乘公共汽車(或地鐵)安全嗎?

乘公共汽車(或地鐵)安全嗎?

A worker disinfects the inside of a bus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Transit agencies are taking new steps to reduce the risks for riders during the pandemic.

在埃塞俄比亞首都亞的斯亞貝巴，一名工人正在給一輛公交車內部消毒。運輸機構正在采取新的措施，以減少流行病期間乘客的風險。

Is it safe to take public transit?

乘坐公共交通安全嗎?

On the one hand, data reveals that people are staying away from mass transit in huge numbers compared to before the novel coronavirus. In New York City, for instance, subway ridership is at just 20% of its 5.5 million weekday riders pre-pandemic.

一方面，數據顯示，與新冠病毒出現之前相比，遠離公共交通的人越來越多。以紐約市為例，目前的地鐵客流量僅為疫情爆發(fā)前550萬工作日客流量的20%。

Transit, a mobile app providing real-time public transit data, analyzed 139 transit agencies spanning 68 metro areas and 6 countries and found that demand for public transit has dropped 53% since the onset of the pandemic.

提供實時公共交通數據的移動應用程序Transit分析了橫跨68個都市區(qū)和6個國家的139個公共交通機構，發(fā)現自疫情爆發(fā)以來公共交通需求下降了53%。

People are understandably worried about the risks of contagion and being trapped in an enclosed space for the duration of a trip.

人們擔心被傳染的風險，擔心在旅途中被限制在一個封閉的空間，這是可以理解的。

But ridership is beginning to rebound. Since April, the Transit app data shows, the number of those taking public transit has slowly but steadily increased.

但客流量開始回升。 Transit 應用的數據顯示，自4月份以來，乘坐公共交通的人數一直在緩慢但穩(wěn)定地增長。

Plus, for many, like essential workers, stopping commuting wasn't a choice, as Stephen Morse, professor of epidemiology at the Columbia University Medical Center points out.

此外，正如哥倫比亞大學醫(yī)學中心的流行病學教授斯蒂芬•莫爾斯指出的那樣，對許多人來說，就像基本工作人員一樣，停止通勤并不是一個選擇。

"Many of us may have no alternative – especially when it comes to essential workers, who, in New York, travel from various boroughs to work," says Morse. "There's no alternative to mass transit."

莫爾斯說:“我們很多人可能沒有其他選擇，特別是對于那些在紐約需要從不同的區(qū)去工作的基礎員工。”“除了公共交通，沒有別的選擇。”

Unfortunately, few academic studies have systematically looked at the risk of mass transit — although case studies from public health authorities in Paris, Austria and Tokyo have been unable to tie any group of outbreaks to rail lines or city public transportation.

不幸的是，很少有學術研究系統(tǒng)地考察公共交通的風險——盡管來自巴黎、奧地利和東京公共衛(wèi)生當局的案例研究未能將任何一組疫情與鐵路或城市公共交通聯系起來。

Nonetheless, Morse and other public health specialists urge that mass transit be approached with caution.

盡管如此，莫爾斯和其他公共衛(wèi)生專家敦促人們謹慎使用公共交通。

Morse says that with all public transit — buses, subways, trains — there is always some risk of infection. After all, you are entering a public space.

莫爾斯說，所有的公共交通工具——公共汽車、地鐵、火車——都有感染的風險。畢竟，你進入的是一個公共空間。

Robyn Gershon, a clinical professor of epidemiology and public health disaster researcher who has studied the impact of COVID-19 on transit workers, says you can divide the safety of motorized transit options into tiers.

流行病學臨床教授和公共衛(wèi)生災難研究人員羅賓·格爾森研究了COVID-19對運輸工人的影響，他說，你可以把機動車運輸的安全性分為幾個等級。

Safest is driving your own car, but of course, not everyone owns or can even afford a car.

最安全的是開自己的車，當然，并不是每個人都擁有或者買得起一輛車。

Rideshare apps like Uber come next, but they're a little challenging in terms of evaluating risk, Gershon says. It's a good sign when your driver has put up panels that create a barrier between the front and back of the car, wears a mask and keeps the windows open to encourage ventilation and airflow. Such measures help reduce the risk of viral particle exchange between you and your driver.

其次是優(yōu)步等拼車應用，但在評估風險方面，它們有點挑戰(zhàn)性，格爾森說。如果你的司機在車的前后之間安裝了隔離板，戴上了口罩，并讓車窗保持開著以促進通風和空氣流通，這是一個好跡象。這些措施有助于減少你和司機之間病毒顆粒交換的風險。

Buses and subways represent the final — and greatest — tier of risk. Gershon says buses might pose even more potential risk, because it could be harder for passengers to maintain distance from each other while subways tend to have several cars on a train, offering a greater opportunity to stay 6 feet or more from others.

公共汽車和地鐵是最后也是最大的風險。格爾森說，公交車可能會帶來更大的潛在風險，因為乘客之間很難保持距離，而地鐵往往有好幾節(jié)車廂，乘客之間有更大的機會保持6英尺甚至更遠的距離。

"I think you can prudently ride the subway if you're reasonably healthy and have no other risk factors," Gershon says.

“我認為，如果你身體健康，而且沒有其他危險因素，你可以謹慎地乘坐地鐵，” 格爾森說。