Anyone getting worried about March Break Travel

[Canadian Girl]

I cannot cancel my DVC booked trip over March break unless there is an official statement advising people to stay home. My daughter had asthma and doesn’t want to go, but it is the flights and routing through a Toronto overnight that honestly concerns me the most.

 

[mort1331]

I cannot cancel my DVC booked trip over March break unless there is an official statement advising people to stay home. My daughter had asthma and doesn’t want to go, but it is the flights and routing through a Toronto overnight that honestly concerns me the most.

would not be worried about the overnight in TO, all good here

 

[jump00]

My brother is in Public Health and I remember his advice - (this was during SARS) if you are sick - not a good idea to travel. Get your flu shot ( at least one week before you travel - he said this a few years ago). Wash your hands often and carry extra medicines when you travel. Lastly - check all travel advisories - they are usually very up to date.

 

[bankr63]

Well I wasn't really worried until OP got me thinking about it. But my risk factors are low. We are not travelling by the ATOD (copyright @nebo, shout out to him). That's the "Aluminum Tube of Death" to those who didn't follow DIS Royalty. Instead we will be travelling south in the SNOS (Steel Nissan of Stealth), and are only going as far as Hilton Head this year, so no huge crowds. Since these viruses tend to spread more in the winter because people are in constant close contact, I hope that heading south to the summer temperatures will actually help reduce the risk.

We will be keeping an eye on the issue, but not really worried at this point.

 

[greenclan67]

We leave on the 12th from buffalo to Orlando and I am not worried about it. I am worried about my daughters school trip with 48 high school kids leaving for the British isles on the 12th for 10 days. Ireland, Scotland and England. Our neighbouring town through Ef tours were heading to Italy the same day & they cancelled theirs yesterday.

 

[TammyLynn33]

We aren’t traveling until August so I assume it will go one way or the other by then. If we were traveling now I hibbedtky would pack extra hand sanitizer and Tylenol maybe and if I had a really paranoid moment some masks?

Honestly I have a kindergartener and I’m more worried about the gastro bug going through his class then the corona virus at this point .

 

[migel]

We're headed down for March Break, driving, so I'm not as concerned, although I likely would still fly had we booked our flights ahead of time (usually Buffalo to Orlando). We stay at our own place, so our main concern will be the Parks. Extra precautions and lots of mini hand sanitizers, and we'll be good. We fly in August. By that time, the decision should be an easier one.

 

[scorpsfan]

It's possible as the warmer weather comes, this coronavirus will just disappear. I certainly hope so. We are going in April. I'm not too worried, but I'm a little worried about Disney closing "out of an abundance of caution" though. I'm not sure what we'd do if that happened. Where they just announced Shanghai Disney has closed, they are also closing schools as well. I can't imagine that happening over here and in the States. I think we have a way better health system and are able to contain it better.

Does anyone remember what they did during H1N1 or Sars or Ebola? I don't think they actually closed. Do they just take extra precautions like hand sanitizer everywhere??

Crossing my fingers for all of us!

 

[ottawamom]

Going the end of April as well. I pray they don't close things down. Just scare off the germaphobes to take the park numbers down.

 

[scorpsfan]

It a little scary that all these conferences are being cancelled though.

 

[SkaGoat]

It a little scary that all these conferences are being cancelled though.

They're just trying to limit liability. They don't want someone getting sick at the conference, then passing away, then the person's family suing.

 

[clarker99]

The hysteria is definitely being ramped up by the NA media. The reporting on this virus still lacks so much context. A few confirmed cases in a country of 300million where more people are catching the regular flu, does not seem to deserve the headlines. But here we are.

I would be more afraid about trying to get through and dealing with Disney or the airlines if travel is banned, than the virus itself.

 

[bankr63]

Really enjoyed this article this morning:

https://heated.medium.com/theres-an...gger-threat-than-the-coronavirus-ce6e0697185b

It is kind of neat to take a dispassionate look at the numbers and realize that it is not nearly as big an issue as many (mostly the media) make out. Yes, it has the potential to be a really nasty situation with many lives at risk, but there are many other things that we risk that are much more likely to kill or harm us. With the US death toll sitting at 1 for COVID-19 and somewhere around 40,000 so far for regular (preventable) influenza, have you had your flu shot yet?

 

[Donald - my hero]

Does anyone remember what they did during H1N1 or Sars or Ebola? I don't think they actually closed. Do they just take extra precautions like hand sanitizer everywhere??

Crossing my fingers for all of us!

yes I remember when we were dealing with SARS! Toronto's tourism industry was decimated by the travel bans put in place by WHO, going downtown was eery. The museums and science centre were either closed or on reduced hours. Our daughter was extremely ill and we were screened thru tents set up in the driveway. Because she has asthma she was coughing and the temp of 103 won us a trip into a reverse air isolation room while they confirmed the kidney infection. Our hospital actually had several patients in a SARS unit they decided it would be more dangerous for her to stay in hospital for treatment they gave her a wicked dose of antibiotics and we had to go to the doctor for top up doses.

the difference between the 2 viruses is the rate of transmission is higher in covid 19 than SARS but the death rate was higher in SARS. The thing that has us concerned is the fact that there's such a long incubation period during which you might be asymptomatic. I can tell you that we both paid close attention to news and our own symptoms for the 3 weeks after we got home. We walked past 2 luggage carousel for flights from China but we didn't look closely to see actually where.
wash your hands, cough and sneeze into your elbow and stay home if you're sick. Basic things like that should keep you healthy.

 

[clarker99]

Does anyone remember what they did during H1N1 or Sars or Ebola? I don't think they actually closed. Do they just take extra precautions like hand sanitizer everywhere??

Crossing my fingers for all of us!

In 2009, we had a 2 week holiday to Mexico booked. H1N1 caused Canada to block flights to Mexico. Through our travel agent (and tour company), we re-booked to go to WDW. So, WDW did not close.

H1N1 which (depending on what you read) had bw 200k-500k deaths related to it. This COVID-19 is not on that level at all.

 

[ElCray]

Statement by Ottawa Public Health on how to prepare, with links to the travel advisory site:
https://www.ottawapublichealth.ca/e...Coronavirus&utm_content=Pandemic_Prep_Twitter

 

[Donald - my hero]

Just a couple of things that have made me shake my head over the last few days

A survey found that 38% of Americans won't drink Corona beer due to the virus <sigh>
In a Facebook group for POFQ someone mentioned that they left EPCOT because of the construction in Future World and the fact that most of the World Showcase is under wraps until the next Festival starts. Someone jumped right in wanting to know if that's because of the virus again <sigh>

Knowledge is a powerful thing and we need to take the time to properly educate ourselves using sound, factual sources. Once we have the proper information in hand we can then make decisions for ourselves & our loved ones.

 

[MoreTravels]

About the COVID-19 situation here Canada, here is a news article from CTV:

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-...-gta-bringing-total-confirmed-to-11-1.4833418
"Kurji said that people on the flights sitting close to the woman in the business class section and those on the upper deck of the bus may have been exposed to COVID-19, and are asked to contact York Region Public Health. "

"He said the woman had been travelling on Qatar Airways flight QR 483 and QR 163 and Air Canada flight AC 883 with her husband and their toddler, and she had developed symptoms prior to her arrival in Toronto. "

Let me ask myself a few questions:
1. Why is this passenger not screened or quarantined at the airport? Are Canadian airports monitoring symptomatic arrival passengers?
2. Why is this passenger on luxurious business class but took public transit bus potentially exposing pathogens to other bus passengers after developing symptoms? Why was a private transport, taxi, or ambulance not used? Is it about the cost? Then how do we explain business class? Why wouldn't her call an ambulance and go direct to hospital if she knows that she has developed symptoms prior to arrival?
3. Why are Canadian hospitals sending COVID-19 patients home after diagnosis? Are they sure there would be no household or community transmission? What if the person lives in a condo with shared air vent system?
4. Would the above situations be allowed to occur in another country, such as USA?

I do not know the answers but these questions do not give me confidence "Don't worry... the risk of COVID-19 in Canada is low". I truly hope so.

 

[ottawamom]

Some of the stuff from Ottawa Public Health is useful.

I've made a mental list of gaps in my food cupboard that would be good to have on hand. Crackers (to go with all the soup) more flour so I could make bread if necessary, powdered milk (just in case). I will add a few more staple meats in the freezer, frozen veggies, frozen fruit. Might even get some milk and freeze it (my sister buys multiple bags and stores her milk this way)

I hope there is a good Rexall coupon this week as I will also make sure we are well stocked up on necessary meds to get through a cold-like illness. Also kleenex and toilet paper. I went to Bath and Body Works on Saturday and stocked up on a variety of hand sanitizers.

 

[quandrea]

About the COVID-19 situation here Canada, here is a news article from CTV:

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-...-gta-bringing-total-confirmed-to-11-1.4833418
"Kurji said that people on the flights sitting close to the woman in the business class section and those on the upper deck of the bus may have been exposed to COVID-19, and are asked to contact York Region Public Health. "

"He said the woman had been travelling on Qatar Airways flight QR 483 and QR 163 and Air Canada flight AC 883 with her husband and their toddler, and she had developed symptoms prior to her arrival in Toronto. "

Let me ask myself a few questions:
1. Why is this passenger not screened or quarantined at the airport? Are Canadian airports monitoring symptomatic arrival passengers?
2. Why is this passenger on luxurious business class but took public transit bus potentially exposing pathogens to other bus passengers after developing symptoms? Why was a private transport, taxi, or ambulance not used? Is it about the cost? Then how do we explain business class? Why wouldn't her call an ambulance and go direct to hospital if she knows that she has developed symptoms prior to arrival?
3. Why are Canadian hospitals sending COVID-19 patients home after diagnosis? Are they sure there would be no household or community transmission? What if the person lives in a condo with shared air vent system?
4. Would the above situations be allowed to occur in another country, such as USA?

I do not know the answers but these questions do not give me confidence "Don't worry... the risk of COVID-19 in Canada is low". I truly hope so.

I have these questions too. It actually makes me quite angry how this family behaved. Very irresponsible boarding that first flight.