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With thousands of people in mandatory or precautionary quarantine, and thousands more ordered to work from home to help stop the spread of the virus, MTA has seen a sharp decline in ridership.
The MTA is reporting that LIRR ridership was down 31 percent, while Metro-North was down nearly 50 percent since the outbreak began. Subways and buses are also being used approximately 20 percent less.
In response to the spread of coronavirus, trains, ticket machines, vending machines, turnstiles, handrails, and other objects frequently touched by passengers are being disinfected and sanitized at least once daily, sometimes more, the MTA announced.
On Long Island, an LIRR employee tested positive for coronavirus and is now in quarantine.
“The MTA has been informed by the State Department of Health that a Long Island Rail Road employee tested positive for the novel coronavirus,” MTA President Pat Foye said. “The employee is in quarantine receiving appropriate care and the MTA has disinfected his workplace multiple times and is monitoring the situation closely.
"We expect to see additional cases reported as testing continues to ramp up, which will help us contain the spread of this virus.
“As we have for weeks, the MTA is aggressively disinfecting our workplaces, trains, stations, and buses around the clock to keep our employees and customers as safe as possible.”
According to the research published in the Journal of Hospital Infection, the virus can remain on copper surfaces for several hours and on cardboard for up to 24 hours. It could potentially also survive on stainless steel and plastic for up to three days.
Earlier published reports cited studies showing COVID-19 can live on hard surfaces for more than a week, whereas the flu can only survive for up to 48 hours.
“This is the third highly pathogenic human coronavirus that has emerged in the last two decades,” researchers wrote. “Person-to-person transmission has been described both in hospital and family settings. It is therefore of utmost importance to prevent any further spread in the public and healthcare settings.
“Transmission of coronaviruses from contaminated dry surfaces has been postulated including self-inoculation of mucous membranes of the nose, eyes or mouth, emphasizing the importance of a detailed understanding of coronavirus persistence on inanimate surfaces”
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