Coronavirus
Scheduled to leave for AUS & NZ in 10 days but coronavirus giving us pause. Yes, risk is deemed low in both countries now (as well as here in U.S.) but who knows what the world looks like in early March when we're scheduled to head back. Given the rapid expansion of the numbers infected by the virus, 35 days out is a long time to ponder. Any and all thoughts from travelers headed where we are or even elsewhere (other than China because the answer there is obvious) would be appreciated. Many thanks.
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We are scheduled for Italy in April for a bus tour. I have to admit, it has me concerned who knows who will be on the bus or where they came from. So yeah I’m worried.
We are scheduled to go to Africa in Sept. We are concerned also.
There is not too much anyone here can offer. Unless Tauck starts cancelling trips or it turns into a pandemic and all air and other travel is restricted, whether to travel or not is a personal decision. Right now, cancelling a trip to Africa or Italy is like cancelling a trip to China because there is an Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
We are scheduled to leave for Cambodia/Vietnam in late February. On the plus side our flights are through the Middle East, not China. However, both countries have lots of Chinese tourists, so we are watching and waiting to see the spread of the virus over the next week to ten days before making our decision.
Unless you are travelling to China itself I think you will have very, very little to worry about. The number of cases outside China is small and the vast majority of those are people who traveled to the affected area. The people on your bus are most likely Americans. While I've seen Brits, Australians and few other nationalities on Tauck trips, I have never seen Chinese nationals. Today, the US implemented a ban on foreign nationals who have been in China in the last two weeks from entering the country. I suspect most other nations will follow suit. Even in Wuhan, the center of the outbreak, the number of people affected is a small portion of the population (Wuhan city has 12 million people). In China as a whole it is a tiny part of the 1.4 billion population.
Statistically, you're much more likely to die of the good old fashioned flu right here at home or from an accident while driving to the airport than the Corona virus. That being said, wearing a surgical mask in the airport and on airplanes isn't a bad idea. When traveling, it's always a good idea to wash your hands frequently and avoid touching your face, except with freshly washed hands.
Well said Ken. I also stress hand washing with soap and warm water. It is more effective than hand sanitizer. Unless you keep your hands away from the flimsy face masks that are most widely available, they are pretty useless. I’ve worked in operating theatres, keeping ‘sterile’ is a learned art. Funnily enough, when we were in China in October with Tauck, a number of people on our tour, mainly men, got high fever and dry cough including my husband. Some had it start with diarrhea and abdominal pain but not my husband. It lingered with him for ages.it started on the last day of the three days on the Yangtze River trip.
The way numbers are being reported, the whole thing seems so overblown compared to flu.numbers but with China, we don’t know if the reporting from them is accurate.
Right now, if I had a choice, it would not stop me traveling to other parts of China, but it looks as if many Tauck tours will be affected because so many countries are enforcing travel restrictions, airlines are stopping flights, people are canceling vacations, so more flights will be canceled because no one will be using them. Tauck customers will be canceling for sure, they seem to do that for the slightest news report of trouble or things like Ebola outbreaks etc. Tauck will probably cancel tours because people are calling to cancel tours that are months away.
I do trust Tauck to cancel any tours that for whatever reason they think is not going to be safe for their customers. They have their expert teams following world events constantly. We could not look forward to our recent tour of China and Hong Kong because news reports were so frightening about the Hong Kong protests, but we trusted Tauck and saw no trouble, and no prior groups had seen trouble either. Some people canceled, so we had the same size group as a Small group tour which was like a $3000 gift to us.
We travel afar in five weeks, not with Tauck, we await to see what will happen. Our next tour with Tauck is in June. Hope that one is a go ahead. I’d hate to be Tauck headquartered right now, they must be overwhelmed with calls. The website is certainly hard to get onto.
Hi fellow travelers. I concur with Ken. Let's just use common sense safety measures e.g. hand washing, sanitizer, etc. We also bought 3M N100 grade tight fitting masks and will bring latex gloves and use them as warranted. Also, electronic copies of medical records, etc. Looking forward to a great ANZ trip!
There was an article in today's Washington Post that said while who knows what will eventually happen with the Coronavirus, at present the Flu is still a greater danger! So, the hysteria over the Coronavirus is a bit premature. "Reality check: The flu is a much bigger threat than coronavirus, for now"
And the flu is more deadly than the Coronavirus!
Of course I am scheduled on the China Yangtze River trip I May! A lot can happen between now and almost 4 months from now!