WASHINGTON — Amtrak will begin requiring passengers to wear masks or other facial coverings as of May 11. The requirement is for passengers on trains and buses as well as customers in stations.
“The safety of Amtrak’s customers and employees is our top priority and requiring a facial covering is one more way we can protect everyone,” Amtrak President and CEO Bill Flynn said in a release announcing the police. “Amtrak continues to operate as an essential service for those who must travel during this public health crisis.”
The covering over a customer’s nose and mouth can be removed when customers are eating in designated areas, in their private rooms in sleeping car accommodations, or when seated alone or with a travel companion in their own pair of seats. (Amtrak previously reduced ticket sales to no more than 50% of capacity to ensure social distancing.) Small children who cannot maintain a facial covering are exempt. Information on making facial coverings is available at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
Amtrak, which began requiring customer-facing employees to wear masks on April 20, joins a large number of North American transit agencies in requiring passengers masks aboard trains. VIA Rail Canada has chosen to recommend rather than require masks on the handful of its trains that continue to operate, despite a recommendation from Transport Canada that it require facial coverings. [See “Amtrak to require masks for employees,” News Wire Digest, April 20, 2020.]
Information on this and other Amtrak efforts to address the coronavirus pandemic is available at the Amtrak website.
Wearing masks works. Or do you want to get infected and 6% of you die? That seems…underpleasant. I’m told the recovery from Covid19 can take months.
Effective May 1st they were required in Santa Barbara. I don’t have one, and do not plan to buy one. They only keep viruses away others, if one has them, and if they are worn properly. I have been wearing a bandana over my face like a bank robber when visting essential businesses, one of which is a bank!!! Who would have thought this would required in bank? I should have handed the teller a note saying, ‘This is not a holdup. I do not have a gun. I am not requesting money; I am depositing it!’
Paul Smith,The point of wearing a mask is not to keep YOU from getting sick, it’s to keep YOU from getting OTHER people sick. Even surgical masks do a good job of that, and those aren’t as form fitting as N95…all they need to do is keep the air droplets from spreading and they do that.
I can’t imagine having to wear a mask on a cross-country trip. Wonder if this applies to passengers in sleepers.
PAUL – It probably wasn’t the editor. Probably was the machine. Try posting in one single paragraph.
My comments were truncated by the editor. As presented they misrepresent my point of view. Please ignore them!
Loren,Hysteria has broken out in the United States as well as other parts of the world. And once it is afoot, a rationale discussion of the causes and practicable solutions is out the window.
In my career I was a strict about following legitimate rules and specifications. I also laid down a few myself I expected others to follow or they’d hear from me. I respected “experts” and I expected people to respect my own “expertise” when so called for. NEXT PARAGRAPH: There was a flip side to this, however. I could spot from miles away cases where the manager writing the rules and coming up with the specifications had not the first clue what he was doing, wouldn’t accept feedback or criticism, and was taking a big salary for throwing his weight around. That’s my opinion on the lockdown, on social distancing, and on wearing of masks. It’s politicians on power trips. That’s half of it. The other half is fearing liability because in the inevitable case that someone else is infected – that will happen – blame will be assigned.
Mr. McFarlane,A society that tells people to wear masks or face coverings and then admits that getting them will be nearly impossible is morally bankrupt.
What about folks with breathing problems who have a difficult time wearing a mask? I often wonder
According to the Center for Disease Prevention and Control, face masks won’t prevent you from getting Covid-19. If they fit perfectly and are put on or taken off properly, which are big ifs, they may prevent a pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic person from unwittingly spread the viruses. The benefit is marginal at best. I have a face cover that I made out of an old rag that I used to clean the car and the cat’s liter box. I have washed it, of course, but it does retain a trace of its previous use. Hopefully the smell will dissuade the viruses from visiting with me. In any case, it helps promote personal distancing.
Only the municipalities required them for awhile nowI really just wanna talk about trains again!
As of May 3, 2020, Southwest Airlines requires all passengers and on-board flight crews to wear face masks.
ROGER – You and I have both seen the rags people wear around their faces, as if that makes any sense at all. These will do more harm than good. Massachusetts and Michigan are now requiring masks to leave the house. My two home states, thank God I no longer live in either. Last month, a Southwest Airlines cabin attendant gave me two masks because I coughed once, — April seasonal allergies, get that most years — but she didn’t require me to put one on and I didn’t. So I have two masks I keep with me in case I’m FORCED to wear one. So far I haven’t been forced. Masks in food markets in my Wisconsin neighborhood are about 2/3rds of shoppers and required for employees.
ANNA: Due to COVID-19 restrictions in the Town of Brookfield, Wisconsin, we need to post in ONE SINGLE PARAGRAPH. That would include your disclaimer at the end.
Mister Cole:
Saw an internet meme this morning. It read “If masks WORK, WHY do businesses need to BE CLOSED? If they DON’T WORK, WHY are we FORCED to wear them? I’ll give ya a minute.”
Well then I won’t ride. This is one big CYA. (Cover youyr liability.)