Noro and travel. What can I do?

[luvthatduke]

Oh, I am sure the OPs doctor is willing to give advice. What I meant is, that it is probably not going to change the sick friend's mind.

If the friend tells the OP that she is neurotic now, I don't think she will respond better to "hey, I spoke to my doctor about your condition and my doctor also thinks that you shouldn't go."

Sorry.
I misunderstood your intent.

I agree w/what you said here.

 

[SteveMouse]

On the economic end, if she did nog buy separate travel insuranc, she nsy hqve trip cqncell insu through q credit cq, if ig were used to purc the trip.

 

[Christine]

Oh, I am sure the OPs doctor is willing to give advice. What I meant is, that it is probably not going to change the sick friend's mind.

If the friend tells the OP that she is neurotic now, I don't think she will respond better to "hey, I spoke to my doctor about your condition and my doctor also thinks that you shouldn't go."

Bolded in a nutshell. The "friend" already called the OP "neurotic" for being worried. I've found in my daily 50+ years of living that there are a huge population of people who don't give illness of any kind a second thought, never really even consider the ramifications of catching something, and don't think far enough ahead of what could play out. It really must be beautiful in their sky-blue world and I wish I could be one of them. Then there are those of us who are keenly aware of what certain illness do and how they spread, can analzye a scenario down to it's finest points, and predict the horrors that could play out. It sucks really. Yes, half the population considers us neurotic!!! It's nice to see like-minded fellows on this thread.

I'm betting the OP is screaming into the wind with this trip and the sick "friend" and possibly the other travelers (if they knew) are rolling their eyes.

 

[Ursula J]

OP, it's time to get over your hang ups with what this may do to your relationship. You need to straight up tell the tour operator that she (not "a participant") has norovorus and her husband has been exposed as well. Let them handle it.

Your relative can literally DIE on this trip. The fact that she and her husband are even considering going is so mind bogglingly irresponsible, I don't think I could even continue a relationship with them if they did go. Just the sheer selfishness being displayed by her is off the charts. This person doesn't deserve to be treated with kid gloves. Tell her she needs to stay home, and not bring this virus to the other 22 people on this highly strenuous trip. Her losing money is not your concern. She should have purchased trip insurance. This is why it exists. Her lack of preparation is

Yes! OP, even if you're sure you can deal with noro, someone in the big group is likely immune compromised or diabetic. My husband is a cancer survivor. He's very healthy now but always vulnerable. If we found out someone on a group trip knowingly put him at risk because they wanted to avoid family tension....ooooh, boy.

 

[wenrob]

Relative or not I’d rat her out. This isn’t just about her and it’s not just about you. You have to take the whole group into consideration. It’s the right thing to do. You don’t want to get sick and you don’t want to lose out on what you’ve spent, do you think the others on the trip do? Twenty plus other people at risk is worth the confrontation and her being angry with you. She’ll get over it. Or she won’t but in the end you’ll know you’ve done the right thing. And before you say I don’t understand, believe me, I do. I’m just at a point in my life where I’m not going sacrifice my own well being be it physically or mentally in order to “keep the peace.” I’ve found that people you need to keep the peace with are those who will never do the same.

 

[mjkacmom]

We're related. I know her well enough to know she's prone to big reactions if she feels criticized. I'm really hoping that she's just been blindsided by a bad situation and needs some time to think through her choices. She might change her mind when she tries to get out of bed and move around.

The trail we are hiking is no joke. People die from dehydration and underestimating the difficulty and overestimating their physical condition. Not having hiked it before, I have no personal experience to draw from. I believe it's probably a very bad idea for her.



I hear you, and I somewhat agree. But what if she doesn't have norovirus and then I've just ruined her trip and maybe she forfeits several thousand dollars because she believes I'm being neurotic. It's going to cause major problems in our relationship. She does have an obligation to report her condition so I can probably approach it that way.

Doesn’t matter if it’s noro or not, it’s a stomach virus, they’re all contagious. My kids had rotavirus for 11 days, it was nuts! They couldn’t even sit up.

 

[luvsvacation]

I've found in my daily 50+ years of living that there are a huge population of people who don't give illness of any kind a second thought, never really even consider the ramifications of catching something, and don't think far enough ahead of what could play out. It really must be beautiful in their sky-blue world and I wish I could be one of them. Then there are those of us who are keenly aware of what certain illness do and how they spread, can analzye a scenario down to its finest points, and predict the horrors that could play out. It sucks really. Yes, half the population considers us neurotic!!! It's nice to see like-minded fellows on this thread.

This is so interesting that you put it this way because this is how I have always been, I rarely worry about anything. I just naturally think everything will work out. I always just figure life goes on. I don’t make contingency plans for anything. I remember once having my kids at Six Flags and out of nowhere my son (about 8) starts throwing up. We had season passes and went all the time, it wasn’t from rides. We were with friends so I just took him to the clinic and he laid down for about 2 hours and sipped Gatorade. Then he rallied and we went right back to the roller coasters and spent the rest of the day there. He clearly wasn’t “sick” with a spreadable virus, just a random bout of throwing up. I actually had the same exact thing the day before I did the hike the OP is taking about a few years ago. I’d been out in the heat/sun all day doing some other hiking and had (I believe) gotten some spinach dip that didn’t agree with me because all of a sudden both my daughter and I were violently ill, in the middle of a cave tour. I was very thankful to a man in the tour who had a Walmart bag with him! We left the tour immediately for the luxurious port a potties! After a half hour we were both fine. We did the big hike the next day with no problems. I had in the back of my mind that there were no rescue port a potties where we were going and that even though it had been 12 hours of feeling fine what if it came back, but being my optimistic self I figured we’d be fine and we were! But even I, who never cancels plans for anything, and never worries, would not attempt that trip if I truly had a stomach illness (noro or not) where I couldn’t get out of bed!! It would absolutely kill me, but there just are some limitations in life and that trail with a true stomach virus is one of them! I can understand where she is coming from though if she is like me. It’s not about not caring about others it truly is just that we (at least me) just always look on the bright side and never thinks anything bad will happen! And it is a nice way to live!!

 

[RoseGold]

This thread is insane to me.

I would actually have the opposite reaction to WDW, because everyone goes sick, and you expect to be exposed to everything. The germ-phobic people who expect every sick Florida Man to cancel their five figure trip to WDW are the blue sky ones IMO. That was true before Covid, nothing new there.

But on a strenuous hike, where people have to be airlifted out, I don't see how this is even an option. You have to notify the trip operator. I couldn't live with myself knowing the risk that people are being subjected to. I would tell the relative that, either she can tell them (or skip) or I will.

 

[VandVsmama]

Haven't read all 5 pages of replies yet. My gut take on this:

• it's a really really bad idea.
• if either of them still go on the trip, you should stay home.
• it was either last year or the year before, something like this happened to a camping/hiking/river rafting group in the Grand Canyon and they had to be air lifted out to a hospital. After a couple of days, EVERYBODY became violently ill

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

We've had a bill for a medical helicopter flight. It was a short flight from one hospital to another, 20 minutes or so. Not out of a wilderness area. The bill was in the several tens of thousands of dollars range. Insurance tried to not pay it. After some fighting they paid most of it. You do not want a medical helicopter evacuation from a wilderness area. I can only imagine that bill.

 

[anniemae]

What an awful situation. My first thought was that it is a really really bad idea. Especially given the setting.

From what I understand, noro is extremely contagious. The best defense is lots of hand washing with warm water and soap. Neither of which you will have access to. Dunking hands in the river will not cut it. Cleaning things with bleach is also recommended, which you won't be able to do. I have also heard that hand sanitizer does not kill norovirus. Not sure if that's true or not but that is what I have always been told.

 

[RedHead0186]

I have also heard that hand sanitizer does not kill norovirus. Not sure if that's true or not but that is what I have always been told.

That is true. Hand sanitizer may be marginally effective, but hot water, soap, and scrubbing for 30 seconds is really the way to get rid of the virus. (That can be part of the problem, that people think hand sanitizer is killing it but it's really not, so they're unknowingly just spreading it to everything they touch).

 

[NotUrsula]

Be aware that although doctors cannot discuss their patients' situations with a 3rd party, there is nothing stopping them from *listening* to a concerned 3rd party. You can notify this woman's doctor of her current health situation and what she is about to try to do, and the doctor may or may not then contact her and advise. The doctor will not tell you what he/she will tell the patient, but it can help protect her (and her family) from herself.

 

[Marrila]

Be aware that although doctors cannot discuss their patients' situations with a 3rd party, there is nothing stopping them from *listening* to a concerned 3rd party. You can notify this woman's doctor of her current health situation and what she is about to try to do, and the doctor may or may not then contact her and advise. The doctor will not tell you what he/she will tell the patient, but it can help protect her (and her family) from herself.

If OP attempted a call I seriously doubt they would get any further than a very brief chat with the practice appt clerk.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

You can notify this woman's doctor of her current health situation and what she is about to try to do, and the doctor may or may not then contact her and advise.

I'm pretty sure that should be the role of a public health agency. If someone (and I'm not really speaking about this situation) had concerns tattling on someone to their doctor is inappropriate. You have concerns about someone having a contagious illness that badly to contact someone do it to the health agency.

The OP can't control this woman nor force her to do anything no matter what she thinks and all this talk of calling a doctor is odd IMO. The OP as unfortunate as it is has to take control of what she can which is her choice to go.

 

[CBMom01]

That is true. Hand sanitizer may be marginally effective, but hot water, soap, and scrubbing for 30 seconds is really the way to get rid of the virus. (That can be part of the problem, that people think hand sanitizer is killing it but it's really not, so they're unknowingly just spreading it to everything they touch).

This. Only bleach can kill it.

That’s how I found out that you can reinfect *yourself* in that two week window after you get sick. I had cleaned everything with cleaning vinegar after it ran through my extended family at Thanksgiving

 

[Christine]

This. Only bleach can kill it.

That’s how I found out that you can reinfect *yourself* in that two week window after you get sick. I had cleaned everything with cleaning vinegar after it ran through my extended family at Thanksgiving

My son got norovirus on the Disney cruise. How no one else got it was a miracle but, as a kid, he was one of those "lick the handrail" kind of kids. Ugh. Anyway, as soon as soon as he was mostly recovered (24 hours fortunately), the cruise line cleaner came into the room in a hazmat suit and stayed for about 2 hours and pretty much bleached the heck out of everything they could.

 

[dvcgirl67]

Oh boy. I remember, has to be about 8-9 years ago, a good friend of mine was having her annual Christmas Party which she looked forward to throwing every year. It was three or four days before Christmas Eve, when we had our family gatherings.

The party was always a good time and DH and I were looking forward to going as usual. She texted me the morning of her party that her then college daughter had been projectile vomiting and within a couple of hours was diagnosed with the noro virus. Doc prescribed ondansetron and by the afternoon her daughter was feeling better and so she asked me if she should go ahead with the party. Her daughter, who was a bit spoiled, was so looking forward to all of her HS friends coming over for the party....etc. She did let everyone know (to her credit), but went ahead with it. We did not go, and I think the final count was that 75% of the guest list attended.....25% of the attendees got the virus. My friend's early 60's boyfriend passed out on the bathroom floor after bouts of vomiting and ended up in the hospital.

It's insanely selfish that your friends are planning on going, but if they do go, I'd cancel. It's dangerous to be in that environment with that virus.

 

[luvthatduke]

OP: I'm wondering if you are the only one who knows all this?

With so many people going are you the only one she confided in?

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

I hope we'll get an update about what ended up happening!

I hope the individual that was sick realized on her own that that kind of strenuous activity in the extreme heat so soon after being sick wasn't a smart idea.