Chicago Travel Order - 14 day quarantine

[Metra Electric Rider]

I suppose you could walk up to these various drive up places. I know that one wouldn't want to be the only pedestrian in a conglomeration of cars, but I don't think you would be refused or hauled away to jail. Back in my misty past, I recall doing that at a drive through bank ATM and also at a Taco Bell. I don't remember the details like why I did it though.

I knew somebody who used to drive a golf cart up to drive-throughs and then pull forward to complain about them not taking her order (golf carts are typically too light to trigger the "doorbell" or whatever device used for drive ups). One would imagine that it's the same situation with pedestrians. Now old school walk-up service works fine.

 

[Shortline]

I guess I didn’t get the memo. Chicago is pretty much open. Just saw this, but doesn’t seem like anyone else in Chicago has. Currently eating Beggars pizza, after getting off the Chief, transferring you the Capitol tonight. No signs. No checks, nothing. Just a little less city traffic.

 

[jimmrl]

I guess I didn’t get the memo. Chicago is pretty much open. Just saw this, but doesn’t seem like anyone else in Chicago has. Currently eating Beggars pizza, after getting off the Chief, transferring you the Capitol tonight. No signs. No checks, nothing. Just a little less city traffic.

I always eat at Beggars Pizza when on a layover in Chicago. I hope you enjoyed.

Jim

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

I guess I didn’t get the memo. Chicago is pretty much open. Just saw this, but doesn’t seem like anyone else in Chicago has. Currently eating Beggars pizza, after getting off the Chief, transferring you the Capitol tonight. No signs. No checks, nothing. Just a little less city traffic.

Despite the Mayors talk, there has been very little social distancing in public or enforcement of lakefront rules (although I gather it's been stepped up a bit) - before it was officially reopened people were using the beaches, at least on the south side, left and right.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I guess I didn’t get the memo. Chicago is pretty much open. Just saw this, but doesn’t seem like anyone else in Chicago has. Currently eating Beggars pizza, after getting off the Chief, transferring you the Capitol tonight. No signs. No checks, nothing. Just a little less city traffic.

This is the problem with relying on the honor system in a culture where personal sacrifice has no value.

 

[John Bredin]

This is the problem with relying on the honor system in a culture where personal sacrifice has no value.

Chicago (and Illinois generally) has opened up compared to March-May but only in measured stages when various statistics showed progress. The governor of Illinois and the mayor of Chicago were under much pressure to reopen sooner than they felt comfortable, but both stuck to the numbers.

Restaurants were take-out or delivery only until late May, then outside dining only until late June, and now indoor dining is allowed at 50% capacity, 25% only in Chicago. Masks are mandatory in stores, offices, etc. and I haven't seen anyone (employee or customer) maskless in a store since masks were required. Some places are checking temperatures on arrival and others aren't. The Lakefront trail was closed for months, outdoor facilities like the zoos and botanic gardens were closed until recently, and the Riverwalk opened up fully only today.

Which isn't to say that there hasn't been some resistance and grumbling, but that's been sporadic and mostly downstate, not in metropolitan Chicago where coronavirus was serious and taken seriously by officialdom. And the proof of the pudding that Illinois has taken coronavirus seriously at a governmental and societal level is in the eating: I'd hold up our new-cases and new-deaths graphs against anyone but the New Yorks and New Jerseys of the nation with pride.

To leap from one person's report, that he was able to eat inside a restaurant with nobody checking his temperature, and insinuate that Illinois is in the same "anything goes" mode as Texas or Florida were until recently is to parachute in at the end (well not the actual end, but the present) of a long and careful process. I've eaten inside restaurants recently, and gotten my haircut (with myself and the barber both masked), and played golf but there were quite rightly times I wasn't allowed to.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

To leap from one person's report, that he was able to eat inside a restaurant with nobody checking his temperature, and insinuate that Illinois is in the same "anything goes" mode as Texas or Florida were until recently is to parachute in at the end (well not the actual end, but the present) of a long and careful process. I've eaten inside restaurants recently, and gotten my haircut (with myself and the barber both masked), and played golf but there were quite rightly times I wasn't allowed to.

Has Illinois done a better job than Texas or Florida? Yes, absolutely. There is no debate about that, but viruses don't really know or care about crossing state lines. So does Illinois have the will and resources to prevent careless Texans and Floridians from showing up and flouting the rules on a random Wednesday? Maybe for a while but probably not indefinitely. If and when a vaccine is developed between a quarter and a third of Americans have stated they have no intention of using it. Will the anti-vaxxers be blocked from bringing new strains to Illinois? That's probably unrealistic. In the end all states are at least somewhat dependent on nearly everyone doing the right thing simply because they understand and agree.

 

[John Bredin]

All that's true. I would just note that Illinoisans, New Yorkers and New Jerseyites (-ans?) are also Americans and certainly not unknown to eschew personal sacrifice. Hell, Chicago is the home of planting cheap lawn furniture in a shoveled portion of a public street to keep anyone else from using it. And yet those states have the coronavirus charts that they do.

Culture is formed and channeled by the expectations of government, the media (both news and entertainment) and other shapers of opinion. People tend to take a matter seriously when they see it's serious and/or when it's repeatedly and earnestly communicated to them that they're expected to take it seriously. There was a time when American people tended to not take drunk driving seriously, but American people -- the same people who won't let people off the train before boarding, or stand on the left on escalators -- now tend to take it seriously.

 

[the_traveler]

New York State used to have the highest rates in the country, then we closed everything and opened up things on a staggered basis. Now we have one of the lowest rates in the country and decreasing, while other states “couldn’t wait to reopen” and their rates are very high and increasing.

The last many cases that have shown up in NYS were from passengers who have flown in to NYS from infected areas, including from FL and GA.

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

Hell, Chicago is the home of planting cheap lawn furniture in a shoveled portion of a public street to keep anyone else from using it.

In my neighborhood, "dibs" furniture gets thrown away and people who do dibs get nasty notes.

 

[MikefromCrete]

I guess I didn’t get the memo. Chicago is pretty much open. Just saw this, but doesn’t seem like anyone else in Chicago has. Currently eating Beggars pizza, after getting off the Chief, transferring you the Capitol tonight. No signs. No checks, nothing. Just a little less city traffic.

Sounds like Beggar's Pizza needs to be shut down.

 

[Manny T]

I'm in Chicago grocery stores almost daily and compliance with masks is 100%, employees and customers.

Viewing outside diners gives another picture (no masks), but these folks are (a) outside and (b) eating. It's not the whole picture by any means.

 

[dogbert617]

I'm in Chicago grocery stores almost daily and compliance with masks is 100%, employees and customers.

Viewing outside diners gives another picture (no masks), but these folks are (a) outside and (b) eating. It's not the whole picture by any means.

I would say from the times I've been in various stores(and live in Chicago myself), that it hasn't been 100% compliance with mask rules. Weirdly enough, at times I'll see occasional employees at various places not wear a mask. Not often, but a few times I've noticed that, and it surprised me. The vast majority of employees I've noticed in various stores and places do wear them, and compliance is for the most part pretty high and well observed with customers in stores. BTW I am not ripping on people dining or drinking at restaurants and bars, where I can understand in those situations(while eating or drinking) taking off your mask.

Restaurants were take-out or delivery only until late May, then outside dining only until late June, and now indoor dining is allowed at 50% capacity, 25% only in Chicago. Masks are mandatory in stores, offices, etc. and I haven't seen anyone (employee or customer) maskless in a store since masks were required. Some places are checking temperatures on arrival and others aren't. The Lakefront trail was closed for months, outdoor facilities like the zoos and botanic gardens were closed until recently, and the Riverwalk opened up fully only today.

I know in Chicago(at least up in Uptown, Edgewater, and Rogers Park when I test rode biking or walking through lakefront parks before their reopening), that most people were ignoring the lakefront closure rule, and just walking into lakefront parks pre-June 8. At least pretty much all the people I saw in lakefront parks, were respecting social distancing. Maybe an unpopular opinion to some, but to me(since I bike a lot myself) I always thought Lightfoot overreacted a little bit by closing the lakefront trail and 606 trails completely, for a period of time. To me, I think she should've at least kept those trails open for runners and bikers, if nothing else. Using the rule Seattle did for their parks during COVID, by instituting a 'keep it open, keep it moving' rule where as long as you were using the trail and not loitering, that you could use the trail. Though later on starting on June 8, Lightfoot did finally reopen those 2 trails, using the 'keep it open, keep it moving' approach(didn't say that phrase, but essentially Lightfoot was doing the same as Seattle w/their parks by allowing trails to reopen). To me though, closing the lakefront trail and 606 at 7pm, seems a slight bit early to me. Heck, I'd be okay if she said those trails would be open till 9pm!

You also mentioned zoos and outdoor gardens. As I remember, Brookfield Zoo was supposed to reopen this month, but that supposedly you had to have a reservation in advance to go there. Chicago Botanic Garden and Morton Arboretum were doing the same thing, for now. I think I heard Lincoln Park Zoo was supposedly going to do the same thing, but that for now you only could visit that zoo and do a reservation to visit if you were a member? In late July, I heard LP Zoo was going to open up reservations to even non-members.

 

[MARC Rider]

Maybe the VL2’s should be turned into a case study for how not to build rail cars.

"Maybe?"

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

In my neighborhood, "dibs" furniture gets thrown away and people who do dibs get nasty notes.

True around here too. The trash people will also pick up, and toss into their truck, any "dibs" furniture, by mayor's order.

However, the "dibs" people are very united and strong too, and feel they have righteousness on their side. Something along the lines of Dibbed Spots Matter.

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

The City in it's great wisdom has banned swimming at beaches and designated areas and is having lifeguards enforce that, however they can't enforce no swimming outside of those areas and that is where people are in the water. It's absolutely hilarious in some ways, as well as insanely stupid in others.

 

[Manny T]

Article highlighting the different approaches to the pandemic in Illinois vs. Florida and the predictable difference in results:
https://www.independent.co.uk/voice...-illinois-covid-19-donald-trump-a9619286.html

 

[John Bredin]

Wisconsin is going to be added to Chicago's list. Tribune article. While the Chicago-Cook County* list of quarantine states is not being enforced -- for now -- and it expressly doesn't include changing planes (or, presumably, trains) at Chicago to go elsewhere in the country, this can't be good for the Hiawatha.


*The county health department has made the Chicago list a guideline. Unlike many county regulations that apply only in the unincorporated areas, the health department has jurisdiction throughout the county outside Chicago, Evanston, and Skokie, which have their own health departments.

 

[Exvalley]

Has the city said what metric they are using to determine which states are "high risk"?

 

[PVD]

Not 100% sure but I think it is 15 cases per 100k on a 7 day rolling avg...

 

[BoulderCO]

Nebraska and Iowa also now on the list, so the Zephyr will be included.

 

[StanJazz]

The quarantine only applies is you spend at least 24 hours in one of the states so unless you started your trip in Nebraska or Iowa it does not apply to the Zephyr. Or the train has a 24 hour delay in one of the states.

 

[Wolverine72]

Flu can be bad, but we are use to them. Plus, we have a vaccine (thought that does't always work... its hit-or-miss each year).

A virus brings to mind a bad sci-fi story. While home, I watched some Star Trek re-runs. Its interesting the number of episodes where, even as a minor story line in the background, the Enterprise needs to rescue some planet from a killer virus.

BTW, "It's estimated that the 1918 flu killed anywhere from 20 million to 100 million people."

No, there is no Flu Vaccine. Just a Flu shot that is just a guess as to which Flu strain is going around each year. If it were a true vaccine we wouldn’t be getting one every year. And still getting the Flu.

 

[Deni]

No, there is no Flu Vaccine. Just a Flu shot that is just a guess as to which Flu strain is going around each year. If it were a true vaccine we wouldn’t be getting one every year. And still getting the Flu.

Yes we have to get a new one every year because of different strains, but it is still by definition a vaccine.

 

[TinCan782]

We've got a trip booked coming up this fall which includes two overnights in Chicago (We avoid same-day connections). Being we're from one of the states on Chicago's "naughty" list we expect we will have to hole-up in the hotel for the night satisfy the city's self-quarantine requirement

I've yet to speak with the hotel to verify the availability of food and other services. It varies from pretty good to little or nothing!

The time is approaching to make a final go/no-go decision. I still have time to bail out and get my points back (6 trains) and cancel half a dozen hotel reservations while I can without penalty.

What have been some of your experiences doing a 24 hour "quarantine" in a Chicago hotel in recent times?

Thanks, John