Shayla Colon reports in the Times Union that Amtrak announced Jan. 21 cuts to local and national service because of staff shortages caused by COVID-19. About eight percent of Northeast regional weekly departures between Monday, Jan. 24, and March 27 will be eliminated. Two round trips between Albany and New York City were cut, and the one daily train from New York to Chicago will operate just five days a week. Amtrak reports 97 percent of employees being fully vaccinated for coronavirus, but several hundred employees have called in sick recently. “We anticipate that COVID-related impacts to staffing will continue to impact parts of Amtrak’s network and the availability of our fleet in the near term as the surge of omicron cases impacts the nation,” a spokesperson told the newspaper. Read more about this story in the Times Union.