That would have relatively little impact because of the very dense amount of residential housing in almost every borough of New York City
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Wrong-o.
It would have halted traffic by...oh, probably at least half. No one can ‘safe distance’ on a NYC subway. Heck, not even on the platform, in most cases.
With less traffic coming IN to the city, less chance of being pushed about on NYC sidewalks/stores/etc. Just look at their streets in the past week. Imagine if that had started two weeks ago.
Surfaces on subways can hold the virus for up to DAYS (plastics/stainless steel).
New Mexico has social distancing for miles away from Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Not a guarantee of not catching the virus but you can get far away from people.
FYI, my son just told his crew he is making it mandatory they wear masks in all public areas if the hospital. He said if the hospital wants to kick him out, or his company wants to fire him, the fine. He said as long as he has to be around patient areas, he does not feel he and his crew are safe.
Same reason I stuck some of yesterday's groceries in a closet for the time being. They should be OK in a couple more days.