I get what you are saying but it IS spreading. It is contagious and it is doubtful everyone is quarantined as evidenced by cases spreading to new countries.
Does a decision need to be made now if the trip isn’t until July? I think your May timeframe (or later) is better. Since you are putting out your own $$, is there a reason to deal with a decision now given so much is changing on a day to day basis?
One of my son’s friends went to speak with the FUA (Florida University of the Arts). They walked away from that conversation with the understanding that FUA will be closing before long and forcing everyone to finish out their studies online. It’s super frustrating as these kids are being given an alarmist message of get out or you might not be able to get out. But I’m sure not seeing anything online that insinuates that’s the case. I. The meantime they’re being offered no partial refund for their study abroad program and are losing all of their money on their trips that they booked to see Europe throughout the semester. So frustrating.
@doschicos. That’s for your point of view.
She got accepted for this program 2 years ago and has been back twice through school https://www.clscholarship.org/
It is a free trip but competitive since like 10% get accepted for it. So it’s not costing her /us anything but maybe updates on some vaccines that she had last year. So we are in a good spot either way. But of course don’t want to bail last-minute if someone else wants to go… FYI. Great immersive trip for all your kids but maybe next year… Lol…
@Unpaiduberdriver, the students are likely able to remain there on their own if they wish. The housing has already been paid for, and they could continue on their own trips if they wish. They are certainly old enough to do so, and I expect any local professors would work with them, or they could do the online course from Europe. They won’t have the structure and support of the US college staff there, but generations of students have managed.
@Charlotte44 we are in the exact same situation. I am happy that my daughter’s college is providing a calm and appropriate response to the news, giving the students daily updates on current numbers, travel warnings, border issues etc., as well as updates on what other colleges are doing for reference. Students were told it was okay for them to go home if they felt more comfortable and the school would figure out how to complete the semester. All school trips are cancelled until further notice. Instructors have been told to avoid museums and churches temporarily.
I am very comfortable with her remaining. No flights to/from Rome have been cancelled (and very few to/from Milan and Venice where the outbreak is). No borders shut. These kids face enough adjustment living so far from home for 4 months; they don’t need to feel unnecessary panic. Healthy, young adults are at very low risk. Just like the ordinary winter flu - they don’t want to get it, but they’ll be okay if they do. As you point out - EVERYONE now knows how to properly protect themselves … our children are being reminded daily.
People are continuing to travel to and from Italy every day. The CDC warning is cautionary, but not at an emergency level.
Brown and Johns Hopkins are in Bologna which is closer to the outbreak in Italy and now has new cases of its own - neither school has cancelled their programs. Until our school decides to cancel, we’ll let her enjoy her experience in Rome!
Well, Italy is up to 650 positive cases and 17 deaths. I don’t feel confident they will be getting this contained any time soon.
Interesting that so far, this death rate - 2.6% - is fairly similar to the 2.8% preliminary reports out of China. Still not enough data to allow conclusions, but that might imply that the death rate in China is not disproportionately high due to a population of TB infected smokers and that other countries with lower rates of smoking and TB might experience fewer deaths.
According to CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the coronavirus death rate is over 20 times that for the flu.
Anyone else see the health minister of Iran on CNN a day or two ago ? He made fun of those exhibiting concern about the coronavirus, then got it himself. Hopefully, he is taking it more seriously now.
I wonder how they are calculating that…given that it’s very likely that there are people who have had the virus and haven’t been tested…perhaps a great deal of people.
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I wonder how they are calculating that…given that it’s very likely that there are people who have had the virus and haven’t been tested…perhaps a great deal of people.
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Lots of people get the flu and don’t get tested either.
I do not know how it was calculated. Cable news stations, both CNN’s medical specialist as well as Fox News’ medical specialist, have been confirming that the President’s statement was correct about the much higher death rate for coronavirus than for the flu.
Just following on the above: Purdue has cancelled all University-sponsored travel to Japan, Iran, Italy, and South Korea, in addition to the Shanghai cancellation several weeks ago.
They have rescheduled my D’s trip to Peru (the technology design and manufacturing powerhouse of Peru?), where, unfortunately, she has already travelled.
The professor’s email said they would “give us a note for the airlines”. My travel experience tells me this won’t yield a refund - I need to hope United expands their waiver coverage to Japan in the next 2 weeks.
“According to CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the coronavirus death rate is over 20 times that for the flu.”
While it’s true that people get the flu and don’t get tested there are indications that this virus may have a much higher rate of asymptomatic/very mild symptoms than the flu. Good article on NYT about this. Also there are significantly fewer tests available for this virus than the flu ( which can easily be found in most drs offices) This would mean the death rate is much overstated. Only time will give real indications.
Stonehill college students are leaving Rome and Florence as of yesterday.
@betwixt I agree with what you are saying and that is why it is such a difficult decision. All of our students have put a lot of time effort and expectation into these studies/ trips… And the not inconsequential money and college credits.
We recently got a letter from our DDs program saying “wait until the CDC designates Italy as level 3” If you look at the current Level 3 countries I personally would not agree to go there and neither do the college programs.
Having traveled extensively all over the world, we know that there is more to a situation than merely deciding to leave and going to the airport …
We (adults) have both been be very ill in a foreign country and have our kids be very ill (hospital in US). It a very difficult situation because young people will hold onto their plans and be in denial of the seriousness of the situation.
Personally still have not made a final decision as of today.
Thank you all for your updates as this is very helpful. We are lucky to have kids that will listen to reason, but I understand how hard this is for them.
I would also like to point out that characterizing COVID-19 as “the flu” is somewhat misleading. The flu has a mortality rate of .01% while COVID-19 has a mortality rate of between 2-3%. That is 20 to 30 times more fatal than the flu. We are in an unknown period with this as full data is not complete and some information has been inaccurate.
@Unpaiduberdriver Lol love the name! Where is your student studying? What program?
Death rate for seasonal flu in the US is about 0.1% (it’s on CDC website). The death rate for COVID-19 is not yet finalized. In China, the death rate is 3-4% in the virus epicenter of Wuhan and its surrounding area, but less than 1% (about 0.5% or so on average) in other cities and provinces in China. Higher death rate in the Wuhan area is attributed to the lack of medical resources initially and the initial delay in recognizing the severity of the disease. Dr Anthony Fauci of NIH thinks the ultimate death rate will be even lower as more missed cases are included.
@Charlotte44 With 4 kids, (two left at home) that really is my life…An unpaid uber driver. LOL My son is studying in Florence at the Florence University of Arts through the SAI program. They have been given a choice to stay or leave, which I really do appreciate since many schools aren’t giving the students an option to stay, but they have to give a final decision by Sunday, March 1. If they leave, they can’t come back to the program in Florence, and won’t receive any prorated refund for housing. It’s a lot of pressure on them to decide. There’s a lot of frantic discussion and every time another school pulls their students out, they second guess their plan to stay. But goodness, if they come home and it ends up Florence never is quarantined and locked down (which is the fear more so than the virus), they’re sure going to be disappointed they left. If they had the option to return, that might help the decision. In the meantime, we are trying to stay updated for any turn of events and help him weigh the pros and cons of staying. Who do you have over there and what are your thoughts at this point for staying/leaving?
Here is the scoop about the flu. Many people have had a shot. So first, there is herd immunity, so less pathogen in the air. Second, tests for flu are all over the place. Go to a minute clinic, they can test you on the spot. That will be reported to the local health officials and the CDC. Third, even people who don’t get the shot every year could still have residual immunity and may get a mild case.