By Dr. Stuart Weiss, Intelligent Crowd Solutions 

Dr. Stuart Weiss, FACEP, FAAP, CBCP

July 13, 2020

Today's topics: Mostly just the headlines to day with a short story of me riding the NYC Subwayand an apology to our friends in New Mexico

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A short column today.
Today I took the New York City Subway, twice. Now normally that would not be news as I have ridden those trains under New York City for most of my life. But it was different today as it was the first time I have ridden them since CoViD-19 started.

For the past few days, we have been helping with a project in lower Manhattan so I have taken taxis. But at $35 each way, it was getting old. The subway was a perfect solution. The #1 train ends right at the tip of Manhattan which is exactly where I needed to go. But it was scary down there. I couldn't imagine how people would socially distance themselves and be safe. But after reading the numbers in NYC over the weekend and the numbers from yesterday (7 new cases, 1 new hospitalization and zero deaths) I decided the risk was pretty low.

So I took a deep breath, adjusted my N-95 mask and took the plunge. I swiped my Metrocard and descended into the largest railroad in the world (by number of stations).

Much to my surprise, it was cleaner then ever and people were politely keeping distance from each other. Everyone was wearing a face covering, mostly actually covering their faces. A few young folks had the masks over their chins, I guess they were chin breathers, or something. One person got a little too close for comfort but then quickly self adjusted to keep 5-6 feet away. On the way home this evening, I started at the end of the line and there a cleaning crew was dutifully disinfecting all the surfaces and mopping the floor. The subway cars were shiny and smelled great. MY ride home had everyone with a mask covering their faces and sitting at least 6 feet apart. It was after rush hour so the trains weren't very full. It was actually delightful.

I got out at my home subway stop, climbed the stairs into the sunshine and thought how much I love living in this city.

A short apology to New Mexico.

I got a complaint last night from a reader living in New Mexico. They were fed up being lumped together with the other southwestern states that have rising CoViD-19 numbers. They wrote to me that New Mexicans were doing a great job of controlling the outbreak. I was hoping that was true so I looked at the numbers. New Mexico did a good job at getting their numbers down initially but now they are creeping up again. Since the middle of June and especially for the past two weeks, they are headed in the wrong direction. So my advice to my New Mexican friends, buckle down again and break the chain of infectivity. Stop the virus again. You did it once, now do it again. So you get a half congratulations for now.

Be well and take care of yourself. There are storm clouds on the horizon.

--Dr. Stu

COVID-19 HEADLINES FOR TODAY

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