New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) this week ordered the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to develop a comprehensive cleaning plan, which includes nightly cleanings, for New York City subway trains — an order that comes over a month after the Chinese coronavirus began wreaking havoc on the city.

"Any essential worker who shows up and gets on a train should know that that train was disinfected the night before," Cuomo told reporters, asking MTA to provide a plan for the deep cleanings by Thursday.

"It's realistic. It's an essential. How realistic is it? What's the alternative?" Cuomo said of the state funding the sanitization efforts.

Cuomo's order comes as New York's homeless flock to the subway stations, with pictures showing homeless people sleeping on empty trains — images that caught the attention of the governor:

The condition of the trains are "disgusting" and "disrespectful" to essential workers, Cuomo said this week.

"Respect the essential workers. That is disgusting what is happening on those subway cars. It's disrespectful to the essential workers who need to ride the subway system. … They deserve better, they will have better," he promised.