I'm shielding. I have a holiday booked to Italy at the end of August. Would it be insane to go?

[Is2020OverYet]

I'm shielding due to an underlying health condition (asthma). Had the letter in March, am shielding until August 16th.

The following week I have a trip to Rome booked. It was booked last Autumn. Flying there, staying in a hotel. Insurance taken out months ago.

If I cancel I will obviously lose the deposit as there are no longer restrictions on travel.

I keep switching between wanting to go and being nervous and wanting to cancel.

WWYD?

I wouldn't even consider it for a second tbh. People in the shielding category were put there for a reason. I think personal responsibility dictates you have to be very careful when coming out of shielding. Flying to Italy is not careful.

There is a touch of the sunken cost fallacy at play here. The money you paid for your deposit is gone forever whether you go on holiday or not. Base your decision on your perception of the risks and the rewards, not losing your deposit. Personally, I think whilst the greatest impact in terms of risk is being infected and suffering the consequences the more likely impact, if anything does go pear shaped, is being stuck abroad if a resurgence leads to reinstatement of travel restrictions. I also think the potential rewards of going are much reduced because so many of the things you would normally enjoy on holiday will be closed or open but a bit shit. On balance, I probably wouldn't go myself. I am biased though because whilst I fully agree that we need to start getting back to normal I think going from the extreme of people barely stepping outside to having thousands travelling abroad on holiday is illogical.

Absolutely @SirSamuelVimesBlackboardMonito I wonder about the logic of all this. Schools must return but groups of the same age children cannot return for scouts etc.
I wouldn't enjoy my holiday if I went abroad- I would spend time looking around to check that I felt' safe' - not that you could see the virus

I agree with the sunk costs fallacy being at play, but in a different way. We've all had to give up so many freedoms and make so many sacrifices it must be deemed "worth it". If people like the OP go off on holiday and enjoy themselves and it's all fine, what the hell were we doing for all these months? If it's safe enough for her now, why wasn't it safe enough for me a month ago? We all need to feel like we've not been manipulated into giving up more than we needed to. That it's still really dangerous out there, with Boris' invisible mugger still lurking on every corner. But if you look at the data for the last few weeks it just doesn't support that.

In England, the advice is that shielders no long need to shield after 1 Aug but they are still advised to be very cautious, presumably there will be similar advice elsewhere.

What was it OP that meant you needed to follow the advice to shield but means you don't find it necessary to follow the advice coming out of shielding?

"You may still be at risk of severe illness if you catch coronavirus, so stay at home as much as you can and continue to take precautions when you do go out. You can do this by washing your hands regularly, avoiding touching your face and keeping 2 metres away from people outside of your household or bubble wherever possible.

From 1 August, you’ll be advised you could go out to more places and see more people, for example, the advice is:

you can go to work, as long as the workplace is COVID-secure – but carry on working from home if you can
children who are clinically extremely vulnerable can go back to school (when the rest of their class goes back)
you can go outside to buy food, to places of worship and for exercise – keeping 2 metres away wherever possible
This guidance will be updated with these changes on 1 August."

I don’t think I’d go to Rome. The sites are busy and crowded (or distancing requirements will be such they are all booked out already!) and so are the restaurants. Amazing food but all packed in together. It will also be sweltering but presumably you knew that when you booked. Asthma shielding advice has changed a lot and if you are still in the category of severe asthmatics advised to shield I would definitely be cautious.

@Lucygucy

I don't see the point in sitting in your house until August and then jumping on a plane. Seems to defeat the point a little so for me it would depend on other factors. Do you work and has your shielding meant you have been unable to work as usual? Has it had any other impact on other people e.g. someone doing your shopping? If the answer to those is yes, then I wouldn't go.

Yes I work, I have been working from home since mid March. Shielding has impacted my work location but not my ability to do my job.

Nobody has done my shopping for me, and I turned down the shielding food boxes. I've had weekly Tesco deliveries throughout plus some from local shops who deliver.

@Alloverthegrapevine

I agree with PP re work etc. Whilst OP is perfectly within her rights to go, if her shielding has inconvenienced others (and likely cost employer money) for months and a week later she's off on her holidays, I think she'd have to have a very thick skin to go.

But even without that, I haven't shielded and I've been fairly relaxed about the whole thing but I'm not ready to go abroad,mostly because of the risk of no insurance should the whole thing kick off again and the risk of being stuck somewhere, like people were at the beginning.

As above, my shielding hasn't inconvenienced anyone. I've worked full time throughout, just from home. I've sorted my own shopping. Not all shielders have needed people to be running around after them for the past few months.

@BenScalesIsAGod

Would your travel insurance cover you if you were to catch covid whilst travelling? Lots have excluded this now and with an underlying condition you’d be more at risk.

I personally wouldn’t because of the risk of being squashed in with others on the flight.

Travel insurance was bought in January, before the coronavirus exemptions came in.

if her shielding has inconvenienced others (and likely cost employer money) for months and a week later she's off on her holidays

It's literally none of her employer's business where she goes on holiday.

That said, not sure that I would be ready to get on a plane yet (I'm also asthmatic). Of course it could be very quiet - but as a traveller you have no control over that.

The risk once there is likely to be very small - smaller than staying at home in the U.K.

I think I've pretty much decided that I can't go, so thanks everyone for your input.

It's been quite an eye opener reading through the responses how some people view shielders though. We're not some kind of drain on society, lots of us have been able to work from home throughout all this and lots of us have turned down the food boxes etc as we have other ways of accessing food. I have shopping delivered by Tesco and by local businesses and prescriptions delivered by the pharmacy.

Yes, the attitudes towards shielders have been shocking - presumably some of those people are the same as the ones who think covid is only going to harm people that are old/ill so it doesn’t really matter.

Think you’ve made the right decision.

My husband is undergoing cancer treatment and he asked his Consultant if he could go to Greece (preplanned before diagnosis or Covid) and he said yes he could.

Yes, the attitudes towards shielders have been shocking - presumably some of those people are the same as the ones who think covid is only going to harm people that are old/ill so it doesn’t really matter

I don't understand your logic here.

I am one of the people who think Covid is for the most part only going to kill you if you are in an elevated risk category. Age & pre-existing conditions being the most relevant, closely followed by sex.

The attitude of some posters here, that the shielded have been some kind of drain on their employers, their friends, neighbours, communities, and must therefore hide away for an (indeterminate) appropriate length of time is appalling. As far as I'm concerned, anyone who has been advised to shield, and has followed that advise, has exactly the same right to go out and enjoy life as anyone else.

*advice. Damn auto correct!!

Sorry to hear that is2020.
Perhaps you could ask to rebook for a year‘S time and use your time booked off on something a bit less risky at this point? Eg drive to France or somewhere within the UK.

I can't imagine enjoying a city break right now. A rural retreat maybe, beach holiday possibly but not a city break.

I have also been shielding for the same reasons as the op. Our holiday (by plane) was cancelled so we have driven to a farmhouse in rural France via the Eurotunnel to avoid interactions with others. I have been very cautious up until now and this does feel a bit flippant but actually I felt on balance for us all it was the right thing to do. Winter is going to be fairly grim and I decided it was a risk worth taking whilst I am well, Vit D levels are topped up etc.

I don’t have the confidence to eat out in local restaurants and pubs, we are booked to go to the Isle of Wight in September, which we are going to go, but I wouldn’t feel happy going abroad at the moment.

I would go and enjoy it.
Italy and Spain are (despite localised new small outbreaks, most of which have been traced to source) practically the safest places to go to thanks to a rigid and total lockdown followed by months of distancing etc.