Would you consider canceling a holiday/family visit if COVID was surging there?

[Muffster]

The idea of flying to visit family and stay with them for a summer holiday is now giving me concern: 1 in 19 people where my family live have COVID, there is a surge going on and it hasn’t peaked yet.

There are very few people masking, case numbers are not accurately reported, people do not have to stay home when positive/unwell so infections continue and the health care system there appears to be under serious strain.

would you fly over and visit now?

Are you planning to holiday in the Uk? 1 in 19 people have it here. Covid Isn't going anywhere. We either have to live with it or curtail normal life for the foreseeable future.

Go and enjoy your holiday.

Thanks for reply.

Unfortunately I don’t think it’s possible to enjoy a holiday when any of us are infected with COVID - and I think even if we manage to not catch it on the flight, it will be almost impossible to avoid catching it if we go anywhere in the UK since the infection rate is so high right now and the new variant so contagious.

Looking at what people are saying about their experiences here on this site, infections symptoms seem to last well over a week and leave people feeling unwell for quite some time.

it seems a bit nuts to walk right into it and pay thousands to get sick. When we booked, cases were much lower.

3 our of 4 of us had it on holiday a couple of weeks ago. Was like a head cold and we all recovered quickly

It is perfectly possible to be in the UK and not catch it! Yes, rates are higher at the moment than they've been for a while, but for every 1 person who has it, 18 do not.

You might catch it on the flight, or you might not (the latter more likely). Or you might catch it at home.

What are you planning to do on your holiday? The weather looks lovely for the foreseeable, so enjoy being outside with your family.

Yes I would still go on the holiday

Yes I’d go.
Doesn’t sound much different to the situation in parts of the uk.
There is always a risk of someone being ill on holiday with all sorts of illnesses.

You realise its high in lots of places right ? I just come back from one of the canary islands they have similar rules and higher cases and not testing all
Lots of people were coughing etc as well around

Also when are you due as case numbers can change quickly , so who knows what it will look like in say 2/ 3 weeks and where are you and what are cAse numbers

I’ve just had what I suspect is the latest variant and it is nasty - like bad flu! Avoid! I am still ill, 3 weeks later. Do not recommend.

Yes I would, but I am at work every day at the moment with people who have tested positive and are just soldiering on. We work closely as well, but are told to come in whether we have it or not, as long as we feel well enough.

TBH I’d delay the holiday if you can. Why take the risk if you’re coming from somewhere safer and where people are being more responsible? I don’t know what your circumstances are, but could you see how things pan out over the next few weeks? Some (reputable) scientists think that we will see the peak in the next few weeks in the U.K. At the very least it sounds as though it will be hard for you to relax and enjoy your time x

There's a lot of Covid in a lot of countries.

Friends have just come back from Greece and tested positive the day after they got home.

A lot of countries simply aren't keeping track of cases or giving accurate infection figures so it's very difficult to know what the risk levels actually are.

I'd just get on with your life, how many more years/things do you want to miss out on? Who knows how much time any of us have left and you want to continue to deny yourself?

Yes. Covid ruled my life for far too long.

Yes, I would go. I will no longer let Covid rule my life. Fuck that!

Oh and yes, I have had it too.

Thanks for all the replies. I didn’t make it clear in the OP that we’d be coming TO the UK from where we live, which is a 10-11 hour flight. I thought confirmation bias might change people’s responses if they were asked to consider the risk from a visitor POV where they actually lived. Sorry about that!

Where we live is just starting to see Ba.5 cases go up; we have very high vaccination rates and have been very cautious (we live on an island and borders closed completely from spring 2020 to autumn 21, we had zero COVID for a year here but couldn’t travel without extensive quarantining and testing)

Covid then got back among us but because we all continued to test and isolate and mask only a few dozen people died. All of them were bitterly mourned by the community.

But we have but seen our family or had a holiday since 2019. It’s a bit like being trapped in Paradise. We were really hoping after two years we could travel again but the huge surge in infections is worrying; we don’t want to get sick on holiday or pass it along to the elderly family we are visiting.

I have been reading MN threads and it’s quite a mindfuck realizing just how differently people view it in the UK. It feels - to us - quite dangerous and the UK government messaging quite gaslighting. What are the long term consequences of repeated unrestrained infections? Covid can and does cause neurological and cardiovascular damage in loads of people and so we’ve tried really hard to not get it and minimize risk: indoor masks everywhere including schools, we built air cleaners for classrooms….we meet and eat outside and test before play dates etc

But now even our island community is getting fed up and people are taking fewer precautions. And so cases are rising, and will no doubt surge as people return from long awaited summer trips.

We really want to see our family. We have already cancelled a tourist trip to the USA because cases are crazy high there now. We know how to live here and mitigate risk but in the UK the attitude seems very different and unless we ONLY stay with family or walk around outside, avoid public transport, venues, dining, pubs etc I think it will be a big jump in risk to what we are used to coping with.

dates are last fortnight of August, then DS Is back at school.

sorry long post

I suppose it depends on how much you wish to see your family in the UK. It is quite likely you/your family will pick Covid sometime on your trip; we've had plenty of people go over on business trips in the last few months (from Australia) and come back with Covid. You have to decide how much risk you wish to take.

Wear mask and wash your hands. Don't lick people.

If you do want to lick people maybe get them to test first.

Hi OP, we also live outside the uk. Not as far away as you. Go and see your family. Covid is here now. It’s not going away.
i went to the Uk in early July. Was there for two weeks - travelled but train, bus and car and boat. Went to an Uni open day. None of us got Covid. But we just as easily could have.
Enjoy the feeling of normality in the Uk - it’s actually good for people.
Its terribly terribly sad people died. But we also need to live.

I would definitely do the holiday
i have had more than enough of the restrictions

Out of interest have you tested positive?

me and both kids came back from Disney a few weeks ago with what I am sure was covid, but never had a positive test. If it wasn’t covid, it was some god awful flu type thing that was horrid.

Go and see your family . Yes people have felt poorly when they have it because that’s what happens ! You get Ill and you feel awful and this is not unusual to happen multiple times a year . People seem to have forgotten that.

or alternatively hide away for ever as that’s how long you will need to avoid

Covid isn’t going anywhere and we are never going to get rid of it now. So whether you come and visit now, or next year, or the year after - the risk will be there.

Yes, this variant is making some people feel very poorly. But it is also still only like a cold to others (myself included - 2 day mild cold last week for me).

OP, I totally understand where you’re coming from. We moved back from a country that took Covid seriously and I will never respect the fact the U.K. gave up so easily and won’t even put the most basic mitigations in place. It would cost people nothing and would protect the health of so many people, but British exceptionalism is rife and people simply don’t care enough about others (certainly not in comparison to many other countries).

Unfortunately most people here will shout “we need to live with it”, but what they mean is “we need to pretend it’s 2019 because we’re not prepared to have even the most simple of mitigations”. They have no intention of “living with it” like many other countries have (e.g. by implementing measures that would drastically reduce transmission, e.g. HEPA filters in school etc). Most people here also don’t have a basic understanding about how transmission occurs (hence comments about washing hands and sanitising) and they don’t know / believe the long term effects of Covid, which you’ve listed. The press has absolutely pulled the wool over people’s eyes as to how serious Covid can be. At least you have a good grasp of the risks and consequences, so you can make an informed choice about whether travelling here is a risk you’re willing to take. You could also wear FFP3 / N95 on the flight and in crowded places to give yourself a lot more protection. Ultimately though, don’t be gaslit into thinking you’re “anxious” or “living in fear” because you’re making a decision to protect your health from a very real, potentially very dangerous virus.