As in 1918, New York May Use Staggered Work Hours to Keep Subway Safe

As in 1918, New York May Use Staggered Work Hours to Keep Subway Safe
A sign stating the New York City subway is closed is displayed on a Mass Transit Authority (MTA) ticket booth at the Coney Island station in Brooklyn, N.Y., on May 6, 2020. Corey Sipkin/AFP via Getty Images
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As New York City makes plans to reopen in the coming months, officials are dusting off the playbook from the 1918 flu pandemic, when businesses were ordered to begin their work days at staggered times to prevent the subway from becoming a vector of disease.

The idea, then and now, is to spread riders through the day to avoid the kind of crowding health experts fear could turn the subway into a breeding ground for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus which has killed over 20,000 people in the city.