If you had asked me a week ago about whether it was safe to travel with all this corona virus craziness going on, I would have told you it probably was. I got home just over a week ago from London for goodness sake! A major unexpected bonus was that there were hardly any other tourists while we were there!!
But my thoughts have started to shift. I think things have changed, and that includes the safety of traveling right now.
(It won’t help with traveling with the Corona Virus craziness right now, but a DIY travel first aid kit is one of the best ways we deal with being sick while traveling.)
My first thoughts on the Corona Virus and travel
A week or more ago, as long as you weren’t traveling to Asia or Italy, you were unlikely to get sick. In fact, I would be more concerned about getting stuck in a country that might shut its borders while I’m there.
As a nurse you get really used to the over and under reactions. You get the… “Does my headache mean I have meningitis?!!” Uh no, it’s most likely a migraine. All the way to the… “So I’ve been peeing green for a week now, but I don’t want to bother you guys with a phone call”. Um, that doesn’t sound right and you probably need to go to the ER.
I would see the statistics (and the patients coming to the hospital) and I saw flu after flu after flu, but not one Corona Virus. “This freaking out is ridiculous!”, I told people. “The flu is way more dangerous and widespread. No one in first world countries are going to die of this.”
And why on earth do we need to run out and buy toilet paper??
Why am I thinking about COVID 19 and travel differently now?
This is us flying back from London via Iceland.
In the past week, my thoughts about travel during the outbreak has changed.
A few days after getting back from London, I went back to work at the hospital. I had taken an extra recovery day off (or to hopefully make money bumping flights). I was excited to get back to our normal schedule and tell one of my coworkers about the Northern Lights we had seen on the flight. I arrived on the cancer unit I work on and got report from the night nurse about my patients. Since my patients were still sleeping, I thought I might start getting through some of the emails that must have piled up during my trip.
Twenty new emails about the Corona Virus, and at 7:30 am I was a little annoyed. “This is exactly what I’m saying. We’re making things worse by freaking out!”.
But the emails and messages continued throughout the day and by 5:00 pm we had locked down the unit to only essential staff coming and going.
Why so drastic a measure when the virus was hardly in the US at that point? Because I work with bone marrow transplant patients. Recent chemo and immunosuppressive drugs make any infection VERY VERY dangerous, let alone a new and unknown one like the Corona Virus. While most people that will get the Corona Virus will recover, my patients won’t and it could kill them.
If I were to expose them to the virus because I was being less careful about protecting myself, I would feel horrible.
Combine that with Trump’s live announcement of limiting trade and travel to Europe and a CDC doctor updating us that the virus is becoming more serious, I’ve been more serious about it too.
Who is really at risk with the Corona Virus?
A lot has changed in just a few days with the spread of the Corona Virus. It’s more places, more people have it and millions of others are being affect by it as schools shut down and the groceries stores run low on supplies.
Because of all of this, we need to think about the other vulnerable people around us when we travel with the Corona Virus still spreading. It doesn’t matter if you aren’t worried about catching the virus. It matters if you and your family accidently bring it to the elderly man at the grocery store, or the neighbor kid with leukemia, or lady at the post office that has had a kidney transplant. These people are more around you than you think and you are part of the solution to keeping them safe.
They live everyday like they are in quarantine. Careful about where they go, what they eat and touch, who they see. Being careful themselves will only take them so far if the people around them aren’t also being careful.
So it travel a good idea during the Corona Virus outbreak?
Really no.
I don’t mean that I think you can’t be safe traveling with your healthy family to safe, non- touristy places. You probably won’t get it if you are good about washing your hands and avoiding crowds. Even if you do, you will feel miserable for a while and then probably recover just fine.
But you are adding to the spread of the virus to other people who won’t be just fine if they get it.
So just don’t.
It’s better to postpone your vacation, even the one you’ve saved money and PTO for and are REALLY excited to go on, and protect those around you.
Remember that the Corona Virus and its impact is changing almost daily now. A country that was safe last week, might not be the next. It’s better to just wait it out than to take a bet and end up losing time and money.
So what are your important resources to know when and where it is safe to travel?
With all this hype and media going on right now, it’s important to be looking at the right sources for correct info. (And no it’s not your Facebook friends…)
I recommend this all the time anyways for friends looking to travel to any new international destination for the first time. You will get updated and accurate information about where you should not travel to and what precautions to take.
What’s great is that so many travel companies are offering cancellation and change fees to be waived while all this is going on. Here is an updating list of airlines and what they are offering to travelers with flights booked in the near future.
Many hotels are offering similar deals, I got an email this morning from Hotels.com offering to help. If they haven’t already reached out to you, give them a call and see what temporary changes they are making.
How has the Corona Virus affected me?
No travel for this family for a little while!
But I’ve got to admit, it hurts a little bit each time I see the flight prices drop even more to my favorite places.
Since I work with cancer patients and Matt works with the elderly, we both just can’t risk it!
Link is still too little to be in school, but I have many friends that now need help to watch their kids while they work.
My brother who has been living in Brazil and I haven’t seen in two years is coming home in a few weeks. I might be able to see him for another two weeks after that if he goes into self-quarantine.
There’s no “quick trips” to the grocery stores anymore!! Long lines and the potential of nothing being there has made our fridge very bare.
For the meantime, I’ll work on our travel bucket list! (And take more Tylenol from listening to Baby Shark on repeat at home.)
How has the Corona Virus changed things in your travel plans and life?
