I would love for someone to explain to me why beaches need to be closed while the NYC Subway is open. politi.co/2WXT4ae
Great article by @opinion_Joe Nocera on DeSantis’ performance. bloom.bg/2WTor5K
A revealing response to my question downthread as distilled by my friend @jonathanleaf: “Because you don’t take a sand dune to work.” Let’s unpack that for a minute.
What is the purpose of barring people from going to the beach? Supposedly public safety. But scientific evidence is that outdoor transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is far lower than indoors, and especially indoors in cramped, prolonged encounters. I.e., the beaches are pretty safe.
So we should be opening all beaches, perhaps with some reasonable monitoring of physical distancing. Mayors and governors who close beaches are contravening the scientific evidence about transmission, and also needlessly imposing on people’s mental health and freedom.
Now, a bunch of intelligent people in my Twitter feed say that we need to keep the NYC subway going so people can go to work. But don’t all Americans need to go to work? Apparently not: only NYCers.
And it turns out that the NYC subway is one of the principal vectors of the outbreak there, which is the largest outbreak in the United States by a wide margin.
“But what about the people who need to take the subway to go to their jobs in hospitals?” You ask. Well, sure, they need to get to their jobs. But should they be taking the NYC subway, thereby risking getting infected & spreading that in a hospital? Yes, apparently.
“But, Avik, the hospital workers are taking precautions on the subway, so they should be able to take the subway to work,” you say. And I ask: if NYC hospital workers are responsible enough to take the subway, despite the risks, why can’t Texans drive to work in their own cars?
And if your answer is “because Texans’ jobs don’t matter,” don’t be surprised if Texans don’t care for your opinion.
