Metrolinx removing plastic COVID barriers on GO, UP Express trains

Metrolinx says it is removing the plexiglass COVID dividers that went up on GO and UP Express trains at the start of the pandemic.

“During the pandemic, Metrolinx followed the guidance of public health officials and implemented measures to keep customers and employees safe,” Metrolink said in a statement to CityNews.

“In consultation with Metrolinx’s health and safety team and in line with public health guidance, the decision has been made to now remove these measures from GO and UP Express trains.”

Along with the dividers, decals and hand sanitizer dispensers will also be phased out.

“Customers may notice a mixture of GO trains with and without dividers, decals, and hand sanitizer dispensers, while work is underway to remove them,” Metrolinx added.

The provincial transit agency first installed the plexiglass barriers between seats in June 2020 as part of a suite of COVID safety measures.

The province lifted its mask mandate for public transit in June 2022, but Metrolinx kept the barriers up for over another year.

At least one expert told CityNews the barriers were likely not that effective.

“I think they’re just decorative [at this point]. I think that they’re not doing any harm but they’re also not doing any good,” Dr. Dale Kalina, an infectious disease specialist at Joseph Brant Hospital, said.

“And, when they’re not doing any good, that poses the problem of how do they get maintained, what cost is there associated with maintaining those, and really what is the point?”

Kalina argued that COVID is spread not just by droplets, but by aerosols that can easily travel around plastic barriers “which makes them obsolete.”

While COVID is no longer the public health concern it was at the height of the pandemic, it hasn’t been eradicated.

Just last week the first case of a new COVID strain was confirmed in Canada.

The B.C. Centre for Disease Control said the BA. 2.86 variant of the Omicron strain was identified in a person from the Fraser Health region who hadn’t recently been outside the province.

“To me the new variant is just a reminder that COVID is still around,” Dr. Brian Conway, an infectious diseases specialist and medical director of the Vancouver Infectious Diseases Centre, told The Canadian Press.

With files from David Zura, John Marchesan and The Canadian Press