Add this to the list of concerns related to reopening schools in the fall: Bus drivers may be unwilling to drive routes if buses don't have a protective barrier around drivers' seats.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation recently rejected a proposal that would construct plastic barriers in buses in an attempt to halt the spread of the coronavirus from students to drivers.
As the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote, the majority of the state's public schools contract with private companies for bus transportation. Mike Berg with the Pennsylvania School Bus Association said those companies have a hard time keeping drivers even during normal times.
"Everyone is looking at this very differently. And they all are looking at the science of it. They're looking at what's going to work in their district. But there is no single answer to the question. All we know is what we're trying to do is put options out there for the districts," Berk said.
The transportation department notes there have been no studies on whether those barriers are safe in school buses, which has a point, but what are the chances someone has found a need to study that since schools shut down in March? And similar systems have been used for drivers' protection in municipal bus lines.
This may only be coming up in Pennsylvania at this time, but obviously it will be an issue elsewhere as schools try to figure out how to reopen safely.
Clear plastic also is being considered as the solution for another big fall activity: football.
Glasses maker Oakley has proposed a shield for NFL helmets that would block droplets from being spread quite so easily during a game. This supposes that the NFL can actually get teams back into competition sometime soon.
Oakley already supplies visors for players' helmets. The shield would extend further down the helmet in a series of designs the company is looking at. Neither the NFL nor the players' union has agreed to the shield yet, although the proposal is making it further than a previous suggestion that players wear masks.
Germany's Albis Plastic GmbH has split into two business units. As Frank Esposito writes, the resin distribution business will continue to operate as Albis, while its compounding unit will do business as Mocom. Both units are part of Hamburg, Germany-based Otto Krahn Group.
There are very good business reasons why this split has happened, but after reading of the move, I'm intrigued by the fact that Albis picked a name for its compounding business that is a palindrome, or a word that spells the same forward and backward.
Mocom. And then I wondered, how many other plastics companies' names are palindromes?
Editor Don Loepp suggested Otto, an engineering company supplying auxiliary eqipment. Can you think of others? Feel free to connect with me on Twitter, @PNRhodaMiel, if I'm missing something obvious.
There's no award for this trivia contest, just asking for pure curiosity.
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