AIBU to cancel holiday?

[Nostrings457]

Booked to go to Malta in May - holiday balance is due tomorrow (over 6k). Travelling with young children and 1 aduly is aged 65+

Malta has no coronavirus cases currently but who knows what will happen between now and May. I dont want to pay the balance and then risk trying to claim off insurance if we dont go.

I suppose its more a what would you do than aibu?

(I know the risk is so low, influenza kills more people etc.. but i dont want to end up in quarantine with 3 young kids somewhere either)

Maybe tour operator is the wrong word, but my travel insurance company said that they still count as a 'travel company'. My first thought was 'bollocks', but actually the Airbnb website does pretty much say that they will allow people to cancel without penalty if there is official advice not to travel.

Took the words out of my mouth @WhentheDealGoesDown.

The advice to the over 60s has been well documented.

inews.co.uk/news/health/world-health-organisation-chief-warning-elderly-crowded-places-2005411

And yet they want doctors and nurses to come out of retirement ...

@rookiemere and @okiedokieme France have advised their citizens to stop non essential travel. www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/conseils-aux-voyageurs/informations-pratiques/article/nouveau-coronavirus-covid-19-02-03-2020

FAO:

@callmeadoctor it's not that simple though. I don't think that I, nor my DH or DC's will die of Coronavirus. I think there's a chance we may catch it, and recover. But it's highly likely that our lives will be disrupted in some way because of it as the government put in measures to try and reduce the spread of it. I've got travel plans for the beginning of April. It's highly likely I won't be going as either all non-essential travel will be stopped / advised against, or the chance of me being quarantined would be so high I couldn't risk it (am travelling without DC's).

If you ignore the media, and the headlines and just listen to the experts advising the NHS, they are stating that for the vast majority it is a very mild virus and you will simply have a cough and fever. As time goes by, the death rate has vastly reduced due to updates stats. I really wish people would stop panicking so much. I still plan to travel as planned and just keep my hands clean .

I have a break booked for April. My concern is not so much getting the virus but getting there and everything being closed or being quarantined. My DD has GCSEs and the other is at uni. This would cause major problems. So it’s not as simple as saying it’s a mild virus.

If I had booked and paid I would travel,but Im not planning/booking and paying for anything new right now because of worries about travel disruption.

We've returned today from 4 weeks in Australia, flew out via Singapore and back via Brunei and its been so stressful having to monitor the news, travel advice & worrying about temperature checks & quarruntine!

@ Tigerlilly17 rate today has been increased to 3.4% by WHO

3.4% is the average across all age groups. It’s 0.5% for under 50s and 15% for over 80s.

We are just having this discussion. Our insurance won't cover us under FCO guidance for France as it's foreseeable that they may put in restrictions. Ferry would be ok if they aren't running but we would be stuffed for the villa rental. We will be going to somewhere rural so hoping if they put in restrictions it will be only to cities.

If you ignore the media, and the headlines and just listen to the experts advising the NHS, they are stating that for the vast majority it is a very mild virus

If you noticed the messaging changed today to "fairly mild comparable to the flu". Most people would not want to get flu because its pretty horrible. In china a significant percentage of those who had symptoms classified as "mild" meaning not serious or critical, still required hospitalisation.

@HasaDigaEebowai
To mainly contain and prevent the spread. The real disease experts are still maintaining it’s a cough and fever for most. It’s nowhere near as serious as SARS or swine flu that hit us in previous years but more is being made out of this one by the media. Give it another month and the news will be back to Harry and Meghan x

Tigerlilly17 try watching the bloody news. For someone who claims to work in healthcare you talk a load of crap. In another month the experts are saying it won't even have peaked in this country.

Do you realise its a 3.4% death rate (actually the current actual death rate on the basis of outcome cases is higher than that but this is the revised WHO estimate for the likely actual death rate). That means of those who catch it 1 in 30 will die. It's incredibly contagious and we have no vaccine or treatment. The NHS is already in trouble and 20% of those who get it will be in a serious or critical condition. We do not have the beds or the staff to deal with that. This means that other medical issues will not be dealt with.

Experts predict that if this is not contained then 80% of the country could get it. That would result in hundreds of thousands of people in the UK dying of it. Thats a worse case scenario but the other expert estimate is circa 60% if we don't contain it. Still hundreds of thousands of people dying.

This is really fucking serious and I don't understand why you insist on trying to minimise that. People need to do everything possible to try to prevent it spreading.

For God’s sake, stop being so bloody melodramatic and stop catastrophising.

The 3.4% mortality rate is averaged over the whole population, it’s half a percent for people under 50. That means for most of the population of those who get it five people in every thousand will die. Experts are telling us it will be a mild infection for the vast majority.

We don’t need people like you creating drama and shrieking like some Biblical prophetess of doom. Just dial the hysteria back for your own sake, if nobody else’s.

@HasaDigaEebowai downside is, everyone who takes it seriously will try and contain it - and if we do contain it, people like Tigerlilly will feel vindicated in believing that it was all a fuss over nothing. Billions of pounds and resources went into containing SARS, MERS and Ebola. People now quote them as being other ‘non-events’. Some people refuse to listen to scientists and refuse to listen to our own government, refuse to acknowledge the stock market tumbling and blame our concern on ‘mass hysteria’ or ‘media hype’.

WHO said today that it's less contagious than flu. So that's good news surely? Higher death rate than flu admittedly, but harder to catch in the first place.

If it makes them feel safe, so be it. They’ll be the first to get it if they’re not taking precautions. I’d rather be interested in the news, calmly prepared and ready for whatever happens.

We don’t need people like you creating drama and shrieking like some Biblical prophetess of doom. Just dial the hysteria back for your own sake, if nobody else’s. WHO wrote a whole
Report in 2019 about global preparedness for an airborne virus. They certainly described in detail what is currently happening and I’m pretty certain they weren’t hysterical.

There are massive organisations specifically tasked with managing possible pandemics. The scientists are telling us it will likely become unmanageable, 60% of population infected is what SCIENTISTS have told the Government and is what the Government is telling is. But sure, it’s just someone on here being hysterical.

We don’t need people like you creating drama and shrieking like some Biblical prophetess of doom. Just dial the hysteria back for your own sake, if nobody else’s.

Wow. I am not even vaguely hysterical thanks and neither am I shrieking. I am keeping up to date with the situation and part of my job involves advising people on it. I am probably one of the least dramatic people you'll ever come across.

We cancelled our holiday to Japan today (postponed for 12 months) it might cost £500 to rebook flights (if the airline doesn't cancel first) , but I feel a sense of relief that the indecision is over. It won't feel like a "holiday" if everything is shut and you're constantly worried of spending your time in hospital / quarantine and obsessing over clean hands, face masks etc. We can do that at home . Sit tight and ride out the virus.