This Week: Coronavirus Fears, Drivers Reach to Kobe Bryant, and More

This week in rideshare news has Drive Girl Drive’s Cecily covering: Kobe Bryant & Rideshare Drivers, Coronavirus & Racism, and Local Church Helps Driver After Scam

Cecily Jamelia:                  So it’s kind of hard to segment, rideshare news from what’s going on in the world.

Cecily Jamelia:                  Hey, what’s up guys? And thank you for tuning back into this week in rideshare news. But there’s been a lot that went on this week, so it’s kind of hard to segment, rideshare news from what’s going on in the world. First, there being the tragedy that happened early this week with Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and several other families that were affected by that tragedy. And to be honest with you, I was surprised to find out that many people found out about the tragedy while being in an Uber or coming in contact with a Uber or Lyft driver. A lot of folks actually found out about what happened via rideshare and so it’s hard to segment what’s going on in real life from what’s happening in your car. And so I’m sure many of you that are on the road that are carrying folks back and forth have had conversations, how those conversations are going.

Cecily Jamelia:                  I mean, for the most part people were saying that they had great experiences talking to their drivers. Drivers were sharing stories, fond memories and things like that, consoling others and that sort of thing. And I just want to note that with any sort of wide-scale tragedy, it is your car and you can do whatever you want to do, but I think always just try to be sensitive to how other people are grieving. I’d say especially here in Los Angeles, people really did idolize and look up to him. He feels very much like a part of this city. He feels very much like someone that everyone has a story or a very fond feeling for. And so be mindful that you could trigger someone if you respond in a way that might be deemed insensitive or engage in a conversation or something like that where most likely you might end up having a difference of opinion. And I’m sure you can fill in the blank. With that being said, I read a few really awesome tweets and I just wanted to share them with you guys.

Cecily Jamelia:                  Aside from that tragic loss, we also have another story. There’s another elephant in the room and that would be the coronavirus. With this particular strain being so new and people knowing very little about the disease, like how people get it and the possibility of transmission, folks’ imagination and ignorance has run wild and my heart goes out to my Asian sistren and brethren because I’m thinking y’all are probably having a real hard time, at least some of you. After I was looking online, there’s no shortage of jokes. “Folks are coughing and sneezing. My driver sneezed, he might have the virus,” those jokes are plentiful.

Cecily Jamelia:                  The problem I have is that I’m really concerned about those Asian drivers that said that they’ve been discriminated against. They report cancellations, racist jokes and inappropriate questions. There’s also some Asian customers have said that they’ve been treated the same way and that folks who have what would be deemed Asian names or looked Asian said that their drivers are actually happy to know that they weren’t Asian because they were afraid of the coronavirus. Now airport passengers have experienced a longer wait time because drivers are reluctant to do airport pickup. How does Uber and Lyft feel about this? Uber support, Uber has not responded at all to all of these jokes and things being said. Lyft did and this is what they said.

Cecily Jamelia:                  Bottom line, I feel like most of the things I see out there are really just people who are afraid, who lack the cultural sensitivity and ignorance can be a great motivator and doing and saying dumb things. The internet is accessible for people who don’t have the answer, so I feel like if you were listening to the news, if you are curious about the disease, how it spreads, who has it and that kind of thing, if you have questions, go there. Do not think that you can just turn to someone and ask them about their food, have they been exposed to the virus and that sort of thing.

Cecily Jamelia:                  One other thing that I found which I thought was interesting, I’m not sure if this video is real or not, but it appears to be a driver, who’s in a suit, who’s on the road hoping to make some money and avoid catching the coronavirus. I saw somewhere that this isn’t the right kind of suit to keep from getting the virus, but how do we know? It’s not like we looked at the tag or something like that, but apparently this is a real video and it’s been shared over and over and over again. And that’s always my thing, if a virus is spreading, it’s going to spread in your car. Rideshare is going to speed up the transport of virus. It’s true.

Cecily Jamelia:                  I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be afraid, but the reality is unless you are in an area of quarantine, you really shouldn’t have to worry about it. I’m no doctor, I’m not telling you how to feel, but I definitely feel like good hygiene is always important, spraying your car down and that sort of thing. One second. This Lysol kills SARS, whooping cough, rotavirus, salmonella, duck hepatitis B. I didn’t even know ducks could get hepatitis B. But this right here kills mostly everything. So having some of this is important in your car.

Cecily Jamelia:                  An Uber driver receives a check from a local church after being scammed by online conmen. These guys said they were Uber security and they contacted Ms. Dawn Howell and she shared her information and her earnings were stolen that fast. She lost $112. She contacted her local news and they shared the story. A pastor saw this broadcast and he wanted to assist.

Jay West:                            … okay with that, so we made the check out for a little bit more because we know that you’re going to have to go to the bank and change your accounts and everything. So I made out for 150 just to cover some of the other expenses too.

Dawn Howell:                   I don’t know what to say. The act of kindness is just, I’m humbled by it.

Cecily Jamelia:                  The church gave Dawn $150 to cover her loss. Now I know these stories are commonplace, but people fall for these scams all the time, so they need to keep sharing it. Now, just know that if anyone claims to work for Uber or Lyft or any sort of platform, they already have access to your account, they don’t need you to provide access, especially if this communication is unsolicited. Okay? And when has their support ever been that attentive? Anyway, long story short, if someone reaches out to you, ask you for your information, don’t give it to them. The money that you lose you may not receive back. So it’s worth being cautious and waiting and then reaching out to support via the app or the number that you know for sure goes to that particular app’s support and asking if someone’s trying to get in contact with you, for what and why.

Cecily Jamelia:                  Okay, so you guys can probably guess what today segment’s going to be about, with what would you do? I saw this online. I’m going to read it to you right now. Anyone else considering using face mask and gloves while driving because of the new virus? You think it will weird out pax? I’m mostly worried about getting my one-year-old sick.

Cecily Jamelia:                  I think it’s interesting how we’re all focusing on one virus when clearly there are several. Do you see that? Do you see that? Do you see that? There’s tons of viruses. Let me just say this, I don’t want to catch your common cold, I don’t want to catch your flu, I don’t want to catch your viral infection, I don’t want to catch her whooping cough, I don’t want to catch her anything. I don’t want to catch any of it. And so I feel like if you want to wear a mask, wear a mask. I mean, you need to educate yourself on a type of mask and what, because not all mask are created equal and you need a special mask for the coronavirus if you’re trying to prevent that. Let me tell you, the flu can possibly kill you, a common cold and turn into pneumonia. We just lose all common sense with these scares and there’s plenty of people that die from the flu and all kinds of stuff.

Cecily Jamelia:                  So yeah, I don’t want any sort of thing that you have. And so I feel like if you want to protect yourself with gloves and masks and Lysol, then you should. I think you should. If it’s going to freak somebody out, it’s going to definitely cause a conversation and be ready for the conversation. If you think that you can dress up like that and that no one’s going to ask a question, then you’re fooling yourself. So I would say do it and do it with a playful and open mind and attitude because people are going to be taken aback.

Cecily Jamelia:                  Being that I’m a person who has asthma and allergies, I’m always having a respiratory issue. I’m letting people know constantly when I do that, I’ve got asthma, “Hey, I’ve got allergies,” that sort of thing, just so that they don’t think that I got into their car sick or stuff like that. It’s just common courtesy, at least here in America. I’m not speaking for anybody else and I’m inferring than anyone else does it. I just don’t have that knowledge. Here, you cough, you cover your mouth. You sneeze, you try to cover it. And I think it’s courteous to let people know if you are sick or not. So do you want to wear it? I say wear it. What do you guys think? Let me know in the comments.

Cecily Jamelia:                  I appreciate you guys for hanging in there with me. You can watch my videos every single Saturday. So they go up as early as 5:00 AM Pacific Standard Time, but you can watch it whenever you want to because that’s what we’re doing right now. If you liked this video, please give me a thumbs up. If you watched it and you’re like, “Okay, that was good,” give me a thumbs up. If you’re not subscribed, please subscribe to this channel. There’s lots of good things here, lots of great stuff. Look forward to seeing you again next Saturday. Peace out. Oh, and if you’re curious about who I am and what I do, my name is Cecily and I’ve a channel called Drive Girl Drive and you can contact me via my Facebook as well. Bye.