New York Gov. Cuomo says NYC subway system is disgusting and deteriorating, orders cleaning plan

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that he’s ordering New York City’s subway authority to develop a cleaning plan for all trains after reports that the subway system has deteriorated, trains are filled with homeless people and crime has proliferated. 

Cuomo said he saw pictures in The Daily News of train cars that were filthy and disgusting and had homeless people living on them with all of their belongings. He added that some crimes have increased despite a 90{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} drop in ridership amid the Covid-19 outbreak. 

“And it was not just the Daily News picture, it reflected what has been in the press and what people have been saying, which is the deterioration of the conditions in the subways,” Cuomo said at a press conference in Albany on Wednesday.

He said that he’s ordered the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to submit a full plan by Thursday on how they intend to disinfect every train, every night to protect commuting essential workers.

“Any essential worker who shows up and gets on a train should know that that train was disinfected the night before,” Cuomo said. 

An MTA spokesperson told CNBC “we’re working something up and I can get it as soon as we send it out.”

Cuomo said starting Wednesday, the state will begin offering antibody testing for transit workers to determine if they’ve likely been infected with Covid-19 and recovered. 

This is a developing story. Please check back later for updates.