(upbeat music) - Hello, and welcome to another episode of "InFocus."

I'm Mark MacDonald.

We join you as Illinois has moved into phase five of its reopening plan.

Meaning COVID 19 restrictions on capacity and other limits have been lifted across the state.

To that end, people are beginning to move about more freely all over the country.

But there are a lot of questions about what you can and can't do, what's safe and what may be more risky.

Travel agent Mindy , talked with our Steph whiteside about how travel has changed.

- So Mindy you're a travel agent.

Now that we're sort of seeing the pandemic ease in the US are you seeing a lot of interest from people when it comes to booking travel again?

- Travel has exploded again.

I probably receive 10 to 15 calls a day as well as my agents.

So people are ready to travel.

They understand there's safety measures in place, so I think they're feeling more comfortable to travel and they're ready to go.

I mean, I've had people traveling for at least the last 12 months.

- Wow, so some people never stopped.

- [Mindy] Some people never stopped domestically.

- Yeah, that's my next question.

So are people mostly looking at traveling within the US?

I know a lot of people haven't seen their families in a while due to COVID.

Or are people also looking to go abroad as well, where they're allowed to?

- It's about a 50/50 combination.

A lot of families, especially people with younger children, they're still opting to go domestic travel where more groups or couples are leaning towards international travel.

- Now, in terms of international travel, people can't go everywhere.

Some countries are open some aren't.

- Correct.

A lot of the places I've been sending my clients to have been Mexico, different parts of Mexico, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Bahamas.

Europe right now is still pretty much shut down for US citizens, same thing as Canada.

The Canada-US border has never opened back up.

- Yeah, so what are you doing to prepare people for how travel might look a little different now in this...

I don't wanna call it post COVID, but COVID era.

- I make sure that I talk to my clients and I provide them with the travel documents, with the packets that I give them, I have a forum that's helpful tips.

So up until the minute where I give them their travel documents, I go over the most recent COVID restrictions for the destination that they're going to.

So they have very detailed information from me as far as if you have to test going to the destination, if you have to test returning back to the US.

So I just make sure I'm on top of things, when I let my clients know before they're traveling.

- - So, some people are fine with showing their vaccine card or getting a vaccine passport, other people are not fine with that.

What are some options that people have if they don't want to have to provide proof of vaccination?

- I mean, right now, you don't have to show proof of vaccination.

So people really aren't being asked.

To travel right now, they do have to show if they've tested negative for COVID before they travel, a lot of destinations have that.

But as far as the vaccine card it's not being asked right now.

I've had clients ask me if they're vaccinated if they still have to do the COVID test upon return to the US and that's not the case right now, at the CDC it's still mandatory to test.

- Okay, so even if you are vaccinated, you are probably gonna be testing.

When you test to travel, do you test here before you go or is that at the destination?

- It all depends on the destination.

To give you an example, like Mexico, you do not have to have a COVID test present a negative COVID test prior to entry.

However, with the CDC mandate, returning back to the US, you do have to have a COVID test.

The test has to be within 72 hours of returning to your destination and it's the airline's responsibility to make sure that test is negative before you board the plane.

- So it sounds like there aren't a lot of easy answers to this, and if somebody wants to travel, it's probably a good idea that they talk to you or someone else, to get an idea of what the restrictions are, where they wanna go, if they can even go where they want to go and how to go about that.

- Yeah, I mean, it's just based on destination, and like I said earlier, I try to stay up to date with every place that clients wanna travel 'cause every destination right now is different.

Hawaii has some of the strictest requirements right now.

I mean, they still require you to have a tracking app on your phone, there's a certain nucleic acid test that they have to take that most people have to take outside of Illinois just because the turnaround time they're not gonna get their test results back.

And then they have to COVID not prior to returning home, but they do have to COVID test before entering Hawaii right now.

- Wow, Hawaii is not messing around.

- No, they're not.

But they're kind of isolated and they have to take care of their citizens as well.

- All right.

Well, I think that's most of what I had to ask you but is there any last advice you'd give to people who are ready to shake off the isolation and go on vacation?

- Yeah, I would just know what the destination that you're going make sure you research it or reach out to a travel agent, that way you're up to date on the most current restrictions or requirements because if you get to the airport and you don't know those you might be heading back home.

"InFocus" in Carbondale.

I'm Steph white side.

- After over a year of fear of flying many people are considering traveling by air again but what should they expect when they get to the airport?

We asked the Executive Director of Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport in Springfield about masking, vaccine passports and real ID.

- We're at Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport with Executive Director, Mark Hannah.

Mark a lot of people have not been on an airplane for a long time.

And now that stage five is opening things and opening up, people wanna travel again but they don't know what to expect in many cases.

So when they buy their airplane ticket and they come to the airport, what should they expect?

- Now specifically, Illinois is opening up the stage five the mass and such won't necessarily be required inside the terminal and the non-secure parts of the terminal.

However, the transportation security administration has maintained a there a requirement for masks while you pass through the screening checkpoint, and then while you're inside the secure lounge and that's at any airport around the country not just here in Springfield, and then you remain masked throughout the entire duration of your flight and until you actually depart the screening checkpoint at your destination airport.

And then of course you'll default to whatever the local rules are to that community or state.

By then, mostly that are following what Illinois is doing on, on relaxing a lot of those most likely masks will not be required post security, but as you pass through the screen checkpoint, and you dwell inside the secure area of terminals while you wait to board your planes in the gate area, and while you're on the plane until you depart the screening in the secure area you are required to wear a mask until September 13th.

- Okay, September 13th.

So if they were to travel with summer, mask up, make sure you have your mask with you.

Okay, vaccine.

The vaccine passport, it's a term that's become known.

Is there such a thing as a vaccine passport?

- It's been bantered around quite a bit.

With politicians, industry leaders, trade groups and things of that nature.

There really is not a hard and fast rule or requirement.

And to this date there are really no vaccine passports to speak of because there are just a lot of nuances with the vaccine.

When people get vaccinated, the effectiveness of the vaccine, the origination of the vaccine different countries, different manufacturers, and the effectiveness.

And that's one thing that is challenging business travel right now is, "Hey, when is it safe?

"When am I going to accept the risk from my employees "to board aircraft and go about their business "around the country and not be at risk?"

And that whole idea of the vaccine and whether or not that will have boosters or the timeliness and people get on a vaccine vaccination or a booster rhythm, with our professional healthcare provider.

It is just a lot of uncertainty about really what will the vaccine passport do other than say, you've gotten a vaccine.

And this is not 100% either.

- So nobody's requiring that now?

- [Mark H.] No.

- If I wanna come to the airport and get on a plane I'm not gonna need a passpoart vaccine..

However, not a bad thing, if you're vaccinated to have your verification form with you, right?

- Yeah, absolutely.

Have that vaccination card with you.

Heck have it laminated, so it doesn't wear out in your wallet or your purse or what have you.

Have that so you can verify that you have been vaccinated if required to do so at your arriving airport.

- Yeah, what about spacing on airplanes?

I know when at the height of the pandemic the airlines were starting trying to keep people apart.

Are they still spacing out the seats?

- Exactly, right.

During the pandemic an aircraft that had three seats in each side of the aisle, they were exiting out or not filling the middle seats.

Most of the airlines, I believe last week the last airline to actually block out the middle seat was lifted.

So right now everything is wide open on the aircraft.

So when you do board expect to be sitting arm to arm, shoulder to shoulder with the people next to you.

- Some months ago, even before the pandemic we were all recommended to get a real ID.

So when you wanted to get on any airport we would have a chip ID that showed that we were who we said we are.

Is that program still going on?

I know it was put on hold for a while.

- It is, it's still on hold.

It's still gonna be required because of the pandemic.

The federal government has moved that to the right if you will, it's gonna be required as of May 3rd, 2023.

So you have a couple of years to get it done.

And I highly encourage your viewers, everyone out there to actually take advantage of getting that, if you have the opportunity to do it when you're renewing your license or whatnot, because it's going to be required after that May 3rd date, that's been extended a number of times, the pandemic has had another extension.

So if you don't have it, you're gonna be required to have a passport.

And it's just another thing to carry around, especially if you're flying domestically, most people do fly with their license.

So when you go do it, the Illinois Secretary of State has an awesome website that walks you through everything on what you need.

You'll have to verify your identity, your birth certificate residency, with various documents that you are to bring to the facility to verify that, to get your real ID.

So the secretary of state's website answers all your questions.

It is gonna be a requirement.

And I highly recommend everyone get that - Passenger numbers.

Man, you guys, I mean, you might as well been closed down completely for a while.

Has it come back?

Are people flying again?

- Yeah, we ended the year in December of 2020, down 54%.

And that's about on par, if not slightly better than industry average.

Industry across the country, they saw a decrease of about 60%.

We are starting to see good loads on the air carriers, 75%, 80%.

So it's starting to come back and it's not just in fits and starts as it was earlier this year, it's starting to level off and we're really starting to see a nice trend line upward.

- Terrific.

With travel resuming different destinations may require proof of vaccines or vaccine passports for visitors.

Steph Whiteside spoke to the Dean of the SIU School of Law about legal and privacy questions raised by these requirements.

- So what are we talking about when we say vaccine passport.

- Typically we are talking about a digital document or digital way of letting people know that you have either been vaccinated or that you have tested negative for COVID-19.

- Some people say these are a violation of medical privacy or civil liberties.

Is that true?

- First of all, for privacy, most of the people want to throw out HIPAA.

HIPAA applies to medical professionals, hospitals, medical providers, insurers you are providing the information.

It is not a healthcare provider providing information about you to a third party.

Also, we all like to talk about our civil liberties.

So we do have precedent.

It's old, it's 1905.

The case is Jacobson versus Massachusetts.

And it had to do with whether or not a state can mandate a vaccination and the Supreme Court of the United States in 1905 said, yes, absolutely you can.

At that time, it was the state of Massachusetts and it had to do with a smallpox vaccination.

And so what we know is that, yes we all have civil liberties but our civil liberties are not unlimited.

- So public health is usually handled by states.

Do you think there's a chance we might see a federal mandate for vaccines or vaccine passports.

- For a number of reasons, a mandate for the actual vaccine is probably not a good idea.

And so when we look at whether or not we would have a digital passport, the approach is the approach that states that are moving forward are taking, so for example, New York just opted with the Excelsior app and they're doing that in conjunction with IBM, I believe.

So it's the private sector that's using it or directing it.

And so the idea is for it to be free, the idea is also for it to not invade people's privacy unnecessarily, but also to provide some opportunities for people who have been vaccinated to show that.

- Do you think we're going to see court cases involving vaccine passports?

- It's America, so there's litigation over everything.

Whether it's valid litigation or not, I'm not so sure.

At this point, we do not have any federal mandate for any passport.

So I believe as long as we stay within the private sector as long as we stay it's optional, I don't see that there's really anything for anybody to sue over at this point.

- InFocus in Carbondale, I'm stuck Whiteside.

- If you are visiting Springfield and wanna take in contemporary artwork by local artists there's a unique gallery you can visit featuring multidimensional pieces and connecting people in unique ways.

Julie Staley shows you one of the artists at the Pharmacy Gallery, using art therapy to reach out to others.

- Art with visual appeal is all around us.

But it's how a piece makes you feel that makes it really stand out.

- I'm inspired by visual things.

I'm a very visual person - [Julie] Although she's been an artist her whole life it's been what Janet Sgro saw as a child that has shaped her artwork today.

- My family was robbed at gunpoint when I was seven and that was pretty traumatic.

And I put it on the back burner most of my life.

And I had another trauma that happened when I was in junior high, where I was grabbed by a guy and taken into his house.

And so I think after that happened, it became a lot to take.

I remember just diving into coloring as a kid and just making patterns in the coloring books and just really turning to art as just such a coping mechanism.

- [Julie] There the journey began from artists to art therapist.

As her talent grew so did Janet's passion to teach other children to heal through art.

- I think that kids are really able to express themselves much easier than adults.

Kids, they'll just... You give them some crayons or pens and they'll go crazy.

And I respond well to that creativity and can just dive right in and be near them and watch them and ask them questions about what's... "I love that."

Like, "Do more like that or tell me about that."

- [Julie] Janet has been able to grow through art, not just because of her trauma, but because of her blessings.

She found this prayer book of her grandmothers.

- That really changed my life as an artist.

I was able to look at one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, 'cause that's what it's based on.

It's a "Novena to The Holy Spirit" that I found.

And one of the gifts was the gift of fear.

And instantly I thought of that robbery that happened.

And I learned more about seeing fear as a gift and how it makes you appreciate so much more that you have.

And the fact that my whole family lived through that robbery is amazing.

And I did a piece of art about it.

One of the paintings, I did "The Gift of Knowledge."

It's of a woman floating in water and there's an octopus on one side and the octopus', its tentacles are going up along my arm and like kind of around where the pain pattern is for headaches and migraines for me.

And then I showed the woman having that purple octopus type blood going in through her veins but then out is coming flowers and then from the flowers are birds.

Art therapy is very fascinating because any one of us can can use it.

You don't have to have any artistic training, any artistic skill.

And what is so great about it is that the art itself is the therapy.

You don't have to speak a word if you don't want to.

And it connects directly to your subconscious.

And so the things that are hidden that you don't wanna think about, that you don't wanna talk about, it will come out.

- [Julie] Inspiring others to heal trauma through art for "InFocus, I'm Julie Staley.

- The Pharmacy Gallery is open for visitors every Friday and Saturday from noon until 6:00 PM.

They're at 623 Adams street, just one block East of the old State Capitol.

You may be among those who are ready to get out and sample some local places of interest.

We thought we might help with a few ideas with a look at some of our favorite Illinois story locations - Post a time with a batch of trains that run on the weekend are more or less combination.

They may have a couple of freight cars in it.

They usually have an open car, where if you wanna go outside and ride in.

If it's really, really hot, they may have an air conditioned car on, but most of our older cars are the ones where the windows open, and a lot of people like to ride them.

'Cause that's the way you've done it before the air conditioning.

- Okay, we're just getting ready to roll, onboard the Illinois Central 8733 with engineer Judy Jenkins.

There we go.

Starting up.

(horn blaring) (train engine revving) There is a crossing there so- (horn blaring) Judy's given fair warning.

(train chugging) This is the Illinois Central 8733.

And from my understanding is this was a work horse in the Illinois central railroad throughout the sixties I guess, wasn't it?

- [Judy] Yes, it would have been.

- [Mark] And it probably not known for its speed, but these engines could go and go and go.

- [Judy] Yes and really pull.

- Yeah, really pull.

(train chugging) And over my shoulder, you see a replica of the gallows where the infamous gangster, Charlie Birger was hanged.

He was the last legally hanged person in Illinois and for that reason, this building still exists.

And there's a lot more to this building than just the jail and the gallows.

Back in 1963, George looked a little geeky.

- He did, he always- - But he was on the verge of world startup.

- He was the most iconic figures of the past century.

So who would know it in 1963 before they were famous, George had a sister living in Benton Louise Harrison Caldwell, who was married to a mining engineer who worked for Freeman International Coal Company.

But they were told that their music would never sell in the United States.

So Louise in an effort to promote her brother, one day went to West Frankfort where her husband worked and walked into a local AM Radio station, just walked in the door on a Saturday morning and the stations owner's daughter Marsha Robot Schaffer was working the station and she said this "I'm Louise Harrison I'm from Benton And this is my brother, he's in a famous band in England called the Beatles.

And he was interviewed by Marsha.

And he happened to have one of his 45s of the record "From me to You," which was played on one of these turntables - Well Bob, if music's not your thing, but sports is.

In the room right next to the Beetle room is the Doug Collins room.

And it's interesting, Doug Coll...

I didn't know he was from Benton.

But I know who he is.

I know he was an all-star and I know he's a legend at Illinois State because I've been in Red Burn Arena and it's like a shrine to him.

- Well, we were talking about earlier the fact that the sheriff was required to live in the jail.

Doug Collins father Paul Sheriff was the Franklin County sheriff from 1954 to 1958.

- Paul Collins, his dad lived in this house?

- Yes, so this was Doug's bedroom.

So we're standing in Doug Collins bedroom.

And so now it's a really, I mean, now it's dedicated to him and he used to... That's amazing Many don't know that Lewis and Clark started their 1804 expedition here, the winter before in 1803.

An expedition that they knew not how long it would take nor where it would take them.

- For the first this year that we were open, this was our main exhibit.

This is what people remembered us, is the building with the keelboat.

It's a full-scale replica, it's 55 feet long, it's 32 1/2 feet high to the top of the mast and I can attest to that 'cause I changed the light bulbs in here.

(Mark laughing) But what's unique about our keelboat is it's cross-section right down the keel.

So people get a chance to see in their are other museums with replicas of keelboats and various sizes, but none of them have a full replica of the keelboat cut right down the keel so people can see how it was packed.

People can see the supplies they brought with them, they can see how they organize all those supplies, which is an important part of it, 'cause it's oftentimes what you see below the water line.

- [Mark] Planning was everything.

And we're gonna get into that.

- [Brad] Absolutely.

- But before we go see that split keelboat what I love about this is you had to build this building to house, this keelboat because as you can see that the mast goes all the way to the top of the building.

- Exactly.

You know, people thought we were building a movie theater, when we were first under construction.

What was unique about our building is, more often than not on museum, you get a white box and then you figure out what I'm gonna build inside that white box.

Well, here we designed this building, as you exactly said to how's the keelboat.

So we gotta have a unique structure, as far as the raft.

- And of course you can catch Illinois stories here on your PBS station.

Check your local listings for episode dates and times.

Thanks for watching this edition of "InFocus."

You can find out more at our website, wsiu.org.

I'm Mark McDonald.

See you next time.

(mid tempo music) - [Announcer] If you are looking for some places to visit or things to do, check out Illinois tourism @enjoyillinois.com.

(mid tempo music)