Metra conductor on SouthWest line tests positive for COVID-19

Metra announced this week that one of its conductors on the SouthWest Service Line has tested positive for COVID-19.

The employee has been home since reporting feeling ill on March 25, according to a news release from Metra. The SouthWest Service Line has two stops in Will County in Manhattan and New Lenox.

Three other Metra employees who are field workers and had no contact with the riding public tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this week, according to Metra, and they have not been at work since March 20 and employees who had direct contact with them have been self-isolating.

“The safety of our customers and employees is our highest priority, and we will continue to do everything we can to protect them while still maintaining service for those who need it,” Metra CEO and Executive Director Jim Derwinski said in the release.

Metra added it was also taking additional measures to protect its employees and customers during the pandemic.

Those measures include cleaning its cars every day with special concentration on disinfecting high-touch areas like handrails, armrests and doors.

Metra also is urging customers to abide by the state’s shelter-in-place mandate and to travel only when necessary.