Coronavirus (COVID-19) Respiratory illness - Effect on Travel

[Tropic]

The ABC has lost the plot...

 

[Must...Fly!]

Exclusive: Cathay to cut flights to mainland China by 90 per cent amid virus woes

Airline will reduce overall flight capacity by about 30 per cent, says CEO.

www.scmp.com

Cathay Pacific Airways is to cut 90 per cent of its services to mainland China for two months as it combats the fallout from the deadly coronavirus outbreak.

Hong Kong’s battered flagship airline will reduce overall flight capacity by about 30 per cent, its chief executive Augustus Tang Kin-wing said on Tuesday.

The carrier, one of Asia’s premium airlines and one of the biggest corporate victims of several months of anti-government protests in Hong Kong, has seen passenger numbers collapse by 50 per cent in recent days, sources said, citing comments from a briefing on Monday led by Mark Hoey, the airline’s general manager of operations.

 

[juddles]

.......

Of course, pretty flaky analysis, doesn’t consider undetected/unreported cases, relative growth rates in case numbers by location, ability of a country to report, the low reliability of small numbers as indicators, and so on. Nor does it consider crowding and concentration of cases in cities. If you did, you’d note Australia’s relative “hotspot“.

Gold Coast, 2, 0.68m, 1/340,000.

Not seeking to instil fear, quite the opposite. ....

It is an unfortunate but inevitable side-effect of these sorts of things that the "harm" caused by fear probably in some metric outweighs the actual direct physical impact. As I say, inevitable, as the need to prepare for or take action to avoid some potential harm will always have that associated fear. Obviously an impossibility in reality, but it would be nice if there was a way to get people to be careful without having the media stir up panic and alarm.

When the Zika virus became the news in 2015/2016, I was living/working in the jungle in Colombia. Obviously, the country entered in to some sort of State Panic, fueled by the media. It was an interesting education for me in how these things go. All the usual - from massive drops in tourism, to people buying out all supplies of face masks, etc etc etc. Zika was particularly cruel (the fad, not the actual disease) as it caused millions of pregnant women and their partners fearing that their soon-to-be-born might have a tiny head. In the end it was a storm in a teacup. But it also probably had a positive effect in that the collective community became much more aware of the general peril that mozzies bring (due to malaria far far more than Zika) And it provided a sudden and desperately needed flood of money to medical services in the jungle, as they learnt the trick of reporting malaria patients as Zika.

Malaria still kills about half a million people every year. And truly makes life miserable for many times that. But as travellers "we" don't let that stop us from travelling to where it is present, which is essentially almost all the tropical areas of the planet, and quite a bit of non-tropical space also. Because it is not in the news.

I have put off an intended trip to SE asia at the moment due to Coronavirus. Not through fear of contracting it, but more through the inconveniences and risks of disrupted travel plans in the current hype.

I suggest that these are greater real factors for travellers than actually dying from the disease. The other side of this is altruism. Maybe AFF people should all cancel their travels, stay in self-isolation for a while, for the common good of not becoming vectors?

Anyway, I have lost my train of thought, even if I ever had one. I sit here on the Sunshine Coast on the back porch listening to the glorious rain. hearing the drops on the trees, smelling the damp, breathing in the delicious moisture. I realize that if it were not for this internet thing, and my trusty laptop, I would be blissfully unaware that Coronavirus even existed. I already have made peace with the malaria, Ross River, and Chagas that I have accumulated through sheer living. So I am happy. Rain has that effect on me.

But I think I can actually hear mozzies making love and breeding....

 

[dajop]

So Singapore have now reported four locally transmitted cases. Two to shop attendants a tour group visited with infected persons, one to a tour group leader and one to a domestic helper of an infected person.

4 locally transmitted cases among new coronavirus patients in Singapore

SINGAPORE: Singapore confirmed on Tuesday (Feb 4) its first locally transmitted cases of the novel coronavirus, among six new cases of the disease detected in the country.Four Singapore residents with no recent travel history to China have tested positive for the virus, which has

www.channelnewsasia.com

The shop (the group visited, which infected the shop attendants) is about 800m walk from where I live, so getting close to home.

At least though the press and government are sharing good details (such as the hotels of where the infected people stayed etc). When I was in Dubai over Chinese New Year (the same time the group here in Singapore was moving around), it coincided with a family of 4 who had the virus visiting Dubai - and zero details on where they stayed or visited!

 

[Must...Fly!]

Yikes

 

[JohnM]

The ABC has lost the plot...

Over the years, I have been a pretty good defender of the ABC.

But it has been fading.

Tonight, it is gone.

They went out of their way to hunt down the most egregious whingers and moaners to make a 'story' out of nothing to satisfy some victimhood narrative that is pervading our lives these days.

Bloody disgraceful.

 

[get me outta here]

I see that the children are being entertained by the red crab migration. . The ABC told me that.

 

[get me outta here]

Any feedback on whether those turned away from the cruise are getting recompense?

Oh they were ropable! Their cruise was rediverted to Singapore which at the time - not sure now - had more cases than HK. And they were only in transit for an hour or so.

 

[get me outta here]

What news from Sky, what’s their plot? Luckily, the ABC has got us through the fires and floods and hail and smoke.
Nobody is perfect but the ABC is much more useful.

The ABC has lost the plot...

 

[Pushka]

Any feedback on whether those turned away from the cruise are getting recompense?

They are given a refund or voucher for the amount they paid. Which when it’s your annual holiday means it’s another 12 months before the holiday can be undrtaken. They won’t be booking Celebrity again. They won’t be receiving any recompense for flights because they flew them - over a three day period, in and out again. So that’s a few thousand dollars gone right there.

 

[cove]

A relative returned from Shanghai with his family on Saturday after 5 days there. They are doing a 14 day isolation at home so the three children are being home schooled and mum and dad are working from home. For supplies they are getting Woolies home deliveries to drop the goods near the front door of their home. They are not opening the door for visitors during this self isolation.
This family found it difficult in Shanghai to find any restaurants still open.
Dad thinks there could be many who are infected remaining in their homes as they cannot afford medical treatment.

 

[Quickstatus]

Yes in Centrally governed Communist China health care is not free.
Rural health care is often rudimentary. Urban areas have Western like private hospitals with very high fees. In the middle are public hospitals- The free stuff are at the basic level. Health insurance covers the rest but less an often not at 100%.

Many would be using traditional medicine. I can imagine many would not be able to afford healthcare. There is also a scarcity of doctors.
Remember China is a country in transition - many parts are still Third world. Millions still live in poverty.

 

[Melburnian1]

Just based in Adelaide and this week (today actually) have had several thousands of dollars of consulting work halted. And we are only talking of interstate work.

Why? As with that recounted by pauly7 (who says he had to 'obtain permission' to travel to BNE), this seems beyond the pale.

I understand the reluctance about some Asian travel (or elsewhere internationally) but domestically?

 

[Pushka]

Why? As with that recounted by pauly7 (who says he had to 'obtain permission' to travel to BNE), this seems beyond the pale.

I understand the reluctance about some Asian travel (or elsewhere internationally) but domestically?

Oh not our decision at all. Happy to travel. But Clients needed to regroup to cater for the significant disruption to their industry that has been created by coronavirus and all the travel bans from China of non citizens.

 

[Quickstatus]

In the meantime... anyone hear about the 5000 measles cases out of population of 200000 with 80 deaths in Samoa in the last 3 months?

 

[Pushka]

In the meantime... anyone hear about the 5000 measles cases out of population of 200000 with 80 deaths in Samoa in the last 3 months?

Awful for the locals. I wonder why - did they not have access to immunisation?

 

[Dr Ralph]

In the meantime... anyone hear about the 5000 measles cases out of population of 200000 with 80 deaths in Samoa in the last 3 months?

Yes.

Got quite a bit of coverage.

 

[Quickstatus]

According to WHO only 30% pop immunised at the start fo the outbreak

 

[p--and--t]

In the meantime... anyone hear about the 5000 measles cases out of population of 200000 with 80 deaths in Samoa in the last 3 months?

Unfortunately, AU a largely capitalist driven society and it obviously hasn't hit anyone's bottom line in AU.

Also measles is boring, been around for so long, how can you turn that into good click-bait panic panic material?

 

[Justinf]

ABC reporting "bad internet" on Christmas Island.
Can't be any worse than the mainland.