Corona Virus

blue note

What are people thinking about this? Supposed to be flying to Italy tomorrow! Concerned about the airport and gondolas and the like.

Rew

blue note wrote: »

What are people thinking about this? Supposed to be flying to Italy tomorrow! Concerned about the airport and gondolas and the like.

where are you going geographically in relation to the outbreak? Have you travel insurance, is it invalidated if you go against the warning?

blue note

Rew wrote: »

where are you going geographically in relation to the outbreak? Have you travel insurance, is it invalidated if you go against the warning?

Cervinia. Dept of foreign affairs advise against travelling to the regions affected, which includes where we fly into and up to about 20km east of our resort.

I'm wondering even if we go could we just end up quarantined anyway. Might not even get to go skiing.

Not certain on the insurance. Pretty sure we won't get anything back if we don't go because flights aren't cancelled. And I'd be surprised if we'd get anything back if we went because we'd be going against advice from the department of foreign affairs.

Rew

Just saw this haven't had time to fully read:

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/travel/coronavirus-i-ve-planned-a-holiday-to-northern-italy-should-i-cancel-1.4183267

a148pro

You'd better get the international pass now blue note! Ski down into neutral zermatt!

Rew makes a good point re travel insurance, you'd best check the small print as I'd be very surprised if they don't have a clause withdrawing cover if you travel against advice of embassy

I don't know how tied in to cervinia you are, you can just continue up the road and through mont blanc tunnel and be in chamonix in maybe another half hour? Nicer town to walk around and very dramatic mountain scenery for romantic buzzard side

a148pro

Lengthy discussion here: https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=151841

Older demographic on snowheads. Many snow granddad keyboard warriors. Very much at risk, hence lengthy thread

There is a post towards the end where the Aosta valley resorts confirm that they are all fully open for business (Cervinia is in the Aosta valley)

I think this is really God testing your marriage by throwing the two of you into a cubicle in a latex suit for 14 days

On a serious note, I think this could in effect be the end of the European ski season this year, assuming the spread continues and that the authorities approach will be lock down when it lands

blue note

We're still in Dublin. Decided not to go. I think the holiday would be fine, but the chances of being forced to voluntarily quarantine ourselves would be too high when we get home. People are nuts about this thing and we had to factor that into our decision. I started a new job a month ago and am on site with a client on Monday. My office couldn't realistically let me go and there's a decent chance people would be in to hr in my office demanding i be sent home for a fortnight.

My wifes (sounds odd saying that!) Office building had people in China for the Chinese new years. They weren't allowed back into the building for 2 weeks even though they were nowhere near any of the dangerous areas.

I think the likely scenario in cervinia would be that we'd have a great holiday, I reckon Italy will contain the cases now listening to all they're doing and then we would get home and work would be very unimpressed that we knowingly went there considering the risks.

So.... we've booked Andorra for 3 days, flying to Toulouse tomorrow! Not the end of the world. An expensive change, but we'll live. And I don't care what's in the air in Andorra, I'm going. If there's a strain or coronavirus zipping around on segways targeting blond men from Waterford with above average schlongs I'm still going!

a148pro

Brilliant, fair play!

I think you made the right call for sure. I was going to suggest Scotland as a novelty but Andorra better idea!

Enjoy it now the doubt is behind you (fecking lifts in Cervinia would have been closed anyway :pac:)

listermint

blue note wrote: »

We're still in Dublin. Decided not to go. I think the holiday would be fine, but the chances of being forced to voluntarily quarantine ourselves would be too high when we get home. People are nuts about this thing and we had to factor that into our decision. I started a new job a month ago and am on site with a client on Monday. My office couldn't realistically let me go and there's a decent chance people would be in to hr in my office demanding i be sent home for a fortnight.

My wifes (sounds odd saying that!) Office building had people in China for the Chinese new years. They weren't allowed back into the building for 2 weeks even though they were nowhere near any of the dangerous areas.

I think the likely scenario in cervinia would be that we'd have a great holiday, I reckon Italy will contain the cases now listening to all they're doing and then we would get home and work would be very unimpressed that we knowingly went there considering the risks.

So.... we've booked Andorra for 3 days, flying to Toulouse tomorrow! Not the end of the world. An expensive change, but we'll live. And I don't care what's in the air in Andorra, I'm going. If there's a strain or coronavirus zipping around on segways targeting blond men from Waterford with above average schlongs I'm still going!

People aren't 'nuts' about this thing it's now spread west towards France and into south Italy , croatia and Austria.


Contain the cases is it.... It's ramped up


Anyone that wants to go on a holiday to an infected area needs their head examined and could and would be responsible for spreading it home.

They'd be selfish nut bags for the sake of a snow holiday getting ill staying in your room for the duration or worse death.

Nuts indeed....

Rew

Schools in Wicklow and Dublin taking precautions after return of students from Italy ski trips

http://jrnl.ie/5021512f

listermint

Three more deaths in northern Italy .

Rew

6 Nations match cancelled

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2020/0225/1117449-europe-coronavirus/

trashcan

Heading for Austria on Saturday. Bit concerning with two cases in Innsbruck now.

Rew

trashcan wrote: »

Heading for Austria on Saturday. Bit concerning with two cases in Innsbruck now.

From what I have read they are 2 Italians who traveled from an affected area in Italy to Innsbruck where they work. The Austrians have isolated them and 12 people they came in contact with so at this point it has broken out. 1 of them works in a hotel so thats been locked down for cleaning.

trashcan

Rew wrote: »

From what I have read they are 2 Italians who traveled from an affected area in Italy to Innsbruck where they work. The Austrians have isolated them and 12 people they came in contact with so at this point it has broken out. 1 of them works in a hotel so thats been locked down for cleaning.

Yep, saw that. Rationally I think it should be ok. Also saw this afternoon that the hotel lockdown has been lifted, so that's a good sign.

a148pro

I think the game is up and it'll be Europe wide shortly. Finish guy contracted it on a ski trip Northern Italy there recently. Popping up in too many places and likely undiagnosed a huge amount also, have to suspect the ski season will take a massive hit now.

Rew

https://www.thejournal.ie/covid-19-denmark-5023741-Feb2020

DENMARK HAS REPORTED its first coronavirus case, a man who had returned from a skiing holiday in northern Italy which has become a hotspot for the disease.

a148pro

I think that was the one I meant, not Finnish

But as we know the Belfast case was from Northern Italy

I also heard on RTE last night that one of the recent UK cases was of a guy who had been skiing in Northern Italy

The Tenerife cases and a bunch of other ones are out of Northern Italy also

I think the Austrian ones too

Its a pity because I really like Northern Italy! And its due to snow there this week!

5littleangels

Could anyone that knows where I could get respirator face masks today in Ireland please dm me thank you

mcgragger

So what's the story with how this plays out then?

Im not a medical mind at all.
How does this kind of thing go away?
Does it go away ?
Does it become a flu type thing that just remains a risk?
Is it going to get stronger and wipe out half the planets population?
Is it only a death risk for really sick old people?

gar

Be interesting to know where they were skiing, was it south and west of milan and went through the restricted areas or was it in fact way up the north in Livigno and the Dolomites???
Supposed to be going Saturday week

a148pro

gar wrote: »

Be interesting to know where they were skiing, was it south and west of milan and went through the restricted areas or was it in fact way up the north in Livigno and the Dolomites???
Supposed to be going Saturday week

No info unfortunately, but I don't think its skiing you should necessarily be worried about, its the airport you go to. Milan seems to have been mentioned in relation to a lot of the cases.

a148pro

5littleangels wrote: »

Could anyone that knows where I could get respirator face masks today in Ireland please dm me thank you

Apparently these are only of use to stop people who have it spreading it to other people

a148pro

mcgragger wrote: »

So what's the story with how this plays out then?

Im not a medical mind at all.
How does this kind of thing go away?
Does it go away ?
Does it become a flu type thing that just remains a risk?
Is it going to get stronger and wipe out half the planets population?
Is it only a death risk for really sick old people?

It may "run its course" which I've heard suggested could take a year
Vaccine will probably be developed during this period and form part of the flu vaccine in future

death rate is very low and is highly focussed on people who are already ill or elderly. As someone pointed out on another forum, death rate on the cruise ship for instance is only .5% of people who are infected, and most people on that ship would be older. Death rates from other outbreaks are probably skewed because lots of people could have the virus without getting sick at all or sick enough to bring themselves to medical attention and get tested.

The stats of 2 - 5 % being quoted are of cases where people have tested positive. In reality in those areas lots more people probably have it but haven't gotten badly ill so when they are factored in the death rate would be much less.

No reasonable fear whatsoever that it will get worse or end up killing half the population

But without knowing more it might be time to start cracking people's heads open and feeding on the sticky glue inside (Simpsons)

maddness

Puss to fly to Salzburg on Saturday 7th for a few days in Zell Am See. Wonder how this is all going to progress over the next week?

a148pro

At the moment I'd just avoid Northern Italy? I think there's been very little spread elsewhere, though a lot could change in next few days

Its hard to know really. Travel advice hasn't said don't go. The risk to our health is tiny, I think the real risk is of causing a spread or of the inconvenience of a containment strategy on you, i.e., if you have to stay somewhere for a long time due to a lock down. That risk is probably small enough though.

maddness

I’ve asthma and haven’t been great recently with it. My consultant said he has no issue with me traveling if I’m feeling ok but I’m undecided. In fairness anything can happen in the next week.

listermint

listermint wrote: »

People aren't 'nuts' about this thing it's now spread west towards France and into south Italy , croatia and Austria.


Contain the cases is it.... It's ramped up


Anyone that wants to go on a holiday to an infected area needs their head examined and could and would be responsible for spreading it home.

They'd be selfish nut bags for the sake of a snow holiday getting ill staying in your room for the duration or worse death.

Nuts indeed....

Guess where the Clare family went and a practicing health care professional too sure ignore all advice why not....

Folks need to put a plug in their skiing visits it's a hotbed for spreading it across places that have avoided it.

maddness

listermint wrote: »

Guess where the Clare family went and a practicing health care professional too sure ignore all advice why not....

Folks need to put a plug in their skiing visits it's a hotbed for spreading it across places that have avoided it.

Skiing visits are a hotbed???

blue note

listermint wrote: »

Guess where the Clare family went and a practicing health care professional too sure ignore all advice why not....

Folks need to put a plug in their skiing visits it's a hotbed for spreading it across places that have avoided it.

The advice wasn't to avoid Milan / ski resorts, it was to avoid the 11 or so towns. When I didn't go to Italy and went to andorra instead (flying into France) the department of foreign affairs had a higher risk warning for France (due to yellow vest protests) than Italy. If I was to listen to advice I'd have gone to Italy instead of Andorra.

The chances of coming home sick from an Italian ski holiday are still very low. But the chances of someone coming home sick from one area now high.

We'll have loads of Italians coming over this weekend anyway though. They've bought plane tickets anyway, plenty of hotel rooms prepaid and time booked off work. Not a chance many of them will cancel.

Tacitus Kilgore

listermint wrote: »

Guess where the Clare family went and a practicing health care professional too sure ignore all advice why not....

Folks need to put a plug in their skiing visits it's a hotbed for spreading it across places that have avoided it.

The current affairs thread is a hotbed for spreading panic you mean.

You'd swear every person who recently returned from skiing anywhere is carrying the coronavirus.

listermint

Tacitus Kilgore wrote: »

The current affairs thread is a hotbed for spreading panic you mean.

You'd swear every person who recently returned from skiing anywhere is carrying the coronavirus.

The lack of knowledge both in this thread and from two health care professionals now Cork and West of Ireland is astounding frankly.


Very much a me fein attitude - as in im fit and healthy even if i catch it il be grand. Id say im amazed but im not. Rare people see past their own front door.

Tacitus Kilgore

listermint wrote: »

The lack of knowledge both in this thread and from two health care professionals now Cork and West of Ireland is astounding frankly.


Very much a me fein attitude - as in im fit and healthy even if i catch it il be grand. Id say im amazed but im not. Rare people see past their own front door.

How could a health care professional be knowledgeable about an alert before it is even raised?

Poor fecker was out there before it all kicked off properly, and followed procedure afterward but was told to proceed to work - but don't worry about those facts in your quest for knowledge.

a148pro

blue note wrote: »

The advice wasn't to avoid Milan / ski resorts, it was to avoid the 11 or so towns.

The advice should have been to avoid Northern Italy. The number of countries that it spread to from there is astonishing. And a bunch of those cases were ski trips.

I have been dying to ski Northern Italy all season, and conditions had just been getting good, but I knew you couldn't go, whether the people in the Foreign Offices had the balls to say that or not.

To be honest I'm surprised a medical professional went, but the date they went on is probably key. Also, they're clearly much better informed than I am and are by definition a scientist so maybe they were able to rationalise it. But the point is to be socially responsible and not go.

Now if Ireland breaks out properly then **** it I'm off. But until then should do our bit.

AdpRo

Supposed to be going to Soll next week. Still debating if we should go. Probably more chance of getting it here! Anyone canceled trips to Austria yet?

a148pro

AdpRo wrote: »

Supposed to be going to Soll next week. Still debating if we should go. Probably more chance of getting it here! Anyone canceled trips to Austria yet?

They've about 5 - 6 times the cases we have. Not sure what population is. They obviously share border with italy and also germany which isn't doing great.

I'd say risk of getting it is miniscule, risk of being stuck in a lockdown probably very small but possible:-

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/08/coronavirus-more-countries-will-adopt-italys-measures-says-austrian-leader

Have you anything to be back for?

maddness

I should be in Austria skiing now and didn’t go as I’m unwell but would have gone if I was ok. I think you have as much chance of getting this now here as Austria but the chance of getting stuck there would worry me.

a148pro

They've just closed italian skiing for the season. No monte rosa for me madness.

maddness

Saw that, all Aosta and Courmayer so far.

AdpRo

maddness wrote: »

I should be in Austria skiing now and didn’t go as I’m unwell but would have gone if I was ok. I think you have as much chance of getting this now here as Austria but the chance of getting stuck there would worry me.

Yes that's our main worry. We are flying into / out of Munich so probably more of a chance of flights from Germany being stopped than from Austria! Still planning on going at the moment anyway.

maddness

AdpRo wrote: »

Yes that's our main worry. We are flying into / out of Munich so probably more of a chance of flights from Germany being stopped than from Austria! Still planning on going at the moment anyway.

I’d go as long as you can face the possibility of not getting a flight home when you expect one!

Alkers

We're due to go to Val Thorens for the last week of the season, here's hoping we still can!

Rew

They just closed Ishgl for 2 weeks...

raymo19

I am booked for a weeks skiing in Bad Hofgastein on Saturday. Don't know what to do. Hotel says there is no Corona in Gastein valley so far. Any ideas ? other travellers considering going ???.

Thanks

AdpRo

raymo19 wrote: »

I am booked for a weeks skiing in Bad Hofgastein on Saturday. Don't know what to do. Hotel says there is no Corona in Gastein valley so far. Any ideas ? other travellers considering going ???.

Thanks

Same boat, going to Soll. Very undecided, changing our mind every hour, will decided Friday night, really is 50/50 at the moment.

Rew

It looks like Tyrol (which includes Soll) just closed from Sunday. I would expect others regions to do similar.

raymo19

Rew wrote: »

It looks like Tyrol (which includes Soll) just closed from Sunday. I would expect others regions to do similar.

Thanks for that update Rew. I have decided not to go to bad Hofgastein on Saturday. I wonder is there any recourse in relation to hotel costs already paid if the ski resorts closes ?. Any further info on closures are greatly appreciated as there are alot of persons out there will be making a costly decision tomorrow.

Raymo.

AdpRo

Yes all lifts and accommodation in Tyrol closes on Monday. Just been announced.

https://www.tyrol.com/information-coronavirus

I would expect accommodation costs will be refunded but flights won't be unless an overall ban on travel to Austria is also announced.

random_banter

We are supposed to be going to the Grand Massif on Sunday. Looks like we won’t be going, it’s too uncertain. Things are shutting down so quickly and don’t want to get stuck there. Going to lose a lot of money between our flights and Airbnb.

Gutted.

But have to look at the big picture. A lot of people at risk over the coming weeks and months.

juke

Obertauern (near Salzburg) closes for the season on Sunday. They usually stay open until The end of April at least.

Rew

juke wrote: »

Obertauern (near Salzburg) closes for the season on Sunday. They usually stay open until The end of April at least.

All of Salzburg area is closing from Sunday