don't know. That is another problem. For now, the immediate issue is clearing the subways. Prior to this corona virus nightmare it was common to see a handful of homeless people spread out across a few cars. Now there are at times a handful per car. Nobody benefits.
To be continued.
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