At 1 a.m. Wednesday, all of New York City’s 472 subway stations closed for cleaning for the first overnight subway shutdown in at least 50 years.
Police officers were assigned to remove people experiencing homelessness who had been sleeping on nearly empty trains.
The NYPD said Wednesday that its officers engaged with 252 people experiencing homelessness overnight.
Of those, 139 people accepted transportation to shelters — a number New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called “extraordinary” for one night and “a very hopeful sign.”
The subway trains will now stop running from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. local time each day.
In New York City, 15% of people who were tested on May 4 were positive for the coronavirus — down from 22% on May 3.
But 109 people were admitted to hospitals with suspected COVID-19 on May 4 — up from 74 admissions on May 3.
And 599 patients were in New York City ICUs on May 4 — up slightly from 596 the day before.
