I Rode the Same New York City Subway Lines as the Ebola Patient
One New Yorker tells his story.
— -- "There is no reason for New Yorkers to be alarmed."
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s voice echoed the guidance of the CDC and the city's Health Department as he sought to calm the Ebola fears of millions of New Yorkers -- including me.
An American doctor had just been diagnosed with Ebola in one of the biggest cities in the world, where millions move and bump into each other in organized chaos each day. If you listened hard enough, you could hear the collective “uggghhh” sweep up and down Manhattan, into the boroughs and across this sprawling city.
As de Blasio and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told New Yorkers not to worry on Thursday night, I thought of the old adage of knowing you need to worry when the government is telling you not to worry.
In lock-step with their news conference, ABC News Chief Medical Editor Dr. Richard Besser was tweeting facts about Ebola in relation to the doctor and the city.
When the news conference ended, I left ABC News' headquarters and headed for the 1 train, then the A train -- two out of three of the lines the recently-diagnosed doctor had taken earlier in the week.
It was swell to hear the mayor and governor give reassurances, but my trust was in Dr. Besser’s guidance. I wasn’t worried about Ebola, and took no special precautions on this trip home, aside from the everyday understanding and general disdain all New Yorkers have of public transit surfaces.
On the 1 train, there were no masks. People were holding the rails like normal. No one was wide-eyed or looking around suspiciously. New Yorkers don’t look at each other on the subway; someone looking around would come off as abnormal. Maybe they hadn’t heard about the infected doctor. Or, maybe, like me, Ebola was the last virus they were worried about contracting during their ride.
It was the same story on the A line. People looked at their phones, oblivious to those around them. They were just trying to catch up on the daily happening the next train to their destination as quick as possible.
On the 1 train back to work this morning, it was the same as Thursday night. No masks. No one seemed tense or suspicious. No one was avoiding the rails or seats on the train. The only person who seemed out of place was the large man in the middle of the train awkwardly taking this video.
New Yorkers are used to the myriad other dangers inherent in living in New York City. This seems like the stereotypical assessment of the city from a guy who is originally from spacious and crazy-news Florida -- not a New York City homer.
One guy with Ebola, who wasn’t contagious during his rides around the city, was not and is not going to stop the residents of this city from getting where they want to go.