Corona Virus

There is another chap who I work with who also had a severe flu in January, again like nothing he had experienced before. I had also occurred to me that he very possibly may have had it. This guys sits right beside me too.

Agreed, the longer that this things has been about the better in terms or immunity. I have a niggling feeling that way more people than we think actually have it, much earlier than we have thought, and that many show no symptoms whatsoever, perhaps only something very vague. I have no evidence to back my feeling up though so I will shut up now before I drag this good thread into disrepute :pac:

the beer revolu wrote: »

I dodged a bullet there too - was in Mayorhofen 8 - 15 February.!
And we were in two of the bars mentioned:eek:

Same here I think (dodging a bullet I mean.) Have heard since returning from Westendorf that the owner of the hotel we stayed in has been hospitalised, and someone else from the hotel has ended up in ICU. I had a terrible cough myself since early January (almost sure I picked it up in St James's A&E ironically, when there with my elderly mother ). Still had the cough when I returned from Austria, so got my name put down for the test, only to be taken off the list when they re-set the criteria, I had no other symptoms. Am back 4 weeks now so I reckon I'm in the clear.

the beer revolu wrote: »

I wonder if prices will drop next season in ski resorts?

I'm going to guess that they will drop a lot, and will be much quieter for a few years.

That's outside of the doomsday scenario that they will still be closed

I'm kind of half fantasizing about a late season trip if things get moving again. A lot of stuff would have to fall into place, not at all likely there will be international travel or if somewhere like hintertux might be allowed open either, but it's a nice thought.

Nah I think that's illegal too, either things are back running again or they're not. Austria talking about some small steps in the next while I think.

a148pro wrote: »

Nah I think that's illegal too, either things are back running again or they're not. Austria talking about some small steps in the next while I think.

Love your optimism but all resorts are shut for the remainder of the season.

To be honest, even next season might be optimistic for irish skiers

Seems 19% of the population in St.Anton & Ischgl regions have been very likely infected:

https://www.vol.at/quarantaene-ueber-paznaun-und-st-anton-bis-26-april/6584864

The places I would usually stay at in Ischgl and Anton are both run by an old lady (as of course are quite a lot of the pensions, appartments, etc.).

I have been thinking of them lately, I really hope that make it through it, considering that 1 in 5 are infected in these regions.

Hopefully the domestic austrian summer season might have some life in it. I imagine i'll be scrambling for any viable foreign holiday, if austria opens up a bit, there's a flight and we're allowed travel I'll be there!

Hard to know what will happen though. You would think renting a holiday home and cooking for yourself might be viable relatively early, or hotels opening but without restaurants or Swimming pools? Room service for all food and then out into the meadows?

Very hard to say, at least austria have been relaxing some stuff early. If one country manages to do something relatively unscathed I can see others tentatively following suit. In that sense we're lucky, as we started relatively late in europe we managed to get ahead of the virus and can now watch what other countries do while we're about two to three weeks behind them

The other thing about Austrians is they're savers, I imagine a lot of those family run businesses have at least some cash in reserve to keep them going until things improve

Personally I wouldn't book anything, way too much up in the air at the moment. However, if they're willing to give you free cancellation probably nothing to lose.

It sure is.

It will be interesting to see what class of punishment is doled out by the Austrian authorities when the dust settles.

Considering the circumstances though I would say that a few places might be willing to take bookings at the moment without the usual deposit? So maybe no harm in asking.

@a148pro, you were asking about the Austrian summer season. I would also be somewhat optimistic here, as Austria is now gradually opening up again, in that from May 1st you can meet friends, from May 15th restaurants are going to open, MTB and swimming in rivers and lakes is allowed again, etc. Of course if that second wave comes it could change all of this, but based on what we know today things are not looking so bad I would think.

Austria never had the 2Km rule either, which is really great, I think that that would be the toughest part of it all, for me at least.

Have you ever been to the likes of Anton or Ischgl in the summer time? They can be really nice, and the contrast to how it looks in the winter is amazing. Great options for cycling, MTB, hiking etc. It is also much cheaper than in the winter season.

To be fair, on the day that the guy in question here traveled there were just 10 reported cases in all of Austria, and there were no warnings in place, that I know of at least, saying that Austria should be avoided.

That said though, the situation was clearly going out of control in Northern Italy at the same time (there were more than 1000 cases at this time and rising at a shocking rate). Anyone who is reasonably familiar with skiing in this part of Europe will know that there is a lot of 'ski traffic' let's say between this part of Austria and Northern Italy. It runs both ways too, i.e. many Austrians go to North Italy to ski, while many Italians also come to this part of Austria for the same reason. Hence it would not be hard to deduce that if North Italy is having an issue then it will not be long before it spills over into Austria.

I remember chatting about this with a friend here around about this time, and we would have been wary of heading into Apres Ski bars at the time, because of this very reason.

That said, unless you are have this level of familiarity with the region it might be possible to fall into the trap that 'Italy is where the problem is and I am going to Austria'. There is quite a distance between them, and it will take you 5-6 hours to drive from point A to point B.

All in all though, I firmly believe that the likes of Anton and Ischgl seriously dropped the ball here. They would have been completely aware of the inherent ski links between Italy and Austria, and really should have had a closer eye on things. It is most likely a case of just putting your head in the sand and hoping it will just go away or not darken your door, as the prospect of shutting down operations is something that nobody, at that time, was even seriously considering.