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

[amaroo]

SMH is suggesting Israel is about to close its borders to citizens from all countries.... this will impact a few on here.

 

[I love to travel]

SMH is suggesting Israel is about to close its borders to citizens from all countries.... this will impact a few on here.

I know most will disagree but I wish we would do the same including domestic borders. Short term pain for longer containment seems a fair price at this point.

 

[OATEK]

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

Its times like this that I am glad that half my super is a defined benefits scheme indexed to CPI.

Still working through my Covid-19 induced trip changes - who new cancelling one J leg on a 5 leg flight woiuld cost $350 per head.

 

[Pushka]

I know most will disagree but I wish we would do the same including domestic borders. Short term pain for longer containment seems a fair price at this point.

Yep. Our business is 90% interstate. On the other hand SA is doing ok. No local spread just travellers from OS. So you have nothing to fear from us.

 

[amaroo]

Qantas / QBE TI has been taken over by NIB. We took the policy out Oct last year, so have no issues with the cut-off date.

As mentioned upthread the policy doesn't mention epidemic or pandemic, but it does have a funny clause about gov intervention...

This paragraph from NIB website basically kills the policy for travel IMO, so that's made the decision very easy - no travel for us.

1. Note: Cover offered by travel insurance policies issued and managed by nib Travel Services (Australia) Pty varies, and policies purchased before the times above may also contain exclusions relating to a contagious disease, epidemic or pandemic, or to a government prohibition or regulation. Please read your policy wording for the full policy terms, conditions, limitations and exclusions.

 

[get me outta here]

Was a Breakfast RN interview with a Bloomberg journalist. Italy locks down northern provinces as coronavirus cases surge

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

 

[exceladdict]

SMH is suggesting Israel is about to close its borders to citizens from all countries.... this will impact a few on here.

Guess the El Al trial is off then.

 

[OATEK]

Guess the El Al trial is off then.

Unless you are a citizen!

 

[drron]

An interesting article.bill Gates was right.

Dealing With a Once-In-A-Century Pathogen

Measures implemented too early are deemed “alarmist,” if implemented too late, “negligent.”

quillette.com

 

[PineappleSkip]

This comment made me a bit wary. I thought there was a lot of doubt about this proposition?

They are still waiting for symptomatic cases to act when we know there is huge asymptomatic spread.

Here's a little table I have been keeping as my risk indicator. 100 cases in a place with 500,000 people is rather differnet than 100 cases in a place with 50,000.000 people. So the intersting statistic - my crude risk marker - is number of active cases per 100,000 population. Supersimplistic because the case numbers are typically in clusters where the numbers of cases are much higher in particular locations, for example Daegu in South Korea or Nordrhein-Westfalen in Germany. However it tries to put an outbreak in perspective (one in 100,000 is not people dying in thousands in the streets) and aims to be current and exclude history - the more than half of the cases who have recovered or (sadly) died.

Selection of places is arbitrary - either my colleagues work there or it is a potential transit point for moi on a journey to or from work, or a place where colleagues live. Population data I just grabbed from Wikipedia, and active case numbers mainly drawn from the Johns Hopkins data.

Place	Population	Active cases	cases/100,000
Germany	83,000,000​	1133​	1.37​
Singapore	5,600,000​	72​	1.29​
Sydney	5,500,000​	40​	0.73​
Hong Kong	7,500,000​	53​	0.71​
London	8,900,000​	61​	0.69​	NHS data
UAE	9,600,000​	38​	0.40​
UK	66,000,000​	259​	0.39​
Japan	126,300,000​	418​	0.33​
Bangkok	8,300,000​	18​	0.22​	assumes all Thai cases are in BKK
SE Qld	3,600,000​	7​	0.19​

 

[Tropic]

I think the potential trajectory of this thing was clear (to anyone wanting to hear it) once they discovered there are asymptomatic carriers... no symptoms=no testing=no detection=no quarantine
..simples

 

[Must...Fly!]

This comment made me a bit wary. I thought there was a lot of doubt about this proposition?

Where did the doubt come from? I thought we knew about this for quite some time. Either completely asymptomatic or very low level symptoms.

I was in NYC 3 weeks ago and had a bit of a headache, runny nose and mild diarrhoea for about 24-48 hours. Was it COVID-19? At the time not considered possible as the presenting symptoms were fever or dry cough, leading to further lower respiratory problems, then the rest.

If I had those symptoms today it would be different and I'd certainly be at least tested, if not also isolated, even if it was much more likely that I just had a common cold.

 

[PineappleSkip]

Transmission from people with low level symptoms I get. Some instances of asymptomatic transmission I have seen reported in reputable places.

The proposition I was querying was "we know there is huge asymptomatic spread." That sounds over the top to me.

Don't particularly like making medical claims, I'm not a doctor. But there are many unknowns, that much is clear. This is what the CDC says on its website.

Asymptomatic infection with SARS-CoV-2 has been reported, but it is not yet known what role asymptomatic infection plays in transmission. Similarly, the role of pre-symptomatic transmission (infection detection during the incubation period prior to illness onset) is unknown.

This is what the Federal Health department says in its factsheet.

How is this coronavirus spread?
The coronavirus is most likely to spread from person-to-person through:

• direct close contact with a person while they are infectious
• close contact with a person with a confirmed infection who coughs or sneezes, or
• touching objects or surfaces (such as door handles or tables) contaminated from a cough or sneeze from a person with a confirmed infection, and then touching your mouth or face.

Most infections are only transmitted by people when they have symptoms. These can include fever, a cough, sore throat, tiredness and shortness of breath.

I don't see any basis in this for the claim that asymptomatic spread is "huge". The Health Dept statement is obscure but suggests the opposite. the CDC blurb is full of "unknown", and unknown sounds much more reliable to me; there are so many unknowns, and so much spin and fear-mongering in this knowledge vacuum.

Cheers skip

 

[RooFlyer]

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

Best bit of advice I was given when I retired: Keep two years of expenses in cash. That, and keep good divvie paying stocks.

I’m not partying , but even though I’m retired, it looks like some buying ahead.

 

[amaroo]

SMH is suggesting Israel is about to close its borders to citizens from all countries.... this will impact a few on here.

Update....

Coronavirus: Israel to bring in 14-day quarantine for all arrivals

Everyone arriving in Israel will be required to self-quarantine for 14 days, its PM says.

www.bbc.com

 

[amaroo]

Update....

Coronavirus: Israel to bring in 14-day quarantine for all arrivals

Everyone arriving in Israel will be required to self-quarantine for 14 days, its PM says.

www.bbc.com

With this type of gov action / decision most, if not all TI is totally worthless.... certainly ours is.

Makes the call to cut and run from all International travel a very easy one to make.

 

[get me outta here]

Headline in NYT :
”With the Coronavirus, It’s Trump Versus Public Safety
The president’s narcissism is a grave danger to our health.”

I’m not sure if they even have the test kits readily available yet.

 

[RooFlyer]

Headline in NYT :

Well, yes, it is the NYT NYT = definition of TDS ...

I've just been travelling in the USA. Don't believe everything you read in the media ...

 

[get me outta here]

As I mentioned previously what happened last week or the week before is hardly relevant. There are still few testing kids. New York City is closing things left and centre.

For those that think anything not as right as sky News could read the Washington post as well.

Well, yes, it is the NYT NYT = definition of TDS ...

I've just been travelling in the USA. Don't believe everything you read in the media ...

 

[Must...Fly!]

Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte says travel restrictions are being imposed nationwide to try to stop the spread of the spread of the new coronavirus.

Conte said Monday night that a new government decree will require all people in Italy to demonstrate a need to work, health conditions or other limited reasons to travel outside the areas where they live.

The restrictions will take effect on Tuesday and like those in northern Italy will last until April 3., he said.

"There won't be just a red zone,'' Conte told reporters referring to the quarantine order he signed for a vast swath of northern Italy with a population of 16 million over the weekend.

"There will be Italy" as a protected area, he said.

The premier also took to task the young people in much of Italy who have been gathering at night to drink and have a good time during the public health emergency that started on Feb. 21.

"This night life...we can't allow this anymore," Conte said.

From AP Italy imposes nationwide restrictions to contain new virus