Is Coronavirus affecting your travel plans?

[NotUrsula]

At first I thought so too, but lately I'm reading about private companies stopping domestic travel and large meetings/conferences in general already. I guess I'm surprised at some of the domestic restrictions going on.

Remember, when it comes to conferences, many attendees may be coming from outside the US, and there is the issue of them getting trapped HERE to consider as well.

 

[Diznygrl]

Looking at maps of where this disease is, I'd like to know what North Korea is doing, because they are surrounded by it, yet have no cases in their country. Question is, do they really not have any cases and if they don't, what have they done to keep it out of their country.

North Korea is already pretty much in a permanently quarantined state anyway, so if they really DON'T have any cases, I wouldn't be all that surprised. They do have a tourism market, but it is very small and highly restricted, so I'd think the risk is pretty low.

I am curious about what the propaganda machine is telling NK about the virus, though. No doubt that it started in the US. Either because we live in unsanitary squalor or we created it intentionally to unleash it upon the world.

 

[wvjules]

I can tell you that our network (and we have 3 servers we can access across the country) could not handle the stress of all of us teleworking. It barely works on a snow day.

Hmm, I'm not sure if it is all of JBA, or just our department.

Actually, I just asked someone and he thinks it is all civilians on base. Crazy!

ETA: I am not an AF civilian. I'm a contractor that works for a private company and I have to work at my home office tomorrow. No teleworking for me unfortunately.

 

[morgan98]

My firm has basically said no air travel for internal meetings and it will be reassessed on May 1st. No international travel, basically unless senior leadership approves (CEO level) and work with clients to mitigate amount of domestic travel through using technology.

We have some good sized internal conferences mid-late summer that they are taking a wait and see approach with at this time.

 

[morgan98]

. Oops Double Post

 

[wvjules]

My firm has basically said no air travel for internal meetings and it will be reassessed on May 1st. No international travel, basically unless senior leadership approves (CEO level) and work with clients to mitigate amount of domestic travel through using technology.

We have some good sized internal conferences mid-late summer that they are taking a wait and see approach with at this time.

Ours is pretty much the same.

 

[Kennywood]

 

[RamblingMad]

I tend to go on my adventurous vacations, so this will not apply to everyone here. But it’s a good read.

https://www.outsideonline.com/2410034/coronavirus-travel-insurance

 

[dieumeye]

Remember, when it comes to conferences, many attendees may be coming from outside the US, and there is the issue of them getting trapped HERE to consider as well.

Yeah. A company I’m affiliated with recently cancelled a big conference. Not because of the actual threat, but because so many people are worried about a threat that individuals are cancelling, and if people aren’t going to come even if it is safe to do so, then there’s no reason to have the conference. It’s kind of a self fulfilling prophecy.

Although, I guess there’s nothing wrong with exercising caution if the event is non essential.

 

[Kennywood]

 

[MFL101]

My ds's girlfriend works for a fortune 500 company in the financial sector. She's still flying all over the world. I think she leaves for Ireland and London tomorrow. The very last thing an investment company wants their customers to do is pull their money so it's business as usual for her. She would love it if her company implemented a no travel policy, but that isn't going to happen anytime soon. I suppose if we see that then we'll really know things are bad.

JP Morgan starting to do this now

 

[buttersnix]

My ds's girlfriend works for a fortune 500 company in the financial sector. She's still flying all over the world. I think she leaves for Ireland and London tomorrow. The very last thing an investment company wants their customers to do is pull their money so it's business as usual for her. She would love it if her company implemented a no travel policy, but that isn't going to happen anytime soon. I suppose if we see that then we'll really know things are bad.

Someone said one of the biggest reasons was so an employee doesn’t bring it BACK and spread it around the company. Even if you don’t get that sick you’d still have to quarantine for 2 weeks. Would suck to infect a third of the company or something before you noticed. We actually kinda joked today about whether our boss would make us stay home. We are a much, much smaller company.

 

[NotUrsula]

The AP is running a story with some educated guesses about the situation in North Korea, for those who wonder: https://apnews.com/d39116a90502d621e1aeb2d13510221f

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

I know some people are stocking individual rooms with supplies so that person doesn't have to leave the room if they are sick. So my neighbor has 3 bedrooms with their own bathroom. In each room they have all the supplies they need so they don't have to leave the bedroom for 2 weeks. So each room has several cases of water, medicine, tissue paper ....... maybe that is why people are getting a lot of water.

I have cleaning supplies and toilet paper in each bathroom; always have. I hate hauling supplies around (and hate not having tp when needed even more).

 

[AMW86]

I have been thinking about flying to my parents in Florida for Easter, but have not booked yet. I am currently being treated by an infectious disease specialist for a spine infection so I am going to wait until I speak with them at my next appointment to get their opinion. anecdotally, the prices for flights have not dropped at all, so not sure how widely airlines have been affected yet!

flights prices have now plummeted from $500-600 range to $132-188!

 

[Buckeye218]

Not even a little. Spring Training trip in 10 days....WDW in Sept. We're also fortunate enough to live in FL, so don't need to worry about flying.

 

[Heather07438]

flights prices have now plummeted from $500-600 range to $132-188!

We planned to skip WDW in 2020. If my son's HS trip to UK/Scotland gets cancelled, that's $4k back in our pocket. Maybe we'll give it to WDW if they release a great offer.

 

[choirfarm]

We got word today that the Calvin Writing Festival has been cancelled in April. It was a 3hour graduate for me. Guess we will find out after Spring break how they will handle refunds.

 

[wvjules]

I'm in the DMV and there are no confirmed cases here. I'm honestly kinda shocked!

I take that back. 3 confirmed cases in Montgomery County, MD. The county I live in. A couple in their 70s and an individual in 50s. All came from overseas.

 

[DopeyDame]

Hmm, I'm not sure if it is all of JBA, or just our department.

Actually, I just asked someone and he thinks it is all civilians on base. Crazy!

ETA: I am not an AF civilian. I'm a contractor that works for a private company and I have to work at my home office tomorrow. No teleworking for me unfortunately.

Not just JBA, but lots of domestic bases, right? (That’s what my office mate said)
NASA is doing an agency wide telework day tomorrow to stress the system and identify what needs to be upgraded.