<p>My family has a trip planned to Cancun for the week beginning on June 1st. Should we be thinking of canceling it? Thoughts?</p>
<p>See the other thread on this. My family is going to Punta de Mita mid June. No thought of cancelling. The cases in Mexico are currently almost all (if not all) in Mexico City. There are issues in Mexico City with water and hygiene. I don’t believe that your typical all inclusive resort in Cancun or Punta has those issues. Wash your hands, don’t drink the water, don’t eat on the streets. But that is just my opinion. CNN will tell you it’s a near pandemic. The other thread has posters who are worried about their kids flying to Europe. I don’t get it.</p>
<p>The prep school that closed down in New York got their flu from Cancun. I don’t think you should cancel though. By then it probably will have either affected the whole country and it won’t matter, or it will have died down and it won’t matter. Either way I think your fine.</p>
<p>I’m in Baja Norte Mexico. I don’t think things are any different here than in, oh, say… Delaware. Where my brother is. He sees about as many people wearing masks as we do here. So I don’t think anyone should be thinking “Mexico” is one tiny metro area. It is a huge huge country. </p>
<p>I can’t speak to Cancun; but I think it’s early to be cancelling June plans… unless you are facing some sort of deadline.</p>
<p>If I had to make a decision now, I’d cancel. The tour companies here in Canada have cancelled all trips to Mexico until at least June 1. The government has advised against travel to Mexico. The Canadians who have been diagnosed with swine flu have all visited the Cancun area, not Mexico City. One other issue that has arisen and which I heard discussed in a tv segment yesterday is that you should check with your health carrier to see if your insurance will still cover you in Mexico should you become ill. Apparently, there are some that will not.</p>
<p>We have the same dilemma. Our airline will impose a hefty fee for any changes to the tickets unless we are scheduling to fly out in the next couple of weeks. About the NY cases with kids at Cancun, did they have a layover at Mexico City or did the plane come from Mexico City to Cancun? That could have an effect.</p>
<p>I believe they had just a straight flight from Cancun to somewhere in America. At least, I know my friends that went down there had a straight flight to some international airport in America and then a straight flight to Cancun. I’m asuming they did too, but I could be wrong. </p>
<p>There is a suspected case at my school (of course, in another hour that my teacher has, at the desk I sit at :() and he had a straight flight to Cancun.</p>
<p>I was very surprised at the Mexican government’s announcement that it was requesting all non-essential business to stop.</p>
<p>According to Joe Biden on the news this morning you shouldn’t fly commercially or take the subway. My goodness…I’m sorry but I am not going to live my life that way.</p>
<p>I agree with the no flying advice. The dirty little fact is that after sitting in a pressurized airplane for a couple of hours you might as well have French kissed everyone aboard.</p>
<p>Toblin–can you please point to your sources on your statement? I’ve never read or heard what you mentioned and am sure the flying crews would be astounded by it! I agree there is a degree of shared air, but wow!</p>
<p>I have a business trip starting Monday, flying out Sunday, and I am going. At least the trip is to Atlanta, so the CDC will be handy. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>I understand there is some shared air but there are times when flying is a necessity not a luxury. I guess this is too political for a general thread but it certainly can’t help our economy when the VP is suggesting that no one fly commercial. Next they will want us to bail out the airlines.</p>
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If that were true, all flight attendants would be dead by now.</p>
<p>Actually, it would make ALL flight crews (including pilots & everyone else who flies frequently, including business execs living out of suitcases) have a much higher mortality than folks working in brothels & the like!</p>
<p>I’m not an alarmist and was the first to get on planes following terrorist attacks, to visit countries on State Department lists and I’ll fly with masks, but I would not go to Mexico now. This is not confined to Mexico City and the Mexican government is not on top of this. Standards are lax. With so many places to take similar vacations, why chance it?</p>
<p>Probably a good idea to buy travel insurance for any trips planned for the next few months. I think we can expect outbreaks all over the globe.</p>
<p>Anyone buying insurance needs to CAREFULLY review policy terms to be sure you’re getting what you THINK you’re getting. There are many who buy & think they’re protected but find that there is an exclusion. When in doubt, ASK & find out specifically where it says what you want it to say. Don’t believe agents who will say what they think you want to hear to pocket the premium & disappear.</p>
<p>My insurer covers us when we are away from our home state, so medical insurance when we travel has never been something we considered. When we explored available travel insurance for my S’s trip to Australia, the contract terms did NOT provide the coverage we needed so we saved the money & took our chances rather than paying AND not receiving what we needed anyway.</p>
<p>ebeeee, your hunch is right on. An infectious diseases doctor on NPR commented today on Biden’s idea that flying isn’t safe because one person’s sneeze is then circulated throughout the plane. The doctor said, “with all due respect to the VP, everything he said contradicts everything we know to be scientifically true” – which I thought was funny. He said a bacteria from the flu virus could at best travel a distance of three feet… so even if it did get into the air circulation system it certainly wouldn’t go very far. </p>
<p>I like Biden for many reasons, including that sometimes he puts not just one, but at least two feet in his mouth :)</p>
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<p>I agree, but what happens on planes is that there is so much ‘shared’ touching of objects, so your sneeze may only go three feet, but if it lands on six passengers, then they, in turn each get up to get something out of the overhead compartment, placing their hands on the latches, or go to the bathroom and lock/unlock the door, etc., that’s where the trouble is. How long does the virus stay on seatbelt buckles?</p>
<p>The same could be said for buses/trains/subways, but I think when you fly, you’re more apt to touch shared spaces with people, and people are more likely to move around due to the nature of air travel (longer travel time, carrying multiple baggage pieces, using the restrooms).</p>
<p>Instead of masks, perhaps they should be passing out gloves for people.</p>