AIBU to be sickened by the attitude towards stranded Brits

[millerjane]

"They saw this coming so they should've planned accordingly"
"well I cancelled my holiday..."
"They should stay put we have enough on our plates"

My relative had a hellish journey home from NZ (over 56 hours to get home). She would have been stranded had she not bought a ticket and defied the orders of her company to hold station and wait for Head Office to make a decision. She's a young girl straight out of university. Have some empathy.

She is now helping elderly neighbours with food and medication if that makes a difference (it shouldn't).

That thread about travel was so far into the pandemic and so many cared more about losing money and not missing the holiday, so it’s unsurprising people got stuck.

The first thing that should've happened after the announcement of a new coronavirus is the cessation of international air travel as it's the quickest way to make a local virus go global. We in the UK have learned nothing from MERS and SARS. Let's hope we learn from COVID-19.

"She is now helping elderly neighbours with food and medication if that makes a difference"

Jesus wept tell her to go home and isolate for crying out loud. I'm getting beyond irritated by people like your niece.

Her company paid for her to visit a private hospital on Friday and was given the all clear.

She paid £4k for her flight (parents helped). Company refused to act earlier - they had already paid for a flight in June.

A private hospital gave the all clear?

"Her company paid for her to visit a private hospital on Friday and was given the all clear."

Riiiiight course they did despite not arranging her a flight home and you having to fork out £4K cause she couldn't stay put.

And the test doesn't give you the "all clear" either.

Why not just admit that she's acting like the rules don't apply to her? She needs to go home

I think you made that last part up op

YABVU. This didn't just happen overnight. They thought their holiday was way more important than coming home. No sympathy from me.

Her company paid for her to visit a private hospital on Friday and was given the all clear.

That’s just a flat out lie. A company that won’t repatriate someone when the U.K. has requested that all Brits repatriate ASAP (given they would be starting to invalidate their staff insurance policy) is not the kind of company that pays for private hospital trips.

Gosh, you and your cousin both seem to have had very high flying jobs straight out of uni. Most new graduates I know aren't so lucky to get their companies pay for long haul flights or private hospital appointments in a pandemic! She still needs to self isolate though. Keep away from all outdoor activities for a couple of weeks, whether its helping elderly or just taking strolls in a park or by bridge.

This just made me think - Christ, DH was supposed to be going back to NZ on business two weeks ago, thank goodness that didn't eventuate! There is no way I'd be coping without him here, as much as anything because I'm vulnerable due to having only really just recovered from a very severe and debilitating illness that has left me with one hell of a cough, and he's the one going out to forage.

Remember how recently our own dear Boris was telling us very confidently, really rather in a 'now don't lets be silly about this, you're all over-reacting' sort of a way, how everything was all under control, yes, a few were going to die, but all you really need to do is wash your hands, and use a tissue. . .it's all a bit of a storm in a B-cup. . .it was really only a few weeks ago.

People need to use their brains. It was pretty obvious no-one should be t travelling. Boris was trying to stop people panic buying and keep people calm. Unless you have been living under a rock there's no excuse for having gone abroad.

Op...please ask your relative to self isolate for 14 days and not help any of her elderly neighbours. Im shocked she doing that. Please beg her to stay in. My dh just survived this virus as he is young.

Your niece should be self isolating. Forget the rubbish about being “all clear”, everyone knows tests are unreliable and difficult to get hold of.

He came out four weeks ago and honestly there were a few cases in Wuhan. Then it all got serious quickly

This shows what the problem is. People burying their head in the sand. There were a lot more than “a few cases in Wuhan” four weeks ago, and people would know this if they’d been paying attention.

My company also banned all but essential travel end Jan/beginning of February. This was not something that came out of nowhere - people were burying their heads in the sand and telling everyone talking about it they were being paranoid.

I did actually nearly book a trip to China for this week but that was because I predicted China would be safe by now (and it pretty much is). I didn't expect the world to be this bad back in January but this has been entirely predictable since end Feb and a certainty since Italy went into lockdown three weeks ago.

My company also wouldn't have paid me to fly back to the UK just because I wanted to go - I live in this country not the UK. None of the companies I've worked for overseas would have done. The decent ones would have supported me if I'd decided I wanted to work from the UK but they certainly wouldn't have paid for me to go - why on earth would they?! I don't think many companies would have done if you were actually posted overseas unless it was a localized threat. Sure if it was business travel but not an actual posting.

People should be locked down in the countries they are in. We should have closed borders and airspace to everything but freight weeks ago.

It's the idiots hopping around on planes that caused this pandemic in the first place.

I feel sorry for people stuck away from home, but I feel particularly sorry for those who are away with work and didn't have permission to get back, rather than those who went abroad knowing there was a pandemic on.

I understand why people get mad at the people stuff in many cases... no need to wish them ill health etc though.
I think that some people showed a complete lack of common sense and went on holiday in the last few weeks when it was clear what was coming... that flights etc would be cancelled that countries were gradually locking down and the Covid-19 was spreading around the world.
Some of the stupid stories - went off travelling for 3 months only 2 weeks in and stranded and demanding to be 'brought home'.... show a very selfish and entitled attitude...
Other cases perhaps not so clear cut.

I've had several friends/colleagues/acquaintances go on holiday recently - ie leaving in March - to New York, Philippines, France, Caribbean, India and Netherlands. All got home under own steam, one whinged about holiday being cut short, and movements curtailed while there - but had they got stuck overseas, I wouldn't have had any sympathy. They chose to go, and left after there were ample signs of what was happening.

We should have closed borders and airspace to everything but freight weeks ago
didn't seem to work that well for Italy - IIRC one of the first to ban flights.

She attended a BUPA hospital on Friday. It was mandatory for her whole team in the UK. She tried to go to the local BUPA in her hometown but was not allowed to do so. You can choose to believe that or not. Hospital is W London

People should be locked down in the countries they are in

And where do you suppose these people live? Eat? What healthcare can they get?

The company had paid for her return flight (in June) but was slow to react.