August 2021: Florida has more new Covid cases than ever before

[pf226]

Well for about a month I was feeling pretty good about our December trip. Now I’m back to feeling very unsure. I just hate how it seems like it’ll be a last minute decision if we go or not.

 

[podgirl]

Well for about a month I was feeling pretty good about our December trip. Now I’m back to feeling very unsure. I just hate how it seems like it’ll be a last minute decision if we go or not.

Agreed. I cancelled our August trip and am unsure about our Christmas trip. For me, a huge part of the fun of Disney trips is the planning and thinking about it. It feels like that has all gone out the window now.

 

[scorpsfan]

I'm so sorry to everyone who is battling the frustration of having a wonderful trip planned and STILL having to deal with all the unknowns.
We SO want to be going back soon. It is so hard to know what the right thing to do is. Impossible, almost.

We don't have anything planned for the near future, but we have our sights set for springtime, possibly. If I were to go now, I would be worried about bringing my unvaccinated children. That's just how I would feel. I would worry about people being too close to her, is she wearing her mask correctly, is it too crowded... etc.. I tend to be a worry wort anyway, but who wants to worry on vacation??!! I certainly don't.

I thought the vaccinated spread it LESS than the unvaccinated, but now they've found otherwise. That part scares me.

Good luck to everyone who is going soon and I hope you have a wonderful time. Trust me, I am jealous!! I just feel it's not worth the hassle at the moment with all this uncertainty that goes with it.

 

[gskywalker]

Not a big fan of the numbers but we are still going at the end of the month. We were going to wear our masks indoors anyways. With the numbers we will be more vigilant with sanitizer. If I hadn't booked at this point we probably would have put it off but we are all in. We would lose 428DVC points if we don't go. A friend is going to loan us her van so that we can go and get the drive thru testing done. If one of us test positive then a parent will likely just stay with that kid while the rest fly home. I am happy to be that parent and won't complain if I have to spend another week or two at Disney(once we get a negative test).

 

[Juventus]

I just posted in another thread that I just tried to book a test at area Walgreens and noticed that there was only one test time available for the next 3 days. Yikes. If this is the case then I may finally throw in the towel on our August 15th trip.

 

[Iralyn]

It's funny because we have been together, in this house, for so long now, and he still wants to be near me all the time. I need a break, introvert by nature I just want everyone to leave me alone for a day! Vacation doesn't really allow for that but it's not me having to cook and clean and entertain all day long.

I can so relate to this! My daughter (going into Grade 8) is the same way! We were staying at my sister's house (first time since Feb. 2020) and my daughter decided to actually go with her aunt and uncle to do some errands and I had the house (albeit not mine) to myself and it was heavenly to be 100% alone for a little while.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

Of course you're right. My point is those numbers - hospitalizations and deaths - are at this point the only ones that really matter. And it is clear that here, in the US and places like the UK with similar vaccine uptake the "death rate" has broken away from the "case rate" - as a result of the vast majority of vulnerable people getting vaccinated. In the UK they were averaging about 50,000 cases and 1,000 deaths a day at the beginning of the year. If you look at the graphs starting in Wave Two (in Wave One testing was not yet widely rolled out, so deaths were very disproportionate), deaths and cases actually track very close to each other, with not much of a lag. Until vaccines. In wave three deaths stayed down, and in the recent UK "Delta wave" cases were again up well past 40,000 a day - but daily deaths topped 100 only once, about a week ago - and have already begun to fall.

We also know that nearly everyone being infected and getting sick are those that have refused the vaccines. The tiny tiny percentage of those who get significantly ill from breakthrough cases are overwhelmingly elderly with comorbidities.

Something else to keep an eye on is the history of the Delta wave in other countries. In the UK it lasted six weeks, in India, seven. In fact, daily cases in the UK are almost half of what they were just two weeks ago (they starting dropping the day AFTER the country opened up completely, and have been declining since). Now, past history is not a guarantee of future events, but if the US follows a similar pattern things should peak in mid-August and start to fall rapidly after that.

Again, maybe things in the US will completely fall apart, but I sure hope not ...

Everything you said plus I read that the vaccination has picked up pace again in all the US states last couple of weeks, double and even triple in some cases. I also read what you said that many experts believe the US will follow the UK pattern. Let’s hope.
They will either fall apart as you said or get better soon.
We still plan to go and it’s now 11 days away... Unless... things really change for the worse by next Friday, which is when we go get our rapid antigen test.
However I won’t be advertising our trip on FB or anything like that now. Even though we are fully vaxxed and not breaking any laws.

 

[Donald - my hero]

I want to scream repeatedly about one number that can't be reported because there's no real way to track it. The fact that long-haul COVID-19 is actually a thing and that breakthru cases from the Delta variant are adding to this group. Getting jabbed will more than likely keep you out of the hospital but it doesn't guarantee that you won't end up infected and dealing with longterm symptoms. That's not a risk I want to take.

 

[yowcruiser]

• For those with Boo Bash ticket, I spoke with Disney yesterday. You do not need to "cancel" . Value of ticket will "stay" in you account and value can be applied to future after hours ticketed events (e.g.: Christmas)​
• There was a question/comment on Emergency Flight home with the Manulife insurance. Your travel party, if not infected would be flown home is required, and this includes an escort if let's say no adults are available to fly back home with the kids. It could also include private "medical airlift" if required... it does not mean that you are flying back home while you test positive.​
• Yes, the news is encouraging for those that are vaccinated. However, if you are one of the unlucky breakthrough case, and do require hospitalization... resources are getting scarce in Florida right now.​
• The hope is that with increased vaccination and/or immunity case count is likely about to peak in Florida, with things setting in the next few weeks. I have read good articles on how things stabilized in India over a 8-week period, even with low vaccination rates (basically by "running through the population.) The article also talked about the trend in the Netherlands where after 2-3 weeks... Delta almost disappeared...without much else happening...​

 

[Carolynleanne]

I'm scheduled to go early December and it's not looking good. I'm fully vaxxed, but I cannot risk getting stuck down in florida for two weeks because I come up positive. That alone is enough reason for me to cancel

 

[Carolynleanne]

WestJet just cancelled my flights. I'm not rebooking at $800 a ticket. Guess that's that

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

I'm scheduled to go early December and it's not looking good. I'm fully vaxxed, but I cannot risk getting stuck down in florida for two weeks because I come up positive. That alone is enough reason for me to cancel

I wouldn’t get ahead just yet - those of us with August/September trips - did we foresee this happen even just a month ago? Nope. This happened super quickly and can and probably will once again change by December. Now - it’s entirely possible at that point it will be Canada in trouble again and Florida fine but really the point I’m trying to make - too early to tell for December. IMO
I read that many experts expect the US to peak later in august and start dropping again, like the UK. Especially since the vaccination rates have started to climb up again in the US. They finally reached 70% with first dose and it’s climbing.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

WestJet just cancelled my flights. I'm not rebooking at $800 a ticket. Guess that's that

Oh no - your December flight?

 

[enigmatic595]

My boyfriend and I were planning on coming down end of August/early Sept for his first trip to Disney but ended up cancelling right at the 30 day window. We were optimistic originally and were really hoping to go since we were originally supposed to go back in April 2020 and kept having to reschedule, but with the case rates going up there was no way we could justify it.

We're both fully vaxxed but the risk of testing positive from a breakthrough case and not being able to get back to Canada were just too huge. Plus I was worried that we would just be stressed the whole time with the lack of distancing and general crowdedness, and I really didn't want that for his first trip.

It's definitely sad, but honestly, as soon as we rescheduled, I did feel quite a bit of relief. The planning was getting so stressful and I found myself obsessing over the Florida COVID numbers more than I should have! We're rescheduled for February and I'm really hoping things are a bit better by then!

 

[Carolynleanne]

Oh no - your December flight?

Yup. Looks like they are cutting the direct service from YVR. I could have done a schedule change but it was going to cut into my time too much. It was only a 3 night trip

 

[ThistleMae]

Yup. Looks like they are cutting the direct service from YVR. I could have done a schedule change but it was going to cut into my time too much. It was only a 3 night trip

I spent 5 hours on the phone with Jetblue to reschedule my Dec. trip. They changed it on me. Two phone calls later, I think it's all set now. Because they rescheduled it didn't cost anything to change it. Still going, unless things get much worse. I have until Nov. to cancel.

 

[yowcruiser]

I wouldn’t get ahead just yet - those of us with August/September trips - did we foresee this happen even just a month ago? Nope. This happened super quickly and can and probably will once again change by December. Now - it’s entirely possible at that point it will be Canada in trouble again and Florida fine but really the point I’m trying to make - too early to tell for December. IMO
I read that many experts expect the US to peak later in august and start dropping again, like the UK. Especially since the vaccination rates have started to climb up again in the US. They finally reached 70% with first dose and it’s climbing.

I am somewhat with you on that one. If what happened in the country of origin for Delta holds true, the virus/variant does have a tendency to "burn through" a population until a certain level of immunity is reached (either through vaccination or naturally, or both). Using that country of origin data, Florida could be back to "normal" in a couple of weeks

 

[newdeal]

They really just need to say no travel unless vaccinated, no testing needed. Even without vaccination the risk from covid is so low. All the fear mongering is really losing sight of that. Especially for young people. With the vaccine even more so. Here is the data complied from the last few weeks

https://twitter.com/x/status/1423359032698486793

 

[quandrea]

They really just need to say no travel unless vaccinated, no testing needed. Even without vaccination the risk from covid is so low. All the fear mongering is really losing sight of that. Especially for young people. With the vaccine even more so. Here is the data complied from the last few weeks

https://twitter.com/x/status/1423359032698486793

Agreed. Simple and it puts faith behind the vaccines.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

It would entice the unvaxxed to get the shots if travel was for vaxxed only.