Corona virus impacts on Amtrak

Yep, I’ve been seeing reports of same. It’s going to keep affecting travel heavily, and I expect that especially international travel from the United States will be limited to near-nothing.

Amtrak’s plans to roll out more sleeper space (if that isn’t just railfan soeculation) will help. It would help further if the company put all of its Viewliners into service as well as any backshopped Superliner sleepers while continuing to limit coach capacity.

I’m not sure what capabilities Amtrak has personnel-wise in its shops, but this might be the time to start cycling coaches through Beech and Bear to build in dividers compartments and higher-capacity non-recirculating HVAC systems. Even with the potential of a different president willing to listen to epidemiologists America will struggle to enforce quarantines, so engineering controls will be essential to limit the spread rate. Dividing cars into separate sections of 12 (5 or 6 divisions) would keep airflow spread to a minimum. Smaller sections would be better, but perhaps too impractical.

RRspatch wrote: ↑Wed Aug 26, 2020 12:07 am Bad news on the Covid-19 front. Apparently any antibodies you get after having the virus don't last very long. Reports of people getting Covid-19 a second time have popped up in Europe and Asia. This means that if you're hoping for a one shot silver bullet vaccine then we might be out of luck. It's possible you might need a booster shot every three to four months. Now multiply that by 320 million people in this country.

Slashdot's a pointer to other articles, so best to pull that article it linked to. (Oh memories) NBC News has some more details.

Belgian virologist Marc Van Ranst told Belgian broadcaster VRT he had not been surprised by the Hong Kong reinfection.

“For us it was not news because we have also had such a case in Belgium,” he told the Terzake programme.
...
Van Ranst said that in cases such as the Belgian woman’s in which the COVID-19 symptoms were relatively mild, the body may not have created enough antibodies to prevent a rinfection, although they might have helped limit the sickness.

Another tidbit is that they're looking to see if the strain of COVID-19 that reinfected the Belgian woman is different. I heard a few months ago that there were two strains, and there was a possible reinfection in Hong Kong.

A report today had a March (?) recovered patient coming down with another strain of Covid-19 and he has been hospitalized. If that pans out it is almost Katy bar the door next year.!!!!

Amtrak has extended its change and cancellation fees waiver for another month through September 30th, 2020. Here is the quote from the website:

Change and cancellation fees waiver extended for reservations made by September 30, 2020 and the removal of some restrictions on Multi-Ride tickets on the Northeast Corridor extended through September 30, 2020.

Before traveling on Amtrak, make sure that you have reviewed any advisories or restrictions that may be in place for travel to your destination. Learn more about state-specific travel restrictions.

west point wrote: ↑Fri Aug 28, 2020 8:40 pm A report today had a March (?) recovered patient coming down with another strain of Covid-19 and he has been hospitalized. If that pans out it is almost Katy bar the door next year.!!!!

The first confirmed case of an American coming down with SARS-CoV2 (Covid-19) has been documented.

https://nypost.com/2020/08/28/nevada-ma ... -19-twice/
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm ... id=3681489

A download of the medical paper concerning this found at the second link.

Not good for the economy, the airlines, Amtrak or anything else. To quote a certain HBO series .... Winter is Coming.

Amtrak's William Flynn has stated that the service cuts and the tri-weekly schedule, for the LD trains , will remain in effect throughout this coming winter. Then, on Feb 15th , Amtrak will re-evaluate the virus situation. If Covid 19 hospitalizations are stable or on the decline, Amtrak will either consider or return to full schedules and services. I wonder what their criteria will be for "stable" or "declining" hospitalization rates.

The overall ridership for Amtrak long distance trains is down by 62%. Ridership for other, shorter routes is down by 80%, at least from what I can find on the internet.

The CDC has come out with an interesting statistic. Of the total US deaths, from Covid 19, only 6% are deaths due to the virus, alone. The other 94% of the deaths occurred with people who had some underlying illness. Yet, the death was labeled a Covid death. I guess it begs the question, could the 94% bracket of patients have died solely from their underlying disease or did the virus somehow "trigger" their death?

Richard

Westernstar1 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 5:47 pm The CDC has come out with an interesting statistic. Of the total US deaths, from Covid 19, only 6% are deaths due to the virus, alone. The other 94% of the deaths occurred with people who had some underlying illness. Yet, the death was labeled a Covid death. I guess it begs the question, could the 94% bracket of patients have died solely from their underlying disease or did the virus somehow "trigger" their death?

The CDC clarified with Dr. Fauci that the 94% died with COVID-19 in addition to underlining illness. Each death is tested for COVID-19 to verify that it contributed. Initial death certificates were "possible COVID-19" but now are being marked after testing.

Which tells me there's a lot of sick people out there.

That said, you still don't want to get COVID-19. It causes long-term damage if you are hit heavy with it.

From hearing and reading the latest projections on a vaccine, having Amtrak re-evaluate in March is a good idea. We'll be well on recovery in July.

STrRedWolf wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 7:27 pm The CDC clarified with Dr. Fauci that the 94% died with COVID-19 in addition to underlining illness. Each death is tested for COVID-19 to verify that it contributed. Initial death certificates were "possible COVID-19" but now are being marked after testing.

Which tells me there's a lot of sick people out there.

That said, you still don't want to get COVID-19. It causes long-term damage if you are hit heavy with it.

From hearing and reading the latest projections on a vaccine, having Amtrak re-evaluate in March is a good idea. We'll be well on recovery in July.

Appreciate this post - you beat me to it by a few minutes

If you have any risk factors like COPD, sickle cell anemia, or certain types of diabetes, you probably should avoid Amtrak and other shared transit (and community areas) until an effective vaccine is released. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nc ... tions.html

If LD trains are down 62% and shorter routes 80%, maybe the wrong trains are being rescheduled.

urr304 wrote: ↑Sat Sep 05, 2020 6:27 pm If LD trains are down 62% and shorter routes 80%, maybe the wrong trains are being rescheduled.

Well, aren't the LD's mainly all Amtrak and the shorter routes state funded?

urr304 wrote: ↑Sat Sep 05, 2020 6:27 pm If LD trains are down 62% and shorter routes 80%, maybe the wrong trains are being rescheduled.

Need more information. Just to throw numbers out there. if LD trains normally run 50% full and shorter routes 100%, then LD trains running at 62% down would be running 19% full while shorter routes would be 20% full. As we've seen with Covid, numbers can mean any thing you want them to if you don't disclose all of them.

urr304 wrote: ↑Sat Sep 05, 2020 6:27 pmIf LD trains are down 62% and shorter routes 80%, maybe the wrong trains are being rescheduled.

STrRedWolf wrote: ↑Sun Sep 06, 2020 12:15 pmWell, aren't the LD's mainly all Amtrak and the shorter routes state funded?

Ding ding, there’s the answer. And the self-funded NEC is their show pony; to be fair it also does form a more integral part of our transportation network.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/03/trav ... d=em-share

Fair Use:

Dear Tripped Up,
I’ve been hesitant to take a train during the pandemic because I have concerns about safety. I live in Philadelphia, which means that by the time I board, the train has already picked up new passengers at several other stops. What are rail companies like Amtrak doing to adjust to Covid-19, and what can passengers do to stay healthy while traveling? Ann

Dear Ann; it's safe enough

Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Tue Oct 06, 2020 12:49 pm https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/03/trav ... d=em-share

Fair Use:

Dear Tripped Up,
I’ve been hesitant to take a train during the pandemic because I have concerns about safety. I live in Philadelphia, which means that by the time I board, the train has already picked up new passengers at several other stops. What are rail companies like Amtrak doing to adjust to Covid-19, and what can passengers do to stay healthy while traveling? Ann

Dear Ann; it's safe enough

That reminds me of this article from last week:

https://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2 ... d-of-virus

A study commissioned by the American Public Transportation Association says no correlation has been found between use of public transport and the spread of the COVID-19 virus. A summary of the report by Sam Schwartz Researchers, commissioned in September, also says an analysis of public transit ridership in multiple cities shows no correlation with the rise or fall of local COVID-19 cases, and that it appears what a rider does at the end of a trip affects the probability of contracting the virus “far more than the mode of travel.”

Despite this info, I fear that people still may associate rail transport and public transportation with germ or virus spreaders due to being stuck in a confined space with 2x2 or 2x3 seating, thus taking years for the public to fully regain trust of public transportation and other places which would not involve social distancing, such as movie theatres, cruise ships and concerts.

One of the 20 or so cases in Auckland's "major outbreak " was contracted on a public bus . Another from a surface in a elevator. at that stage , masks were not compulsory on Auckland transport. however it shows it i s possible , but tracing ensured every contact was checked and source established.