Coronavirus (COVID-19) Respiratory illness - Effect on Travel

[PineappleSkip]

Well maybe they shouldn’t have bother locking them down at all in that case. Giving effectively two hours notice for a whole bunch of people to escape you’re setting yourself up to be a bit of a laughing stock.

No doubt the merits of the lockdown will be hotly debated, Italy being a great place for a hot debate. the rest of Europe is still doing containment, as is Italy on a grand scale. For example, Germany has somewhere between 900 and 1000 cases right now, but to give that number some perspective that's still just over 1 in 100,000 people.

Cheers skip

 

[PineappleSkip]

Here's tonights wrapup on the IATA travel restrictions leaderboard to round out today's coverage...

• China is still in no 1 place with about 80 countries' mentions in their travel restrictions
• South Korea, Iran and Italy are neck and neck with about 55 countries mentioning each (not always the same ones)
• About 30 countries mention Japan in their restrictions
• What's going on with Thailand? 15 countries have mentioned them in their travel restrictions.
• France appears to be next with 9 countries having some sort of restriction,
• France is closely followed by Germany and Egypt, each with 8 restrictions
• Indonesia is mentioned by only four countries, Vietnam and Cambodia by only three.
• these numbers exclude countries with blanket restrictions such as Comoros and North Korea

This is not complete, just some highlights. Singapore and Hong Kong are still right up there but I got sick of counting.

Cheers skip

 

[get me outta here]

And that lack of trust is resulting in some unfortunate behaviour contributing hoarding etc. Unless we all now stay home and close the borders, there is an element of luck in taking personal responsibility for protecting ourselves from being exposed. Obviously we will practice safe hand washing and try to minimise touching and that’s a good start.

At some point, people will realise they cant rely on the government or others (including people tested and awaiting results or diagnosed with Covid-19) to do the right thing, and will take personal responsibility for protecting themselves from being exposed to the virus. I suspect many people have already made arrangements to do this.

 

[Pushka]

At some point, people will realise they cant rely on the government or others (including people tested and awaiting results or diagnosed with Covid-19) to do the right thing, and will take personal responsibility for protecting themselves from being exposed to the virus. I suspect many people have already made arrangements to do this.

I'm just prepared that in a months time it will be widespread and some may require significant life support. And some may not get it. Because we simply don't have the resources. Luck of the draw.

 

[Lynda2475]

Choice have published a summary table of Travel Insirance policies which cover cancellations and medical for Covid-19 provided policy purchased prior to the declaration date: Does travel insurance cover the COVID-19 coronavirus? - CHOICE

Happy that this confirms my own reading of my World Nomads policy for my June/July trip. My tour company emailed me on Firday to say that except for some specific tours in China and Northern Italy all other tours are at this stage proceeding as planned. SO I guess Im going unless DFAT warnings change.

 

[Pushka]

Choice have published a summary table of Travel Insirance policies which cover cancellations and medical for Covid-19 provided policy purchased prior to the declaration date: Does travel insurance cover the COVID-19 coronavirus? - CHOICE

Happy that this confirms my own reading of my World Nomads policy for my June/July trip. My tour company emailed me on Firday to say that except for some specific tours in China and Northern Italy all other tours are at this stage proceeding as planned. SO I guess Im going unless DFAT warnings change.

Wow. So many policies never covered it!

 

[coriander]

That sounds like a very sensible policy, although a couple of months might be a tad optimistic.

I meant accept QF's offer of 120k points to maintain WP.

 

[get me outta here]

Just cleared one hurdle on TI and trips ....

History - On 'advice' from Choice I got a quote from Insure&Go. As they were suspiciously cheaper than everyone else I triple checked that it was full cover for the USA etc. Tick. Bought some time ago.

Today, I just got this email answer to my question of last Friday arvo about cover in the time of virus:

"Thank you for your email. In short, yes you are covered under all applicable sections under our PDS such as cancellation, medical expenses, cutting your trip short and additional emergency expenses". Update on Global Coronavirus Outbreak: where to now?

The gist of that is this:

Am I Covered For Claims Related To This Event, for travel to Destinations other than China?

• If you bought your policy before 12:00am AEST on 21st January 2020, you may be covered as per the benefits of your specific PDS, but you will not be covered for cancelling your trip due to change of mind or fear.
• If you bought your policy after 12:00am AEST on 21st January 2020 and before 4:00pm AEST on 31st January 2020, you will not be covered for cancelling your trip due to change of mind or fear but you may be covered for claims directly related to travel delays as a result of quarantines at major airports directly related to the Coronavirus (2019-nCoV). Please be aware our policies only cover connecting flights where the stopover was originally scheduled on your itinerary for more than 6 hours.
• If you bought your policy after 4:00pm AEST on 31st January 2020, you will not be covered for claims related to the Coronavirus (2019-nCoV). It would be expected the policy was entered into with awareness of the virus and its developments.

For more information about travel insurance and Pandemic Coverage, check this article published by Choice: Does travel insurance cover the COVID-19 coronavirus? - CHOICE

 

[dajop]

We're all obsessed with travel insurance. But at the end of the day, the current losses to my super (and share portfolio) make any potential downside of anything related to travel ( other than medical costs) fairly insignificant

 

[Lynda2475]

Please be aware our policies only cover connecting flights where the stopover was originally scheduled on your itinerary for more than 6 hours.

This is interesting one, as a connecting flight is not usually considered a stop-over.

My Worlds Nomad Policy notes that for claims relating to Cancellation & Trip Interruption "You must comply with the minimum transit and check in times as required by your transportation provider or at least three hours, whatever is longer.' My connection in HKG is scheduled as only 2.5hours so I guess if something goes wrong with that leg, I wont be covered as scheduled connection time between flights is under 3 hours. This is first trip Ive ever done wher ei havent allowed a minimum of 3 hours - lesson learned.

Post automatically merged: Mar 9, 2020

But at the end of the day, the current losses to my super (and share portfolio) make any potential downside of anything related to travel ( other than medical costs) fairly insignificant

Depending on how long you have to go to retirment, this is likelyrecoverable, shares fluctuate wildly over time.

 

[dajop]

Depending on how long you have to go to retirment, this is likelyrecoverable, shares fluctuate wildly over time.

Yes, I know. And it's not really "until" retirement, as just about everyone I know isn't in the position where they have to use every last cent the day they retire, depending on how they plan to use their savings and super.

 

[get me outta here]

Apropos of the recovery when this is all over, I think Trump has made a strategic mistake telling people it's ok to go to work, nothing to see here with the virus. It then becomes a gripping full scale outbreak in the US.
Meanwhile, China will be ramping up as they are over the worst of it due to draconian measures.
Trump will have his worst nightmare of lagging China.

 

[PineappleSkip]

We're all obsessed with travel insurance. But at the end of the day, the current losses to my super (and share portfolio) make any potential downside of anything related to travel ( other than medical costs) fairly insignificant

Yes indeed. My retirement has tanked (again )
cheers skip

 

[33kft]

But at the end of the day, the current losses to my super (and share portfolio) make any potential downside of anything related to travel ( other than medical costs) fairly insignificant

On the topic of super balances taking a dip, I feel for retirees but given my considerable distance to retirement at present, I always consider this a bit of a bonus - I get to buy in at a cheaper unit price. In fact if we could perhaps make it a couple of decade slow period followed by a massive pre-retirement recovery, that would be fantastic. Sorry to those I am throwing under the bus here with my fantasy retirement plan

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Yes indeed. My retirement has tanked (again )
cheers skip

Yes equities have dipped.

I am pleased though that as part of my planning that I have a large cash reserve set aside in case the market crashes so that I do not have to crystallize losses by selling when the markets are low.


Mind you only a month ago I was starting to think I had too much cash reserves with interest rates so low. Glad I was not tempted then to actually move more into equities or super now.

 

[SydneySwan]

Mind you only a month ago I was starting to think I had too much cash reserves with interest rates so low. Glad I was not tempted then to actually move more into equities or super now.

Same here - but now we have the agonising decision as to when is the right time to invest. Has the elevator stopped at the bottom or do we have a few floors further to go?

 

[Pushka]

On ABC news - Just looking at the Hospitals in northern Italy and it's so dire! This is why the motivation is for containment to try have a drip of people needing intensive care as opposed to a flood.

 

[Pushka]

On the topic of super balances taking a dip, I feel for retirees but given my considerable distance to retirement at present, I always consider this a bit of a bonus - I get to buy in at a cheaper unit price. In fact if we could perhaps make it a couple of decade slow period followed by a massive pre-retirement recovery, that would be fantastic. Sorry to those I am throwing under the bus here with my fantasy retirement plan

We had one of those. A fantasy retirement plan. Things completely out of your control bring it back to a new kind of reality. Shares are down, interest rates are pathetic. So where does this leave self funded retirees? They get virtually nothing from the Government for support.

 

[get me outta here]

Having a bit of trouble taking them seriously though when they say that it’s okay to go out for lunch but not for dinner. And if it’s urgent, you can go to work etc. But I don’t know how they could command and control 16 million people anyway. Those poor doctors trying to treat intensive care people in the corridor. They’ll work to exhaustion, past exhaustion.

On ABC news - Just looking at the Hospitals in northern Italy and it's so dire! This is why the motivation is for containment to try have a drip of people needing intensive care as opposed to a flood.

 

[Pushka]

Having a bit of trouble taking them seriously though when they say that it’s okay to go out for lunch but not for dinner. And if it’s urgent, you can go to work etc. But I don’t know how they could command and control 16 million people anyway. Those poor doctors trying to treat intensive care people in the corridor. They’ll work to exhaustion, past exhaustion.

And then they get sick too. I didn't hear the meal bit.