To go to Spain?

[tospainornottospain]

Even though FCO advice is not to? DH is Spanish and really wants to go. We'd be going to an area which has very few cases anyway. 2 week quarantine would be no problem as we both wfh. We're both 30s and v healthy but I'll be 14 weeks pregnant. Not worried about catching the corona - we are careful but also the stats for young healthy people speak for themselves. Re health insurance I think (but I'm checking) that we're covered anyway because our existing health insurance is international anyway.

Obviously I would ordinarily abide by FCO advice but usually it would be for a reason like terrorism, political instability etc. And as I mentioned, the region I'm going to has hardly any corona anyway.

So! I'd like a sense check from you lovely people if I may - AIBU to consider going?

It completely depends which region of Spain. It is not 'out of control' in Spain as someone has said above. I am in Spain now, my region has very low rates. Everyone wearing masks, much less crowded than UK, spotlessly clean and generally feels very safe. Your EHIC card is valid and you are likely to be at less risk in Spain than you are on UK (if the area you are visiting has a low infection rate..which you have already says it has)

Our insurance Is valid for everything bar Covid. I would go

Yes because there isn't really a pandemic happening right now is there, who needs covid cover during a second wave anyway

I really hope that when we start to see crowdfunding appeals for idiots that have gone abroad without insurance and become ill that nobody donates.

For anyone who would want to travel were it not for insurance issues:

Battleface specifically states it covers Covid, including in places where FCO is advising essential travel only. www.battleface.com/covid-19

There are probably other ones too; this is just the one I know of.

I think you will find Spain has lost control of new infections keep

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/08/12/spain-lost-control-coronavirus/

Your view is compromised by a lack of facts, Spain's cases are multiplying at an alarming rate. Are you even looking at the actual numbers? Your EHIC card will not cover everything, and the public Spanish hospitals are dire as you well know, and so do I having spent six years living there and watching horrified tourists pitch up there.

I've sorted insurance now and will be fully covered. Where we are going has very few cases. But there's still the issue of being on the plane in recycled air and being 14 weeks pregnant.

No travel insurance on your many holidays...

Often see pictures of stranded tourists - help this happened we have o insurance - please send money to our Go Fund page to get X home / the body home / pay my medical fees / etc etc

People can be so daft - perhaps get some or should I put a bit by for you upcoming Go Fund Me appeal

@Lucindainthesky

My thoughts entirely....

Spain is now at a staggering 94 cases per 100,000
For context the UK is 17 cases per 100,000

Anything over 20 cases per 100,000 is considered dangerous territory according to SAGE

@Pipandmum

It's not just being in Spain but the getting there. It seems more likely to pick up something in the airport or on the flight.

I flew through Madrid a few weeks ago

Flights pretty empty everyone spaced out well, masks from the minute you’re in the cab to the airport, in the airport, the entire flight, the 5 hour stop over all the way onto onward flight and to my destination

The planes filter the air and replace every 2 mins. Take sanitiser, don’t use toilet if at all poss and use that rapidly evasive commodity called common sense and you’re safer than you are in a uk supermarket where people claim they are exempt...

There wasn’t a single soul not wearing a mask in my entire journey. The airports were empty so no issues with crowds, planes boarded 5 rows at a time

Obviously go on a decent airline that enforces mask wearing, we flew Iberia and they were faultless tbh.

@tospainornottospain as you have the added family in the mix, I’d probably be careful with family for the first week- outside meeting etc to protect them more than anything just in case etc etc.

Where you’re going sounds as remote as we are, the only times we’re at any risk is probably the travel bit, but be rigorously sensible and the risks will be reduced markedly

We have EHIC cards so I knew we would have local medical provision anything above that we’d pay for and that’s not an issue.

You are not covered op, no travel insurance in the world is offering cover for lockdowns and repatriations.

If you are seriously ill in Spain and need to be flown home, you will have to foot the bill. Similarly if your area goes into lockdown/flights gets cancelled/hotel is locked down for a fortnight and all the rest (and lets face it, it is looking more and more likely all of Spain will now need to lock down) you will have to cover your own costs.

If you know all of this, and still go, it is on you.

@tospainornottospain

I've sorted insurance now and will be fully covered. Where we are going has very few cases. But there's still the issue of being on the plane in recycled air and being 14 weeks pregnant.

Google about air processing on modern aircraft

Add wearing a mask and being spaced out due to low passenger numbers..

Having been through the process in the last couple of weeks I’d not worry at all, take all precautions obviously. You can manage your own risk very well indeed and everyone abides by the rules

I am looking at the numbers - getting daily updates on numbers from my region which include how many people have covid, how many are in hospital and out of those, how many are in intensive care...... All lower than in the region of UK I am from. Based on what I'm seeing in the UK news, I am at MUCH lower risk going out in Spain - more rural, lower population, social distancing easier and everyone here wearing masks (which is being enforced by the police). If I thought I was at any increased risk, I would not have travelled. The UK has handled the whole thing woefully and still don't know what they're doing.... And the UK press reporting of the situation in Spain bears no resemblance to what I'm seeing or experiencing in the region of Spain I'm currently in (which I know well and have visited many many times).

www.newscientist.com/article/2237475-covid-19-news-germany-joins-spain-in-worrying-surge-of-infections/

Our insurance Is valid for everything bar Covid. I would go. So the thing most likely to happen isn't covered????

OP I'm sorry if this is for real but I dont believe it. And I always give people the benefit of the doubt. Although I once sat beside a lady at the hospital who was 30 weeks pregnant, was in because she'd fallen off a hourse and was ranting that the hospital had advised her to wait until after the baby to get up on a horse again. Since it's family you're going over to that's a big thing, but whether you get covid or not if you need to go to a hospital for any reason you're heading into a hospital system that is in crisis.

I have linked the new scientist, please fact check. It clearly states 94 cases for every 100,000 update four hours ago.

You are not as safe as you seem to think you are, which in itself is very dangerous, but worse than that you are now encouraging pregnant women to come and join you in the middle of a pandemic - in an area with very new infection rate!!
Knowing full well that pregnant women are more at risk from covid, the public hospitals are dire and yet you are still saying she could come! To me that is very very bad advice, unforgivable.

*high

So the thing most likely to happen isn't covered????

With respect @Hearhoovesthinkzebras that comes off as a little melodramatic and paranoid!

Travelling to somewhere with a low covid rate means the chances of the OP or anyone else contracting it are tiny. Less likely than having a bump in the hire car on the way, or stumbling and spraining and ankle, or loosing a bag in the airport. Less likely than catching it at home where nobody seems to give a shit about masks or hand-washing anymore and everyone is going about groping every item in the supermarket and putting it back, or crowding into seaside resorts and country parks with barely space to slide a piece of paper between them.

I was in Spain a couple of weeks ago and felt much safer than I do here at home because everyone there is taking it seriously. Of course the OP would be crazy to travel with no insurance, but now it seems she's secured some that covers COVID anyway then any additional risk or lockdown or repatriation is one for her to take.

I'm with hearshooves it's not just the catching it, it's the knock on affects such as if airlines cancel flights, hotel is forced into lockdown. Plus if you break a leg, then catch covid in hospital you won't be covered.

I wouldn’t go.

felt much safer than I do here

The idea that just because you 'feel safe' therefore you are safe is really ridiculous. A danger to yourself.
It does not matter how you 'feel' you need to look at the actual statistics. They will tell you all you need to know about whether it is safe (or not) in any one country.

@tospainornottospain

I've sorted insurance now and will be fully covered. Where we are going has very few cases. But there's still the issue of being on the plane in recycled air and being 14 weeks pregnant.

I presume if you have just bought insurance you are planning to go anyway 🤷🏻‍♀️

I have family in Spain, they live in a small town which I think has only had 5 confirmed Covid cases since March. I would have gone there as I wouldn't have needed to stay in a hotel, wouldn't have gone indoor public spaces other than to grab some food and could really stay around the house pool for most of it. However, I also am currently pregnant (little further than you) and so I just wouldn't risk it. I know the chances are slim but I couldn't risk something happening to the baby for the sake of waiting a year for a holiday personally.

Food from a shop I meant, not restaurant.

This is my last post on the subject. It's difficult to reason with people who are just posting articles and information they have read on line. The region I am in has less than 20 cases per 100,000. Cases are increasingly - but this is because they are getting better at tracking and tracing. I had my temperature taken at the airport when landing and was only allowed in when I showed the completed Spain health check form. More younger people are testing positive - but this is because they are not getting tested. There are 66 people hospitalised in the whole (massive geographic area including a large city) region I am in. At the start of May, there were 298 people hospitalised. I'm at significantly less risk here - dining outside at socially distanced tables, wearing a mask until my food arrives, than I am in UK eating in a busy 'eat out to help out' place in UK where many people think mask working doesn't apply to them and if isn't mandatory. In Spain we are wearing masks when walking 20 feet to our car......