"We're investing in some additional CO2 sensors, 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," Superintendent Heather Perry said in our report on schools last August.PUBLIC TRANSIT ADAPTSPublic transit systems have also been focusing on the ventilation component.Amtrak put out a video highlighting its air filtration system, citing numbers that it cycles air through the train cars on average 44 times an hour, replacing with fresh air about every 5 minutes. However, Amtrak doesnt allow passengers to open windows any longer because of safety regulations and the central air conditioning. By the time I stepped onto the platform in Union Station this time in Los Angeles I was ready to go home, but already missing the train. We have no middle seats, so each passenger either is seated beside a companion or you have an empty seat next to you.. The latest breaking updates, delivered straight to your email inbox. "Ventilation is the way forward," says infectious disease doctor Abraar Karan of Stanford. light filter, and we are testing that," said Denise Beck, Marketing and Community Outreach Manager for Greater Portland METRO.METRO has partnered with the University of Southern Maine to carry out the tests on those devices. If the lawmakers see it Amtraks way, many more travelers may ride the rails for reasons other than COVID-19 concerns. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your device and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. The most important thing we can do to keep passengers and employees safe is the use of face coverings, says Amtraks Kuhnen. Solo passengers can use the empty seats next to them for personal belongings. Fresh air is helpful to keep droplets from lingering, but it still won't protect you from a direct hit of a cough or sneeze. This article was published more than2 years ago. With COVID-19s onrush, that hope was shunted to a political siding. Thanks for reading Scientific American. And, for a moment, everything felt normal again. Follow Sophie Bushwick on TwitterCredit: Nick Higgins, Tanya Lewis is a senior editor at Scientific American who covers health and medicine. For the most part, it seemed the protocols were being adhered to, but when staff seemed more lax about sanitizing and enforcing mask policy, passengers used that opportunity to be less safe themselves.. Customers are assigned specific seats once they board, says Predmore, and they wont be seated next to or facing other passengersunless theyre traveling together with friends or family members. Those numbers suggest there could be another travel bump in the next few weeks around Christmas. Nights, Holidays & Weekends: (800) 562-1904. Before the pandemic, many people would not think twice about ordering a ride-share car or hailing a taxi. Linda and her boisterous charm bid me adieu, promising to return to show me around my new digs after she was able to meet, greet, and guide her other sleeping car passengers to their rooms. At a casual glance, air travel might seem like the perfect recipe for COVID transmission: it packs dozens of people into a confined space, often for hours at a time. For more stories like this, sign up for our newsletter. Texas Eagle Train 21 which departed Chicago (CHI) on 2/27, is currently being delayed in Taylor (TAY) due to law enforcement activity ahead. The affected routes include some trains in the Northeast Corridor and a New Orleans route. Trains also are safer than planes, in part, because many train stations have open-air platforms where travelers board, Dr. Aaron Rossi told USA Today in October. That study went on to point out the potential threat existed even with a mask. In addition, the railroad has restored daily service for its East Coast long . I grabbed a cup of freshly brewed coffee, and put in my order for lunch. 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. (Air travel was also down by 96 percent). In 2019, we were selling every seat now were filling only half of each trains capacity, and were strongly encouraging people to sit apart, said Marc Magliari, spokesman for Amtrak. Theres no doubt about that., Tips: Safe holiday travel | Coronavirus testing | Sanitizing your hotel | Using Uber and Airbnb, Flying: Pandemic packing | Airport protocol | Staying healthy on plane | Fly or drive | Best days to fly, Road trips: Tips | Rental cars | Best snacks | Long-haul trains | Foliage finder | Art road trips, Camping: First-time | Camping alone | Meal planning | Glamping | National parks, Places: Hawaii | Machu Picchu | New York | Private islands | Caribbean | Mexico | Europe. Running on normal schedules are Amtraks other Michigan trains the Blue Water service that links Chicago to Battle Creek, Lansing, Flint and Port Huron; and the Pere Marquette between Chicago and Grand Rapids. The data emerging from a handful of new research papers show that COVID-19 can build up in poorly ventilated spaces. Somewhere after Santa Barbara, golden hour set in, and the tracks brought us nearly to the edge of cliffs running along the Pacific Ocean. Companies have also implemented rigorous cleaning procedures between flights. Joseph Khabbaza, a critical care medicine specialist at Cleveland Clinic, said travelers can be meticulous about their plans and still the wild card is you dont know whos going to be close to you and how close theyre going to be, what are their personal views, and how they have been approaching these last seven or eight months.. (If you want to take your PPE to the next level, consider adding a plastic face shield to your packing list. 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. And thats when I got to work. 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. That, this summer -- and even heading into colder months -- may be the key, according to Dr. Arnot: "Fundamentally you've got to have clean outdoor air, indoors and where could you possibly have better air than the state of Maine.". 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. I noticed signage stating that passengers and staff must wear masks at all times unless in the privacy of their own rooms had replaced Amtrak promotional posters on the walls. If the rate of community transmission in your region is low, chances are that taking the occasional taxi or ride-share car is not a huge riskprovided you wear a mask and keep the windows open as much as possible. It wasnt. Inside Ground Zero of the Coronavirus Pandemic, Oprah On COVID-19's Deadly Impact on Black America, The Governors Helping Americans Survive COVID. More airtight locations would have to work with their HVAC systems to increase the fresh air intake to levels that would adequately lower the parts per million (PPM). Federal law says freight trains must yield to passenger trains when both want to use the same track. It sits in the air and moves over time and space," said Dr. Bob Arnot, a longtime medical journalist and infectious disease expert who treated Ebola patients in Africa in the early 2000s. As the coronavirus pandemic .css-9cezh6{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#E61957;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-9cezh6:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}rages on around the world, experts reiterate that the safest way to travel is via your own two feetpreferably using them to go on a nice, solitary walk around the block or through the woods. Most of these flights occurred early on in the pandemic, however, and in the case of the March 1 flight, masks were likely not worn, the researchers wrote. COVID-19 Innovative Adaptations As COVID-19 has greatly impacted the transportation industry, Amtrak has had to make some innovative adaptations. Those measures dont guarantee risk-free travel on board. (CG: DENISE BECK, GREATER PORTLAND METRO) 04:04 TWO OF OUR NEW BUSSES HAVE AN AIR PURIFICATION, A UV LIGHT FILTER -- AND WE ARE TESTING THAT. (DR BOB ZOOM) 18:02 FUNDAMENTALLY YOU'VE GOT TO HAVE CLEAN OUTDOOR AIR, INDOORS. Continue reading with a Scientific American subscription. If a window is able to be opened, that always helps getting droplets to disperse very quickly, making it very unlikely that they will make it to another person in enough of a concentration to transmit infection, especially if masking is enforced, he said. After taking Amtrak's Coast Starlight train from Portland to Los Angeles during the pandemic, one traveler shares her experience of the 30-hour journey. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. East of Kalamazoo, where the track needs improving, Amtraks maximum speed is 79 mph. In addition to snagging window seats, bus riders should look for the same safety features they would on a subway: a mask requirement, good ventilation and adequate spacing between passengers. It has installed signs to encourage social distancing in high-traffic areas, such as the stations and cafe cars, where it has also put up plastic barriers at the customer counters. 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. Follow her on Twitter @tanyalewis314Credit: Nick Higgins, Amanda Montaez is an associate graphics editor at Scientific American. DOI: 10.1186 . Each is said to boast a 4,400-horsepower diesel engine made by manufacturer Cummins in Indiana, which generates electricity that powers four electric motors to turn the drive wheels. DETROIT As segments of society reopen and the world rushes to get vaccinated, more Americans may lose their fear of flying and once again crowd airports and airplanes. In fact, the whole room looked like what I would have expected to find in a first-class suite on an international flight back in the 1970s (if they made them this big). Most passengers were respectful of the rules, though there was the occasional person who used this rule as a way to get around wearing a mask for an extended period of time in other sections, like the observation car. 01:32 (LOSE FILE CHIP) IT'S NOT JUST BUILDINGS -- PUBLIC TRANSIT LIKE AMTRAK HAS BEEN LOOKING AT AIR QUALITY TOO. Some bus companies have installed clear partitions between drivers and passengers. Public transit systems have also been focusing on the ventilation component. Amtrak said on Friday that it will temporarily reduce service on some trains because of staffing challenges stemming from a surge in cases of the Omicron variant among workers . In other words, unless I chose to, I wouldnt have to interact or share space with any other passengers on my 30-hour journey from Portland to Los Angeles. Doing so might limit the spread of virus-carrying droplets from coughing, sneezing, breathing or speaking but is unlikely to prevent viral transmission via smaller airborne particles. The truth is that few of us are wearing masks with strong enough filters to reliably screen viruses out of the air. Yet, Amtrak mandated masks for all passengers and employees beginning last spring. Also, Magliari said: We have significantly more spacing (than airlines and buses) between our seats. They even had a decent selection of vegetarian and gluten-free options. In the dining car people wouldnt wear a mask while they were actively eating, but it seemed like they would use eating just like on planes as an excuse to keep their mask off.. An NEJM study in March reported on a Thai taxi driver who fell ill and tested positive for the coronavirus after driving some tourists who had been coughing but wearing a mask. Katherine Alex Beaven is a Los Angeles-based travel, food and drink, and culture writer. This finding assumes the infected passenger is wearing a surgical mask, however, and it does not account for the dangers involved in removing the mask for meals or talking or in moving about on the plane. The need to extend safety systems and upgrade more track, officials said. Jan. 14, 2022. Everything Id read so far about riding Amtrak in the time of COVID-19 seemed to rank long-distance train travel as safe, smart, and dare I say even relaxing. But even with fresh air available, an infected passenger can still transmit the coronavirus to someone who. In contrast, Amtrak conductors were very strict about keeping everyone socially distanced. Silverman called her trip a relaxing way to travel.. light filter, and we are testing that," said Denise Beck, Marketing and Community Outreach Manager for Greater Portland METRO. When their recirculation systems are operating, most commercial passenger jets bring in outside air in a top-to-bottom direction about 20 to 30 times per hours. That made me not want to gather in any kind of a public space while on the train whatsoever, she said. While there are certainly ways to heed caution by rail, If you can drive, drive," Lofgren says. 05:49 CERTAINLY WITH THE SUMMER COMING WE'LL BE ABLE TO HAVE THE WINDOWS OPEN -- AND I'M SURE THAT WILL MAKE OUR PASSENGERS FEEL BETTER ABOUT HAVING THE FRESH AIR 05:56 THAT, IT SEEMS, MAY BE THE KEY MOVING FORWARD. 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