DETROIT – With temperatures dropping well below freezing, it’s tough to be outside — but some people have no choice.
At a bus station in downtown Detroit, the cold is palpable. One man said he doesn’t want to walk in the freezing weather, so he waits for the bus to pick him up.
“It’s cold,” Arthur Williams, a Detroit resident, said. “It’s dangerous if you’re out here for too long, but I don’t really be out here too long. I stick and move. I catch the bus. I’m timing it.”
Williams has lived in Detroit his whole life. He says this kind of cold is nothing new, and he’s learned how to prepare for it.
“I got two hoodies on, shirt, undershirt, so I’m pretty bundled up,” Williams said.
The bus station downtown has an enclosed area where people can wait and stay warm. But many other stops around the city don’t offer that shelter.
“You got to know what time the bus is coming,” Robert Hinton, another Detroit resident, said. “You can beat the cold like that.”
To help those struggling in the cold, Detroit Street Medicine has been handing out food, gloves, and other essentials at the bus station.
“We’re trying to coordinate bringing people to warming centers,” said Michaela Yamine of Detroit Street Medicine. “Cause weather like this is life threatening.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends bundling up and making outdoor trips as short as possible.
“The best thing we can do is stay in,” Williams said. “If you don’t have to come out. Don’t come out.”
The cold isn’t just uncomfortable — it can lead to serious issues like frostbite and hypothermia.