We are flying cross country into SFO, spending a couple of days at Fisherman's Wharf, heading to Lake Tahoe for some snow skiing and tubing, back to Napa for an electric bike wine tour, flying to Vegas, going to Cirque Du Soleil Mystere, driving to Zion, Bryce, Arches and back to Vegas for some pool time before flying back east. We're all over 60 and I'm already a bit of a germaphobe so I have a boat load of Clorox Wipes to wipe things down like airline buckles, tray table, baggage (that handler has handled 1000s of bags - probably wears gloves but just in case), rental car, hotel items. So basically it's life as usual. The wife does have to fill out an HR travel form though...
Considering it's a hugely overblown situation, there's no change in anything for me. One of the members of my company who works in our state's head office was in contact with his grandmother at a nursing home - she was confirmed to be the third person to pass away in Australia testing positive to the virus. I work for the Australian entity of one of the biggest US military contractors, and the situation went all the way up the ladder to the US, and we all received an email from one of the leadership team. - the employee who was in contact with his grandmother has been quarantined - no other employee was quarantined, not even any of those who sit in the 4 desk cubicle with him after he'd visited his grandmother. The fact no one else was sent home tells me all I need to know about how overhyped and overblown this is. Media gonna media. He's also since tested negative. EDIT: Also why i'm not worried: - got back to Australia from the US last week. Got to Fort Worth airport at the check in desk "have you been to mainland China" "no" "thought that would be the case" That was the extent of it. Landed in Sydney.... nothing..... not once were we asked anything about it. No checks of fever that were rumoured. My uncle and auntie from England also were here for my dad's 70th recently, and flew back on Friday Sydney time. Flying Korea Air. Stopping overnight in Seoul. Spoke to them yesterday after they'd landed and back home. No issues at any point along their journey. They're just in a self quarantine at home for the next two weeks. I'd think at least at one point in any of the above situations, if this thing was as bad as the media makes it out to be, we'd have noticed.
So, you say you trust the dip$hit administration to be competent enough to manage a crisis and tell you the truth about it? Okay.
No, i'd trust one of the most successful companies in the world to care for the investment enough that if it was an issue they'd ensure it wouldn't affect more of their assets. No, i'd trust the fact four airports didn't give the slightest sh*ts about it. You really didn't comprehend the message did you. You should go get yourself checked bro, I hear there's a rampant virus happening now maybe it's affecting your cognitive abilities.
So wife dragged me to the grocery store. The roads were completely empty! Inside the store, whoever was shopping did not seem to care...picking their noses, touching everything, etc. My OCD was out of control today...wife got annoyed lol
Go to northern Italy and tell the 16 million Italians that are locked down and quarantined your little story. Be sure not to come anywhere near me after you do. Thanks in advance.
What do you think of Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Twitter, Facebook asking their employees to work from home, banning international travels and cancelling all large events? Many more companies not in the "hot zone" area have also banned travels and cancelled large gathering. If you do use the actions of successful companies to gauge, these are literally some of the most successful companies in the world taking serious restrictions. Some US university are now also starting to close classroom. Many international airports outside the US do literally take your temp (not saying it is at all effective). Yes, that does not seem to happening here in the US airports even though it is US gov policy for CDC staffs to take temp and watch for signs of sickness (itself a separate issue of why aren't policy being follow). We are witnessing governments (Italy, SK, China, ...) taking some of the most draconian and/or "war-like" actions because of this. Israel itself is considering barring visitors from some of the US states with the recent cases in the US. The media is probably blowing this out of proportion (don't know as I don't watch TV)... but if actions of companies and of governments is a good gauge... we could be heading for some serious days ahead. Saw this clip from today...
We can all have our opinions, that's fine. No need for what you said at the start of the comment though @Deckard I'll simply continue to judge things by how I'm experiencing them personally.
You're right, and I apologize. I'll edit my post. I would add that the exchange between you and @Rashmon wasn't the most polite I've seen, on both sides. I've been worrying about this virus for weeks now, and I've been to Northern Italy many times. It's a beautiful part of that country, historic towns and cities dotting the landscape, the Alps rising to the north, with a coastline that is simply stunning. The people tend to be warm and friendly, educated and industrious. Heck, I sound like a travel guide. It can have that effect on you if you've spent time there. Just in the last 24 hours, 133 more Italians have died and the death count has gone from 233 to 366. During the same 24 hours, the total number that are infected has, "leapt 25% to 7,375 from 5,883, according to the Civil Protection agency." That quote is straight from the website of BBC News, which is understandably covering the impact of the virus not only on Britain, but in the rest of Europe, the United States, and the world. Italy is easily the country hardest hit in Europe, at least so far. 16 million Italians are essentially quarantined, a quarter of their population, a number I find astonishing. I'm concerned that we will see a lot of grief in this country before we have effective anti-viral medicines to treat the sick, and a vaccine developed. I would love to be wrong.
No real changes, my company has banned travel to the obvious places such as China and Italy. I have not changed anything as far as going out but I am cleaning my office surfaces and door handles more often.
I went to the rodeo this weekend, but we'll probably at least slow down with what we're doing. Since spring break is starting, we were going to do a few things, but maybe we'll just stay home and save some money.
I said it before and I'll say it again. I'll be dammed if I have to cancel my road trip to Colorado next week.
business as usual for me, but i think it would be prudent to stock on up non-perishable food and things you can freeze. ive still got a couple cases of dehydrated food that church groups were giving out to those of us doing harvey clean-up. nobody wanted them so i kept two full boxes. ive got 3 sxsw gigs and the organizers of all are vowing to go ahead with them. i probably wont do too much beyond my own shows though. some friends of mine are going to france in late april and are probably going to cancel. im going to ireland in late june, but as of now im still going.
We have relatives coming in this week and months ago bought Rodeo tickets for Saturday. My oldest daughter has heart issues and and my wife's sister-in-law has respiratory issues so we may have her stay at home with my daughter. The two people that wanted to go the most...
I am already cancelling my cruise from Barcelona at the end of April. I get $800 credit to use by March of 2020 and the rest will be refunded. As for my loft apt booking in Spain, booking.com will not refund my 380 euro deposit as of now. My flight from Dublin to Barcelona will only offer credit until Dec, which does me no good really. My flight to Ireland and 2 weeks of cottage rental plans are up in the air until I see developments. Here's what I do know. In Iran, 3 weeks ago they had 2 cases and now they have 7,161. In South Korea they had 29 cases 3 weeks ago and now they have 7,382. In Italy they had 2 cases 3 weeks ago and now they have 7,375. In one week, if other countries increase at that rate then we are in trouble. Ireland could have over 7,000, in 3 weeks, and in a couple weeks Germany, France, Spain and the US could all have over 7,000. Scary stuff. In one week I am going to be looking at Italy, Iran, and South Korea's increases. Italy alone went from 4600 to 7375 in the last 2 days, and people are still not being restricted completely from flying in and out of parts of Italy. The cruise companies, airlines, and government leaders are not doing enough to protect the spreading around the world. It's all about business and profits. The airports and cruise screenings are not good enough. It's really ridiculous.
South Korea's numbers are already cooling off.....but might surge again who knows. They should just contain the cult, everything else isn't as serious. I do not have positive predictions for Iran and Italy.
