Why I Take Public Transportation During COVID-19

Is it safe to take mass transit during the pandemic

I sprinted down the stairs at the Civic Center Station, navigating through large pockets of air. Six months ago, the station was sprinkled with travelers headed from work or school. In the evenings, the same people on the platform would shove their bodies into cramped spaces destined toward North Hollywood. But these days, the Red Line mostly transports pockets of air.

The sign above shows that the train to North Hollywood will arrive in ten minutes. Ten minutes miraculously changes to twelve minutes. Then fourteen minutes. So I wait on the platform, listening to the deafening silence.

A woman coughs harshly into a blue bandana which causes a disheveled man to wake up from a nap on a bench. He looks at her with disdain, but finally lies back down. A gust of wind hits the side of my head. Despite the sign above, which states that the train will arrive in eight minutes, I hear the screeching of wheels and the train emerges. The doors forcefully open.

I walk inside and I peruse the train. I decide to stand about twenty feet from a woman in a wheelchair. Across from me hangs an outdated sign about COVID-19 and the preventative methods to consider to diminish contracting the illness. I stare straight ahead…