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> Right now, those cubicles are idle, because during the pandemic, token booths are not taking cash. Is there some other option for people who have only cash?

> Right now, those cubicles are idle, because during the pandemic, token booths are not taking cash. Is there some other option for people who have only cash? Besides, I thought it was established a few months into the pandemic that fomites[1] are not a likely route of transmission for coronavirus. [1] An object like a doorknob that may be contaminated with infectious agents (such as bacteria or viruses) and serve in their transmission.

tialaramex 5y ago
As I understand it, if you only have cash, you buy a MetroCard, with the cash, and then you refill the MetroCard (with cash) as necessary. You are correct that fomite transmission appears to be fairly rare, it's hard to be sure exactly how rare, but New Zealand, which has few enough COVID-19 cases to actually care about the finer details (they're headline news!), has two cases which they originally suspected were fomite transmission but now think were as likely droplet suspension in the air. A person who boarded an elevator that had been used by an infected person got the virus, but perhaps there were droplets left in the air of the elevator cabin for a few minutes, and a person who used the same trash can as an infected person also contracted the virus, again perhaps instead of fomite transmission via the trash can the shared area where it was located somehow still had the suspended droplets.
- pc86 5y ago
  And not to get too deep into what-kind-of-trash-can-was-it stuff, but just about every trash can I've ever used has had the opportunity for pretty significant airflow depending on what you're dropping in. The lid movement on the hands-free ones may even be worse in terms of airflow.
bobthepanda 5y ago
At least on buses, you dump them into a coin slot next to the card reader, so no one else is touching your coins, with the slight caveat that you are not getting change back.
lostlogin 5y ago
> Besides, I thought it was established a few months into the pandemic that fomites are not a likely route of transmission for coronavirus. The virus has been shown to last for three days on bank notes (see below), though how easy it is to catch from the notes isn’t mentioned. If my job involved touching bank notes from NY public transport last year, I’d sure as hell have been nervous, as small chances presumably add up. Those machines appear to move fast too, so maybe airborne spread could be possible? https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00251-4 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00251-4

tialaramex 5y ago

As I understand it, if you only have cash, you buy a MetroCard, with the cash, and then you refill the MetroCard (with cash) as necessary. You are correct that fomite transmission appears to be fairly rare, it's hard to be sure exactly how rare, but New Zealand, which has few enough COVID-19 cases to actually care about the finer details (they're headline news!), has two cases which they originally suspected were fomite transmission but now think were as likely droplet suspension in the air. A person who boarded an elevator that had been used by an infected person got the virus, but perhaps there were droplets left in the air of the elevator cabin for a few minutes, and a person who used the same trash can as an infected person also contracted the virus, again perhaps instead of fomite transmission via the trash can the shared area where it was located somehow still had the suspended droplets.

pc86 5y ago
And not to get too deep into what-kind-of-trash-can-was-it stuff, but just about every trash can I've ever used has had the opportunity for pretty significant airflow depending on what you're dropping in. The lid movement on the hands-free ones may even be worse in terms of airflow.

bobthepanda 5y ago

At least on buses, you dump them into a coin slot next to the card reader, so no one else is touching your coins, with the slight caveat that you are not getting change back.

lostlogin 5y ago

> Besides, I thought it was established a few months into the pandemic that fomites are not a likely route of transmission for coronavirus. The virus has been shown to last for three days on bank notes (see below), though how easy it is to catch from the notes isn’t mentioned. If my job involved touching bank notes from NY public transport last year, I’d sure as hell have been nervous, as small chances presumably add up. Those machines appear to move fast too, so maybe airborne spread could be possible? https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00251-4 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00251-4