Metro continues working to ensure the system is safe for customers and employees – and that means continued daily cleaning and disinfection of our facilities and equipment, including rail stations, trains and buses.

As we follow the CDC’s direction on Covid-19, we have aligned our responsive cleaning and disinfection practices with updated guidance, which now indicates a deep cleaning is needed if a person known or suspected to have Covid-19 has been in an area in the past three days, down from seven days.

Not only does this meet our goal of following the latest available public health guidance, but it will result in fewer service disruptions and closed stations for customers.

In addition to cleaning high-traffic surfaces, we are also paying close attention to ventilation. Metro has made a concerted effort to improve airflow and reduce the potential for aerosol transmission of Covid-19.

Face masks continue to be required throughout the system, Metrorail cars recycle the air approximately every three minutes. And on our buses, new air enters frequently as the doors open and close at each stop.

We are following ventilation guidance closely and working to increase filtration levels and airflow further: 

• In our stations and facilities, we’ve upgraded to MERV-13 filters and are piloting the use of MERV-15 filtration levels.
• On our buses, we’ve upgraded to MERV-7 and are working with the vendor to move to MERV-10 as soon as possible, while also piloting the potential UVC sanitization systems.
• On our trains, we’ve upgraded to MERV-9 and are piloting MERV-13 filters and UVC systems, thanks to funding provided by an FTA grant received earlier this year.

Moving forward, we will continue to take the steps necessary to keep our customers and employees safe.