Is Coronavirus affecting your travel plans?

[Uncle Coaster]

I have a trip to St Louis planned for a few weeks from now. I have been reading about discounts into other parts of the country due to cancellations so I checked my hotel and rates are UP $80 a night from when I originally booked them. So disappointed.

I’d only cancel the trip if the football game I’m going to is cancelled or otherwise prohibited from playing in front of an audience.

 

[wvjules]

It would affect my travel plans if I got one of those PIN codes for a $69 All Stars room!

 

[RamblingMad]

The amount of non-thinking surround this respiratory virus is rampant and the panic is being driven because people now get their information via social media rather than actual scientific evidence. (Which is near impossible to find without some agenda)

What we have now , is uneducated panic and unfettered rumor mills run wild. My advice is take advantage of it and buy the stocks that are low , take advantage of the travel discounts and live your life like you never heard of C19.
Your risk of dying from it are astronomically low compared to most other things you do on a daily basis

I’m not seeing any panic by me. It’s quite the opposite reaction. They’re completely blowing it off as if it’s not happening.

 

[gottaluvPluto]

We're still going on our April trip at this point but I think people sometimes forget it's not just a mortality rate people are concerned about.

1) Spreading to people or getting it from people who have it

2) Quarantines/self-isolations

3) Impact to every day life if you get sick even if it's just mild

Take my husband's work for example as I mentioned before about travel restrictions--pertaining to Coronavirus concerns they now have an online form you fill out to let them know details related to your international travel and that's just for leisure. You have to tell them where you are going, when you are going, when you are coming back, etc. It's a very real possibility you may come back and be told to self-isolate depending on how things turn out, even while you're on your trip things could change. That's something looming in people's minds that for 14 days you may be told to not come into work (though I think it's up in the air if you'll be doing work probably depends on if you have your work computer with you already or not).

But all that can happen even if you don't take a flight. You could go to a movie theater and interact with someone with Covid19 and you will never be notified. You could go to the grocery store and interact with someone that has it and never be notified. You get sick from the virus (you don't know how you go t it) and now you are out of work for two or more weeks

The girl in Florida that came back from Italy and has Covid19 is in quarantine and so his her travel companion and roommate, which all have tested positive. The people on the plane have been notified and are not in isolation/quarantine. However, they are to contact the health department with the first sign of symptoms.

 

[gottaluvPluto]

All information about the number of tests performed in the US.

CDC explain a person should go to the state health department website to keep track of the tests. They reported that it would be difficult to keep that up because of the amount of testing and the state health department information would be more reliable than theirs.

 

[Searc]

What info did they remove?

They removed how many people are being tested.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

But all that can happen even if you don't take a flight. You could go to a movie theater and interact with someone with Covid19 and you will never be notified. You could go to the grocery store and interact with someone that has it and never be notified. You get sick from the virus (you don't know how you go t it) and now you are out of work for two or more weeks

The girl in Florida that came back from Italy and has Covid19 is in quarantine and so his her travel companion and roommate, which all have tested positive. The people on the plane have been notified and are not in isolation/quarantine. However, they are to contact the health department with the first sign of symptoms.

Yeah..I'm not debating that but that's not what I'm talking about. I feel like that's the type of deflecting people like to do no offense. Like ignore what I'm saying because well you can get it anywhere (yeah..but that's not what's being talked about).

I'm saying travel especially airplane travel and international travel most especially aren't just being thought of when it comes to after effects in regards to mortality rate. You said "I would totally get on a plane and take a vacation". It's not that simple for everyone even as I said our present plans is to still go to Vegas which will be on a plane. For right now it appears most companies are concentrating, probably rightfully so, on international travel. That may not always be the case as time goes on here in the U.S.

We don't have a choice on what my husband's work does. If they deem our leisure travel enough of a risk with international travel (with exceptions to Canada and Mexico) we could be told to self-isolate despite no symptoms AND we're not high risk. That's a huge thing. Maybe not to you though .

A large local company had 2 employees come from an international flight, they were sent home to self-isolate, no symptoms present but the company felt they may have been exposed on the flight, everyone had to leave, the entire building and items within it was cleaned and people were able to come back to work the next day. The companies don't want to take too much risks and in all honesty I don't blame them..part overreaction of course but as this thread is related to travel I get it. Domestic travel doesn't seem to be as much of the focus at this point but not all companies are excluding domestic travel in their travel restrictions/monitoring.

 

[gottaluvPluto]

Yeah..I'm not debating that but that's not what I'm talking about. I feel like that's the type of deflecting people like to do no offense. Like ignore what I'm saying because well you can get it anywhere (yeah..but that's not what's being talked about).

I'm saying travel especially airplane travel and international travel most especially aren't just being thought of when it comes to after effects in regards to mortality rate. You said "I would totally get on a plane and take a vacation". It's not that simple for everyone even as I said our present plans is to still go to Vegas which will be on a plane. For right now it appears most companies are concentrating, probably rightfully so, on international travel. That may not always be the case as time goes on here in the U.S.

We don't have a choice on what my husband's work does. If they deem our leisure travel enough of a risk with international travel (with exceptions to Canada and Mexico) we could be told to self-isolate despite no symptoms AND we're not high risk. That's a huge thing. Maybe not to you though .

A large local company had 2 employees come from an international flight, they were sent home to self-isolate, no symptoms present but the company felt they may have been exposed on the flight, everyone had to leave, the entire building and items within it was cleaned and people were able to come back to work the next day. The companies don't want to take too much risks and in all honesty I don't blame them..part overreaction of course but as this thread is related to travel I get it. Domestic travel doesn't seem to be as much of the focus at this point but not all companies are excluding domestic travel in their travel restrictions/monitoring.

I said, I would totally travel if I wasn't high risk. I'm high risk and my husbands job (working in hospital) makes that worse for me - and he can't leave his job.

I also think hospitals and first responders are going to be hot spots. I will still go to my doctor appointments at the hospital with caution.

Most companies that are telling their employees to self isolate are also still paying them to work at home. Is that true for your husband's company?

 

[LSUmiss]

First case of it leaping from a human to a dog reported in China. It’s turning into that Will Smith movie.

I’m pretty sure dogs can already get a strain of Corona virus. They have a vaccine. Are they certain it’s this strain?

 

[DopeyDame]

I think some people are just running over to the CDC website and reading their emergency preparedness pages and w/o absorbing all the info, making a shopping list. Or their water source is unreliable. Or the household resident(s) normally drink bottled water because they're worried about the source or delivery method of local water.
So many possibilities and I'm sure I haven't covered them all.

I'm fine with my local water but in a nearby city (Newark, NJ) lead leaching from old water supply pipes caused a shutdown of part of the city's water. Could happen here too but hasn't so far. Happened in Flint, Michigan too which I'm sure we all heard about.

Yup... lots of reasons.
I bought a few 5 gallon bottles of water.
We're on a well and usually drink bottled water that's delivered once a month. I can imagine a scenario where the delivery will be missed, and it would be nice to have some extra on hand. (The well water is safe, but doesn't taste great)

Additionally, since water is literally the most critical component of surviving, it seems logical to take a little extra care for water. If a water main breaks or something, and half the town's water contractors are staying home, then it could take a lot longer than usual to get the water supply back up and running.

Plus a 5 gallon thing of water is super cheap. Seems like a really easy thing to have on hand all the time.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I said, I would totally travel if I wasn't high risk. I'm high risk and my husbands job (working in hospital) makes that worse for me - and he can't leave his job.

I also think hospitals and first responders are going to be hot spots. I will still go to my doctor appointments at the hospital with caution.

Most companies that are telling their employees to self isolate are also still paying them to work at home. Is that true for your husband's company?

We aren't high risk and I still have concerns. Hospitals and the like may be hot spots depending on their factors but there are other places. It's why cities and universities are canceling things with large gatherings.

For salary workers I assume especially if they have their work computer and can still work; if you don't well it's not like they are going to deliver it to you nor are they going to want you to come into the office to get it. For hourly dunno yet too soon. On Monday they advised anyone who traveled in the last 14 days to one of the CDC watch list countries had to notify them immediately (business or leisure).

It's all very new at this point. If I was at the insurance company I was hourly with a guaranteed base salary each paycheck (hybrid of salary and hourly). I do not think I would have been paid for any time at home out of the goodness of their hearts. Either I would have had to eat up PTO, be unpaid, combination of PTO and unpaid, or the company would have had to come up with a brand new policy. I was in a call center and would not have been able to work at home anyways. Companies haven't really gotten to this point I think in the past of self-isolating especially for 14 days for their employees on a large scale. So I'm guessing it's 'as we go' kind of thing.

Domestic travel isn't as big of a concern though there are some places that might be prudent to avoid like Seattle at this point. It may come to a point though where my husband's company wants to keep track of domestic travel the same as international travel for leisure. And in all honesty it sucks because our 2nd vacation we really wanted international travel but now there's much more pressing concerns than "does it have a good beach".

 

[MrsBooch]

We just met at work to discuss ongoing travel concerns from the higher levels of management down -

1. We are now officially banned from both international and domestic travel related to business for the next 60 days
2. International personal travel including any country (not just the hot spots) must be followed by 14 days of working from home upon return from your vacation
3. No conference attendance is permitted
4. No site visitors
5. external interviews must be scheduled outside of our suites or virtually where possible
6. If any associate is sick they are to be encouraged to work from home
7. No vendor travel

I think they are getting a little carried away personally. We are still getting on a plane in 2 weeks and going to the DVC Hilton Head resort - we are bringing our work laptops just in case and frankly, i can think of worse places to be stuck.

 

[Hikergirl]

Yup... lots of reasons.
I bought a few 5 gallon bottles of water.
We're on a well and usually drink bottled water that's delivered once a month. I can imagine a scenario where the delivery will be missed, and it would be nice to have some extra on hand. (The well water is safe, but doesn't taste great)

Additionally, since water is literally the most critical component of surviving, it seems logical to take a little extra care for water. If a water main breaks or something, and half the town's water contractors are staying home, then it could take a lot longer than usual to get the water supply back up and running.

Plus a 5 gallon thing of water is super cheap. Seems like a really easy thing to have on hand all the time.

5 gallon water bottles are part of my normal grocery run because we use those as our drinking water.
I always have 2 on hand so I don't run out, but because everyone else is stockpiling for emergencies I feel like I should grab a few more so I have them.


My dh got a notice today that his company has suspended all travel. The virus has already been confirmed in the county he works so its just as much as keeping the employees from getting it as it is keeping them from maybe spreading it. He was supposed to travel out west next week so I'm glad he isn't now.

 

[MrsBooch]

5 gallon water bottles are part of my normal grocery run because we use those as our drinking water.
I always have 2 on hand so I don't run out, but because everyone else is stockpiling for emergencies I feel like I should grab a few more so I have them.


My dh got a notice today that his company has suspended all travel. The virus has already been confirmed in the county he works so its just as much as keeping the employees from getting it as it is keeping them from maybe spreading it. He was supposed to travel out west next week so I'm glad he isn't now.

If you're in an area where you buy that much water normally then i would assume it would be normal to buy it no matter what. I guess I was just confused by the water purchases in my area because there arent any pre-existing water supply issues.

 

[Wendy31]

We are trying to decide if we’re just going to rent a condo at our usual Florida beach or do a more touristy vacation & go on a western road trip which we’ve always wanted to do.

The problem w/ the road trip is more hotels, & we’d be visiting more tourist sites - more exposure to people and/or the possibility that some things are closed.

W/ the condo at the beach, we go all the time, so we wouldn’t feel like we needed to do any of the touristy things & could just hang out on the beach.

 

[RamblingMad]

If you're in an area where you buy that much water normally then i would assume it would be normal to buy it no matter what. I guess I was just confused by the water purchases in my area because there arent any pre-existing water supply issues.

Might just be people following their routine when other problems come up, rather than coming up with one for this event.

 

[Hikergirl]

If you're in an area where you buy that much water normally then i would assume it would be normal to buy it no matter what. I guess I was just confused by the water purchases in my area because there arent any pre-existing water supply issues.

It is normal for me, but not my area. I'm on municipal water.
I'm just saying if people are starting to go crazy, which now that it's confirmed in areas where people from here commute too, I'm sure they will, I want to make sure I have water to drink.
I could drink out of the tap but I'd rather not (it tastes weird to me). So I'm going to be one of those people stockpiling but not because I worry about the virus, I worry about all the people that are taking all the water LOL

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

If you're in an area where you buy that much water normally then i would assume it would be normal to buy it no matter what. I guess I was just confused by the water purchases in my area because there arent any pre-existing water supply issues.

There's probably a mixture of people who shop normally for bottled water supplies, people who are stock piling and potentially supply issues where there's not as much product having been delivered. But there's also people like us who just buy water from time to time this shopping trip but not that shopping trip.

We buy water bottles from time to time from Costco (40 count) not because our tap water is bad (it's actually pretty good in terms of tap water) but we just like it from time to time especially to do the Crystal Light water bottle packets when we're on the go and want more flavor. We could go months without buying the water bottles and then up and decide we want them.

We actually were planning on going to Costco soon not only to get some stuff we normally buy but to also get some more water bottles. It's always a possibility to run out of them because they are a hot seller often throughout the year at our local Costco.

 

[Iowamomof4]

I think it's more of a herd mentality thing. "Gosh, all these people are buying water? (or TP or cleaning supplies) They must know something I don't know. I'd better get some, just to be safe!" And boom, no water left.

Hopefully most of these things can be restocked soon and people will stop panic-buying.

 

[DLgal]

I realize this is probably really dumb but I am ok with that. I have seen a lot of people buying A LOT of water. Our Costco had a limit of 5 per customer, our one grocery store already sold out once this week of bottled water.
My question is - why? I understand getting things to stock up in the event that you need to quarantine, stay home etc - but - is the water we already have coming out of the faucet getting filtered, going somewhere? Am I missing some connection to water that would lead to it being contaminated in some way? I have seen runs on water when we're about to get bad winter storms because there's a concern about loss of power/electricity. Why is everyone buying water for Coronovirus preparedness? I'm convinced I just don't understand something enough to have made the connection but I'm refusing to buy some just because I see other people buying it in GALLONS. Help me understand?

LOL. Our water authority literally sent out an email bulletin addressing this. In short, there will be no disruptions to our water supply, and they already currently filter out harmful bacteria and viruses as a standard practice. They went so far as to mention where our water actually comes from and how this virus will have absolutely ZERO impact on our ability to turn on our taps and get water as we normally do.