Ed Cisek is the owner of Cottage City Cab Company.

As the coronavirus pandemic situation unfolded in March, Mr. Cisek said he noticed a different mood in his customers.

“There was just something in the air. I’ve been doing this for so long you can tell the vibe people have. No one was really talking about it, but everyone was kind of holding their breath both literally and figuratively.”

On March 18, he stopped his traditional taxi service.

“I just didn’t feel comfortable that I could maintain the six-foot distance in the taxis. The idea of me possibly being a spreader or my passengers being a spreader and contributing to the spread of the illness made me really uncomfortable.”

In the meantime, Mr. Cisek wrote on his company’s Facebook page that he would be available in emergency circumstances. For now, Cottage City Cab’s main line of business is delivering auto parts that come over on the Patriot boat to Island mechanics.

He is already wondering what the summer will bring.

“I think that’s the biggest question everyone is wondering right now in the industry. Are they coming over? I know right now there’s still the travel ban, how long is the travel ban going to last? Will visas even be issued? Staffing is already such a big problem on the Island. This summer, if we get the all-clear in the next couple weeks or months, it’s going to be very hard to know what staff is going to look like.”