Monitoring carbon dioxide levels, getting more fresh outdoor air in spaces key. Finally, the signals of change are growing obvious. Additionally, Amtrak now shows the capacity of its trains online as people shop for tickets, which may help customers choose emptier options. Amtrak's ridership hit an all-time record nationwide in 2019, then skidded by about 90% in April when cases of COVID-19 began soaring. Travel + Leisure magazine may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. I observed room attendants entering the private rooms of passengers who were not wearing masks. There are a lot of bottlenecks at the airport that make it hard to practice good social distancing, like the ticket counter, the baggage check, security checkpoints, and the boarding queue, says Eric Lofgren, PhD, assistant professor of epidemiology at Washington State University. "We were at 2,000 PPM for the local classrooms here, and we opened the window and we were at 550 PPM," Arnot said.The doctors say the upper limit of any building you would want to be in would be around 800 PPM, measured by CO2 meters that are available online and in most home improvement stores for around $100.Some Maine schools, like in Gorham, have used federal relief bill money to install upgrade their ventilation systems. In a case study of a bus in China, a passenger with the novel coronavirus was able to infect many other riders, including those seated up to seven rows away. The folding lounge bench and viewing seat were made of a fabric similar to what youd find on an airplane. Id spent the day watching the outside world flicker by like a silent film, a few minutes at a time. She noticed more thorough sanitation on her Portland-to-Chicago route, and less mask enforcement from Chicago to Boston. The virus is thought to be spread primarily by small droplets, called aerosols, that hang in the air and larger droplets that fall to the ground within six feet or so. Usted puede o no saber si algn miembro de su hogar o una persona que visita su casa tiene COVID-19 u otros virus respiratorios. The need to extend safety systems and upgrade more track, officials said. You can isolate from really everyone, so that, of course, becomes essentially just as safe as driving in your car, Khabbaza said, although you may still have to encounter people if you go to the dining car or a communal restroom or when you exit the train. Those improvements allowed all Amtrak trains in that stretch to bump up their speeds. 01:32 (LOSE FILE CHIP) IT'S NOT JUST BUILDINGS -- PUBLIC TRANSIT LIKE AMTRAK HAS BEEN LOOKING AT AIR QUALITY TOO. Another safety factor? I wanted to determine if my experience was more the exception or the norm. We now understand that smaller airborne particles can spread this virus, so employees are wearing face coverings, and were asking passengers to do so, too.. The company requires customers over 2 years old and employees to wear face coverings while onboard and in stations unless they are actively eating or drinking or in their own private room with the door closed. Gina Suh, head of the Mayo Clinics travel clinic, says train travel isnt too dissimilar from air travel. Companies have also implemented rigorous cleaning procedures between flights. This past spring the novel coronavirus tore through New York City, reaching a peak of thousands of new cases per day in April. At New York Penn Station, Amtrak installed new wayfinding signage and an Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation System in one of the Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning units in the Amtrak concourse, refreshed platforms and completed the second and final phase of the Ticketed Waiting Area refresh in conjunction with NJ TRANSIT. Increased Amtrak Police Department presence in stations and onboard trains to help enforce the federal transportation mask mandate. A number of subway and train systems use lower-rated MERV filters that are still capable of at least reducing the volume of coronavirus in the air. National Railroad Passenger Corporation. (CG: DR. BOB ARNOT, INFECTIOUS DISEASE EXPERT) 06:30 MIT JUST CAME OUT WITH A BRAND NEW PAPER TWO DAYS AGO SAYING IT DOESNT MATTER IF YOURE 6 OR 60 FEET AWAY THE KEY THING IS YOU NEED TO HAVE FRESH OUTDOOR AIR QUALITY INDOORS. At New York Penn Station, Amtrak installed new wayfinding signage and an Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation System in one of the Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning units in the Amtrak. For someone like me with immune issues that put them in a higher-risk category for COVID-19, having this option offered an off-load of anxiety. Meanwhile a recent Department of Defense study modeled the risk of in-flight infection using mannequins exhaling simulated virus particles and found that a person would have to be exposed to an infectious passenger for at least 54 hours to get an infectious dose. "It's not to measure whether you have too much carbon dioxide as any kind of a toxin," Dr. Arnot said. And while safety and sanitization were largely prioritized no matter which train I rode, the experience wasnt uniform. COVID-19 Innovative Adaptations As COVID-19 has greatly impacted the transportation industry, Amtrak has had to make some innovative adaptations. Though it was a shared space . For the buses, ridership is down about 60% from pre-pandemic levels. YOU CAN FI, With mask mandates and capacity limits lifting in Maine on May 24, some experts are warning we need to take a closer look at something they feel has been overlooked in this pandemic: the quality of the air we are sharing inside. Sleepy small towns and vast stretches of farmland also whizzed by outside, blurring into one another and introducing stories and characters that existed only for seconds. DOI: 10.1186 . Follow Sophie Bushwick on TwitterCredit: Nick Higgins, Tanya Lewis is a senior editor at Scientific American who covers health and medicine. Amtrak is issuing travel guidelines that aim to reassure customers that several added cleanliness and convenience measures have been implemented on their trains as the country begins to reopen during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao today announced that the Department of Transportation's (DOT) Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is making over $1 billion available to the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) to support the railroad's activities to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the . For more stories like this, sign up for our newsletter. Widespread mask use is key, says Lofgren. And at any given meal time, I found that only three out of five tables were ever occupied. "Maine is known as an outdoors place, as a fresh air place, as a natural place. While there are certainly ways to heed caution by rail, If you can drive, drive," Lofgren says. At the very least, it does no harm to wear a mask. In Vermont, Dr. Arnot advised some of the local school districts on how to improve their air quality."We were at 2,000 PPM for the local classrooms here, and we opened the window and we were at . Amit Gaggar Photography: Steve Wood. These 3 tools can help you navigate quarantine and testing policies by state, That could mean if you are in a crowded train station, if the train itself has it has a density of people around you whether thats passengers or crew members that could still pose a risk, Suh says. Nights, Holidays & Weekends: (800) 562-1904. He adds, Weve seen this in studies of flu transmission on airplanes. While the flu virus doesnt necessarily spread throughout the entire plane, a sick person who expels the virus into the air is likely to spray contaminated droplets on the people in the seats around them. WITH MASKS ABOUT TO BE TOSSED ASIDE FOR GOOD -- THAT BRINGS ALL THE MORE ATTENTION ON SOMETHING SOME EXPERTS SAY HAS BEEN OVERLOOKED IN THIS PANDEMIC -- THE QUALITY OF AIR WE BREATHE. Instead of eating in the dining car, I took advantage of Amtraks new room service option and had all my meals delivered right to my room at a time of my choosing. With tourism expected to rebound, officials hope to get back to about 60% of pre-pandemic ridership by mid-summer. The only reason I needed to leave my roomette was to use the restroom, a regularly cleaned compartment about the size of an airplane bathroom at the end of the hall. 8 Supporting data . Airline seating is much more confined than the seating on Amtrak cars, Silverman said. Those with medical conditions who cannot wear masks must wear a face shield as a substitute. It was WWII. AMTRAK Covid-19 Practices Puts Passengers and Workers at Risk News provided by. Texas Eagle Train 21 which departed Chicago (CHI) on 2/27, is currently being delayed in Taylor (TAY) due to law enforcement activity ahead. (Amtrak declined to answer my inquiries on whether or not this violated their mask policy, but they did say that refusing to wear a mask in a public space will result in prompt removal from the train.). (Air travel was also down by 96 percent). However, my room did not have any signs of being newly cleaned, prompting me to do a thorough inspection and ultimately wipe everything down. After locking the door behind me and closing the privacy curtain, I immediately took out my tub of Clorox wipes. Private Rooms "Almost no cases came from somebody touching something -- all the time and effort spent washing when it should have been ventilation, number one, and masks, number two.". All of that may, literally, require an act of Congress. 202 906.3860. These include things like cleaning every seat, private room, baggage rack, bathroom, button, caf car, dining car, and other publicly shared spaces with an EPA-registered disinfectant before the train leaves not to mention continuing to spray and wipe down all major touchpoints, including bathrooms, every couple of hours. "There is a lot of exchange," said Patricia Quinn, executive director of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, which operates the Downeaster. In fact, Dr. Arnot said he thought the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention focused too much early in the coronavirus pandemic response on cleaning surfaces (including the 19% of Americans who put bleach on their food to kill coronavirus) and not enough on lowering transmission through good ventilation for indoor spaces. My lunch was delivered right as we entered my favorite stretch of the journey, when the scenery of central California expanded with the wineries of Paso Robles, then surrounded us on all sides with mountains. And in Michigan, the on-time rate was just 43%. Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division of the Teamsters Jun 22, 2020, 09:00 ET. COVID-19 risk calculator: The safest and most dangerous things to do this holiday season; Updated number of COVID-19 deaths, cases in Bay Area; COVID-19 Help: Comprehensive list of resources . Every other table had a sign on it, instructing passengers to leave the booth empty in order to maintain social distancing. WASHINGTON (AP) The military services are still reviewing possible discipline of troops who refused the order to get the COVID-19 vaccine, defense officials told Congress on Tuesday, and they . Mask wearing reduces risk and is now mandatory on many forms of transit in the U.S., including New York Citys subway and bus systems, as well as Amtrak trains throughout the country. I would only travel by train right now if I could get a private room she said. Silverman is a travel agent, operating a Cruise Planners franchise from her home. When the train is approaching your stop, avoid crowding near the door and pay attention to crew announcements advising customers how and where to exit the train. With flying, COVID risk really comes down to how closely one sits to other people and for how long, whether or not everyone is wearing a mask, and how infectious any passengers are at the time. Read more about the coronavirus outbreak from Scientific American here. Ridership had dipped as low as 10% of normal volume compared to 2019 at the worst of the pandemic this winter, according to the Downeaster. 7 In March 2020, the US Food and Drug Administration issued Emergency Use Authorizations to several manufacturers for helmet use in acute hypoxemic respiratory failure from COVID-19. Anyone needing or choosing to wear one is encouraged to do so. multi-million-dollar and multi-year project, Amtrak Recognized as One of Americas Best Large Employers. Experts worry safe ventilation overlooked as coronavirus capacity limits, mask mandates lift, WMTW NEWS 8'S STEVE BOTTARI REPORTS THERE'S ANOTHER PIECE OF THE SAFETY PUZZLE: VENTILATION. Being in a crowded airport or taking a taxi to get there could be a bigger concern, though. (The results were published this month in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventions journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.) Travel on Amtrak to Virginia Wine Expo at the Main Street Station in Richmond, Va. (FILE CHIP UP) SOME SCHOOLS -- LIKE IN GORHAM -- HAVE USED CARES ACT MONEY TO INSTALL THE C-0-2 SENSORS (CG: HEATHER PERRY, GORHAM SCHOOLS) 01:26 WE'RE SETTING THOSE CO2 SENSORS TO THE LOWEST POSSIBLE LEVEL, WHICH IS ENSURING THAT OUT SYSTEMS ARE EXCHANGING AIR, AT THE FASTEST POSSIBLE RATE." Those measures dont guarantee risk-free travel on board. Heres how to stay safe. In fact, we have a full-time medical director and public health and safety team who have been on the frontlines throughout the COVID-19 outbreak. All the others have people right next to you, she said. "Losing ridership and revenue has been a real challenge," said Donna DeMartino, the LOSSAN Agency . While the view itself wasnt breathtaking, I found myself holding my breath. Corrie Pikul is the Health and Wellness Director of O, The Oprah magazine, where she covers every aspect of health, from mood to the microbiome, the immune system to the cardiovascular system, sex to sleep. 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