« Threat Level Orange: Be Mindful of Credibility Gaps | Home | Bloomberg's New Plan for School Safety + »
December 22, 2003
Carrying hand sanitizer at all times suddenly seems reasonable
The Daily News offers a heroically exhaustive study of all the disgusting germs that can be found all over subway cars, ticket machines, and turnstiles -- plus the great news that the MTA is cutting 200 cleaning jobs over the next year. The News took swabs from all over our city's public transit system and found staph, strep, fecal e.coli, flesh-eating bacteria, and molds basically everywhere. They conclude that we are a filthy bunch of barbarians who sneeze without covering our mouths, never wash our hands, don't use toilet paper, and apparently also pull our pants down and rub ourselves all over the MetroCard machines.
They also include one terrifying factoid that might lead me to swear off public bathrooms forever, even the ones in hotel lobbies that are the only free bathrooms available in most parts of town: "Close the toilet lid before flushing: Aerosolized particles from inside the bowl can jump 20 feet."
Jumping aerosolized particles. Maybe the subway is so filthy because we're all covered in our own evaporated excrement. Welcome to the world of OCD. -amy
*Actual email received moments ago:
ADM, i have to cancel tonight's dinner due to illness. i'm feeling horrible. my muscles are in pain. phlegmy chest, too.
