Be it Uber, Lyft or the local yellow cab service, as long as you are enclosed in a small space with another person, the chances of getting infected are always going to be high. This goes both ways, of course, but it’s the drivers who are the most vulnerable because they must come in contact with multiple passengers on a daily basis, alongside several places where the chances of contracting the pandemic are high. Therefore, it is only logical for cab drivers to take as many precautions as possible so that they can lower the probability of such unfortunate instances. Doing so is quite possible and plausible now, thanks to there being a few known, and effective, prevention strategies in place.

Install a Sneeze Guard

There needs to be a physical barrier in between passengers and the driver in order to maintain the safety of both parties. The car sneeze shield has been designed to be an affordable, germproof barrier, capable of stopping all microbes from getting through to the other side. All it takes for anyone to catch Covid in a cab is a one wayward sneeze or cough from someone who already has it. The fact that sneeze guards can prevent Covid-19 from spreading makes these extremely necessary for all cabs.

Wear Gloves at All Times

Sneezes and coughs are far more potent, as far as their chances of infecting people are concerned, but spreading of the virus via skin contact is quite possible too. The virus may not survive in sufficient quantities when left on an open surface, but it can still survive for a while. This duration could be just a few hours, or it may even be more than two whole days, depending on the surface in question. As cabbies touch gas pump handles, car door handles, car seats and various other surfaces throughout their workday, getting infected via touch is a high probability as well. Wear protective gloves at all times to prevent it.

Ride-Sharing Should Be Turned Off

Although it remains an ideal solution to controlling air pollution, cramping a bunch of strangers together into any car is not a good idea right now. The ideal count of passengers per taxi is one at this time, so you may have to turn off ride-sharing for the foreseeable future. In case you drive an app cab, your company may have already closed off that option by now. Even if it’s still there, you cannot be forced to accommodate any more passengers than you are comfortable driving with.

Newer and more persistent strains of the coronavirus now being on the rise, there is no telling when it will be safe again to drive around without having to worry about becoming infected or infecting others. In the meantime, life and business must go on. For cab drivers, in particular, this is a piece of truth that they must come to terms with, but not without the necessary precautions in place.