Our general philosophy is that we’d rather die young and truly live than grow into old age having done absolutely nothing, but we do this wearing seatbelts, without texting and driving, and generally being safe.
Accidents happen, but they don’t need to be caused.
For us, our med school son visiting home is worth the risk. It’s not for him to visit 92year old with one lung and heart issues FIL without having time to isolate first. Skype is fine.
Just like I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I caused a fatal accident texting and driving, I couldn’t if I took Covid to someone who died from it either.
Just throwing it out there…with all this “isolating for a few days and then testing” - have you thought about what you’d do if that test - once they are home - was positive?? I mean, hopefully not and God forbid but I sometimes think we get stuck in the “there is safety and comfort in testing” - while we should also give thought to how it would be if the traveler DID test positive soon after their arrival?
Best case scenario, all is fine. Worst, they will travel to have to stay isolated and then potentially have issues getting on a plane and flying back.
Just to clarify, seeing grandmother in our family means window visit at facility with masks and distancing! They are providing heaters for both resident inside and family outside
Testing before flight will be done as well as 5 days after.
Testing upon return to their apartments after flying is another issue. Five days?
When my daughter gets here, we will certainly be anxious to see each other, so I am hoping 5 days wait to test is enough.
But when she goes back, there will be no pressure so wondering if she should wait longer to test. This info keeps changing!
I booked early and the suites were $554. There are only 4 on the plane. The regular seats were only $140 so I could have bought two and, with one empty seat already in the middle, bought a whole row.
Good luck everyone!
ps my local daughter is coming over today. and asked if she could come in. She has roommates but is relatively careful and doing school remotely. I said she could come in for 10 minutes, masked, and I would not return for a few hours. I think we are going to stay outside. This is tough. When her sister comes, the local daughter is going to feel left out. Hmmmm.
We have planned for that if our son and DIL test positive from visiting her family. We will make the 4 hour trip to go home and vote, then return here in VA to wait it out while they stay at our farm.
We thought about voting prior to coming - just in case - but it’s PA, so voting is absentee even if done early and so much of that is in the court or threatened to be in the court post election. We want to be sure our votes count regardless of how decisions turn out. Med school lad voted by mail, but hasn’t had confirmation come in yet that it was received and accepted. If he doesn’t get it, he’s taking a day off (with approval for the “cause”) and driving 6 hours one way to vote on election day with a provisional ballot to be sure his vote gets counted.
@abasket, there are four people living in my home right now (two high schoolers, dh and myself). Having our two college kids come home and possibly test positive would be treated the same way if any of the rest of us who are already living in our home tested positive. They would quarantine in their bedroom or our basement and we would take care of them. They would have sole use of one of our two full bathrooms and the rest of us would share the other. Anytime the positive person leaves quarantine area to use bathroom, masks would be worn. Not perfect, but the only option.
I’m comfortable with seeing my D and having her inside our home. No one is at high risk here. I feel less comfortable seeing the 80 year old inlaws. They can’t wait to see us but we are so worried about bringing the virus to them.
I probably would not travel to any of the 18 states that do not have state-wide masking requirements, or allow anyone from those states to visit us. At this point in time, 11 of the 12 states with the highest rates of infection in the US do not have state-wide masking requirements (Wisconsin is the one exception). This include very low-density population states such as North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana. I’m sure they thought they were “safe” and didn’t need masks.
This is particularly significant when you realize that 32 states DO have mask requirements.
II imagine it is exactly because of the holiday surge that they have changed the policy! That is a lot of business to lose. Not sure, just speculating.
Yes, but I guess I didn’t word it precisely enough…it was the predicted winter Covid surge along with holiday travel I was referring to! I think the airline would also be at risk to lose a lot of business when sensible and ethical people realize what they are up to. A lot ot of people are loyal to SW airlines…SW could lose that loyalty and trust.
@oldfort, lovely. Thx for letting me know. Anyone know if Delta is selling middle seats? I can switch her flight. Why in the world would SWA change stance now, when cases are surging everywhere?
I’m not convinced that the middle seat thing is that big of a deal in the overall picture.
Initially I thought it was. You are still close to other people, there is still a good air vent system, and there are still risks. I don’t think we can expect the airlines to keep bleeding.
Oops, just tried to edit but missed the window. Delta isnt selling middle seats through the end of year, but does not have a direct flight. I think I’d rather have her have less exposure/time in more than one airport so rather than change her current flight, I’m waiting for SWA to see how full her flight currently is. I doubt it will be a popular flight considering the day she is traveling but checking to make sure. And maybe less people will buy as apt to fly knowing middle seats won’t be empty (one can hope!).
Just returned home last night from 4 nights away. We traveled by car and spent one night in a motel near our daughter and 3 nights in another part of the state at another hotel. All in we visited four counties in Ca in addition to the stops for gas. 2 of the counties Marin and San Francisco we saw 100% mask compliance.
Our hotel room in Marin was at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge on an old military fort in a suite in a building with 4 units and we were the only occupied room. The buildings were spread out and it was easy to avoid others. Plenty of windows to open and an outside entrance. They did no room cleaning and they said they keep the rooms empty for several days. All the staff and other guests were masked. Our room had been empty for a week. The place was pretty empty. The hotel had electric bikes available for use and we spent most of our days out riding. We rode over the Golden Gate bridge and also into Sausalito. Both days we encountered few people. In SF we just stopped for a walk and lunch. We picked up food and took it to the park. Again everyone we encountered had masks. I was surprised that people walking alone or biking also were masked. We felt comfortable and would go again.
Our first stop was a county east of the Bay Area and the mask wearing was a lot less. We went to lunch outdoors at a place that had a huge outdoor park like setting. Our picnic table was on the far side at least a tennis court distance from the nearest table. We saw a lot of families and people walking in the park with no masks. They did wear masks when going inside to order and pickup food which was required. I got the feeling that people in this area aren’t as compliant with the law. If we hadn’t needed to be in that area for a specific reason I would avoid traveling there again. Our D and her husband say most people they know wear a mask when it’s required but aren’t nearly as diligent as residents in our area of the state.
I feel for everyone who is missing family. I am lucky to have some family local and we have been able to have outside time together. Plus I think a lot of Ca right now is in a decent place due to the fact we have kept things shut down and reopened slowly.
9 days away From our vacation (DH and I). WE are going to Cabo and taking a direct flight from Delta. Going there we were able to get first class based on certificates that I have. Once there we are staying at an all inclusive and any outtings we have will be water based or we are renting a car and going into the desert. The resorts are only up to 40% capacity. The numbers in that part of Mexico look good as well. I have a new mask from Israel , Sonovia, which is suppose to be 99% effective against Covid (at least better than regular cloth masks from what I can see) https://www.israel21c.org/israeli-sonomasks-confirmed-effective-against-covid-19/
I feel that for taking a “real vacation” we are doing as many precautions as we can. Once we come back we will Quarantine from seeing others and wait a week and test. Yes, we know it can take up to 14 days. Right now we are also limiting what we do so that hopefully we are covid free before we leave. Also will be testing 72 hours before we leave, even though Mexico does not require it.
I actually feel safer flying and doing this trip , than going around town these days.
Well it is officially my last night of quarantine here in Australia. In 13.5 hours I’m free again! I can’t wait to take my first breath of fresh air in 14 days!
@HighTide2020, this study (https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/study-empty-middle-seats-make-flying-safer-during-covid-19)was done by a very capable guy at MIT who has been studying the airline industry since I was a grad student. It suggests that the probability of getting COVID on a plane from a nearby passenger on a full plane is 1 in 4300 and this goes down to 1/7700 if middle seats are blocked. Not high probabilities but not that low either, but the probability of getting COVID is 79% higher if the middle seats are also filled.
My airline industry friends have told me that because of the fresh air being pumped in, the planes are relatively safe but that they worry about airports.
