Originally Posted by
cooker
Sorry to be late to the thread. Bad as pandemics are I don't think de-densifying or getting rid of mass transit will save lives. Motor vehicle deaths dwarf pandemic deaths in the long run, for one thing, Also, these kinds of diseases eventually spread everywhere.and rural areas are not necessarily "safe" . We have a constellation of cases in the small community of Bobcaygeon, 2 hours outside of Toronto for example.
True story and also a Canadian insider joke - sorry to piggyback that onto a tragedy.
We all understand it could spread to every place. But we also see social distancing has helped to flatten the curve. South Korea and the USA have similar precautions and the death and infection rate is low. Countries that were late to isolation and social distancing didn't do so well. No one is pushing for more people to take mass transit at this point nor would it do any good. In some places passengers that do ride mass transit are forced to board through the back door only and not get withing 6 feet of the driver.
Yes more people are killed by car accidents but more have died from the flu as well plus add drug overdose. But this is every bit as contagious as the common cold, or so I have read.
So the government, CDC and medical community are suggesting not getting into a dense area of humans if you can avoid it. Could it be an over reaction? Maybe but it is effecting the thinking of everyone. Like I said people don't shake hands anymore, hugging is close to non existent. Mass transit is down a lot in New York and San Francisco, I posted links I think earlier. People are leaving the denser areas and communities are trying to stop others from coming into them. I am not judging if the actions are right or wrong only that the actions are happening and the attitudes towards going anywhere that large groups of people are has waned.
It may be different in other countries but I see a change in social attitudes that I am not convinced will return to "normal". If you look at Rhode Islands going door to door looking for people that came there from New York and New Jersey. This "seems like a cultural or social change to me and I am not sure it will go away if this pandemic simply proves seasonal. Countries are closing boarders, ours is considering putting the national guard on the boarders to screen people coming in. If this last much longer mass transit in some areas hear will not last. I don't think.