Cross country travel: are there any quarantines affecting train travel

[dlagrua]

We are still taking our summer vacation West to Glacier. As Amtrak reqiuires it, we will wear our masks although I wish someone would explain to me how they can stop a microbe. At least on a train and in a sleeper you can more easily social distance and that's a benefit.. The people that really need to worry are the people flying. The airlines are beginning to have full flights where people are close and shut in a sealed environment where everyone breathes the same air. That's disgusting.

 

[Eric S]

Hasn't it been pretty well established that air exchange is at least as good, if not better, on planes as on trains?

As for masks, they catch (some/many/most, depending on type) droplets. There's plenty of research available to demonstrate this for those interested in learning.

 

[the_traveler]

Yes, air exchange on a plane is good and fast (fresh air every 3 minutes).

But it’s bad enough to be stuck in your living room with 3 others or in a car with 4 others, but it’s much worse to be stuck in a metal tube with 75-125 others for 5 hours! You can’t exactly just step outside for a minute. At least on a train, you can at a station stop, if you want.

 

[Eric S]

Yes, air exchange on a plane is good and fast (fresh air every 3 minutes).

But it’s bad enough to be stuck in your living room with 3 others or in a car with 4 others, but it’s much worse to be stuck in a metal tube with 75-125 others for 5 hours! You can’t exactly just step outside for a minute. At least on a train, you can at a station stop, if you want.

Well, those station stops which allow one to step outside don't exactly occur that often; in many cases they are at least 5 hours apart.

 

[the_traveler]

But on a train, you can also get up from your seat, go to the dining car, go to the lounge car, go to another car, etc... in those 5 hours. You can’t do that on a plane.

I went from CHI to EMY on the CZ. West of DEN, I think the only time I was in my room was to sleep! All other times, I was either in the lounge car or dining car. Oh, and in those stations 5 hours apart!

 

[HenryK]

Effective at midnight Sunday, Chicago requires that everyone traveling there from 14 hotspot states undergo a mandatory 14 day lockdown.

 

[the_traveler]

NYS also has the mandatory 14-day quarantine rule from certain states. But there is an exception - if you are passing thru one of those states on the list for less than 24 hours,the quarantine does not apply. So if you connect your flight in say LA, Dallas or Charlotte, just boarding a new plane, it would not apply.

I don’t know these rules per se, but I believe connections would be similar.

 

[Barb Stout]

The governor of New Mexico has (re?)-instituted a 14 day quarantine for travelers from ANY other state to ANYWHERE in NM as of July 1st. Not sure how it can be enforced, but I suppose she re-instituted it to discourage travelers ahead of hand. Our economy is highly tourist-dependent, so everyone is mournful.

 

[neroden]

Hasn't it been pretty well established that air exchange is at least as good, if not better, on planes as on trains?

No. 50% of aircraft air is still recirculated, typically. Amtrak trains don't recirculate air.

https://www.afacwa.org/aircraft_air_quality

 

[neroden]

Oh, and the main benefit of masks is to stop droplets when an infected person breathes out. Without masks the droplets can fly a good 12 feet. With masks they rarely get even 1 foot away from your nose & mouth.

 

[the_traveler]

While trains may not recirculate air per se, every time a passenger goes from car to car, and the end doors open, fresh air enters the car. (That’s part of reason they say do not open the doors between cars when going thru the Moffat Tunnel.) And you also get fresh air entering at every station.

You can’t easily open the door at 35,000 feet!