Shhh! LRT bars talking inside trains

Disclaimer: The image used is a stock photo taken before the COVID-19 pandemic. 

With the return of public transportation under general community quarantine came a number of new health and safety protocols. For the Light Rail Transit Line 1, one policy being implemented to warn against the spread of COVID-19 is barring passengers from talking inside trains.

(Walang landian: Malacañang bars ‘holding hands while walking’ in public)

The LRT-1 management has been discouraging passengers from speaking while inside trains for about 2 weeks now. They recently reiterated in an advisory that “talking is not allowed on the train” as “COVID-19 spreads through respiratory droplets.”

Jacqueline Gorospe, corporate communications head of Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC), also discouraged passengers from answering phone calls while inside the train. However, in the event that the call is a “life or death situation”, passengers should remember to have their face masks on while speaking.

This comes on the heels of the World Health Organization conceding that COVID-19 may be airborne when in enclosed spaces. Both the WHO and Department of Health caution people that the virus may be spread by “talks, sneeze, or cough” droplets from infected individuals.

What do you think about this?