The latest
Metra hopes sanitizing stations, air purifiers and mask mandates will boost ridership amid COVID-19 fears
Metra is launching an ad campaign to convince people it is safe to ride its trains.
Its rail cars that have been outfitted with hand sanitizing stations, “hospital grade” air filters, mask requirements, frequent deep cleaning efforts and air circulation that replaces the air in each car once every four minutes, Metra officials said at a news conference Tuesday.
Staggered seating aims to keep train cars from exceeding 70 passengers — or half full.
“We stand ready with open doors to welcome riders back and invite new riders in,” Metra President Jim Derwinski said.
Metra’s daily ridership is about 25,000 passenger trips a day, less than 10% of the 270,000 trips daily before the pandemic.
Read the full story from Mitch Dudek here.
News
8:13 a.m. Experts worry as US virus restrictions are eased or violated
State and local officials around the U.S. are rolling back social-distancing rules again after an abortive effort over the summer, allowing bars, restaurants and gyms to open. Fans are gathering mask-free at football games. President Donald Trump is holding crowded indoor rallies.
While some Americans may see such things as a welcome step closer to normal, public health experts warn the U.S. is setting itself up for failure — again.
“Folks are becoming very cavalier about the pandemic,” said Mark Rupp, professor and chief of infectious diseases at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Nebraska’s governor ended nearly all of his state’s restrictions on Monday, even with new cases of the coronavirus on the rise.
“I think it is setting us up for further transmission and more people getting ill and, unfortunately, more people dying,” Rupp said.
The virus is blamed for more than 6.5 million confirmed infections and 195,000 deaths in the U.S., by far the highest totals of any country, according to the count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
New Cases
Analysis & Commentary
8:25 a.m. Remote learning is largely on track, but some Chicago schools have a ways to go
There’s good news, and some alarmingly bad news, with respect to remote learning in Chicago’s public schools this fall.
After the dismal showing last spring, Chicago Public Schools made an extra effort to get students logged on for digital learning. Attendance-taking would be mandatory. A major back-to-school campaign was launched, with a massive barrage of phone calls, text messages, emails, radio ads and other outreach to parents.
So far, it’s largely paying off.
According to CPS data released this weekend, 84.2% of students logged on to the learning platform on the first day of school last week. That’s a major improvement over the 59% figure last spring.
And by the end of the week, attendance had risen to 90.2%,
But there can be no letting up on the ultimate goal: To get every one of the district’s 355,000 students engaged in remote learning, the only educational option available until the city curbs the spread of COVID-19.
