Just a couple days ago the first confirmed cases were reported here in Ohio. There are at this moment four cases, and I know that at least three of them are in Cuyahoga County where I live. Three people among a population of 1.24 million people is a very tiny amount. The question is will the virus be successfully contained, or will it explode.
As a senior citizen I am told that I am at risk. However, I have (knock on wood) no serious health problems, and, when I am at home and not traveling, I go to the gym five days a week and work out for an hour and a half. I certainly do not consider myself frail and elderly. Furthermore I have read that the mortality rate for the virus among people in their sixties is around 3%. So if I were to catch the virus, there would be a 97% chance that I would recover. Putting that in perspective, If, heaven forbid, I were diagnosed with cancer, and the doctor told me that my chances of survival were 97% I would be very happy indeed.
If I should come down with something, even if it's just the sniffles, I will stay at home. I have enough food in the pantry that I will not need to go to the store. And I bought a thermometer so that I will know if I have a fever.
My biggest worry at this point is how the pandemic is going to affect my travel plans. Last December when I found a very reasonable, round-trip, first class airfare to Mexico City, I jumped on it and made my reservation for my April trip to Mexico. In less than a month I am supposed to leave.
As of today there have been eight confirmed cases of corona virus in the entire country of Mexico. Of those eight, four have already recovered, and there have been no fatalities. It seems as if I am safer in Mexico than here in the U.S. (0.1 cases per million people as opposed to 3.2 in the U.S.)
Supposedly the airlines are doing a more thorough job of sanitizing the planes during this crisis. However I will still do my own sanitizing job. I have a small spray bottle of Lysol spray and a packet of Clorox disinfectant wipes that are within the limits for the "liquids bag" that I am allowed in my carry-on. Hand sanitizer is not to be found in any of the stores, but fortunately I had several partially used bottles from previous trips. I consolidated them into two full travel-size bottles of sanitizer.
I am worried about whether or not the first leg of my flight from Cleveland will be cancelled. It is a large 737 jet and, right now there are only eleven passengers on the entire plane. Every day I go to the United website and look at the seating chart for that flight.
I am the only person in first class. That would be really nice. I would have my own flight attendant, and I wouldn't be next to someone who was sick. However I really don't think that the flight will run with so few people. The second leg of my journey, the flight to Mexico City is about half full... IF there are not a bunch of cancellations in the upcoming weeks. Whatever happens, I hope that I am not stuck with a horrendous itinerary.
My final worry is what if I come down with the virus while I am in Mexico. I am not so worried for myself, but I don't want to give the bug to Alejandro's family, especially his 80 year old father.
I am just going to have to wait and see how things progress in the coming weeks.
I flew into southern California today for a planned visit with my sister. My flight was only about 1/3 full and I had an entire row of 6 seats to myself. I've always been obsessed with cleanliness, and I feel like planes are probably cleaner than ever before now, so I hope I'm actually less likely than usual to catch anything on a plane. (I too brought my own cleaning wipes and the half-full bottle of hand sanitizer I had left from our Merida trip last year--I couldn't find any more in stores before I left town.)
ReplyDeleteI've joked about what I would do if I got stuck here, and I'm visiting family, so there are certainly worse places I could be. And then I got an email from one of my jobs teaching water fitness saying they were cancelling classes at one location indefinitely because of the threat of Coronavirus, so I don't have any work to come back to for at least a few weeks anyway now. (I'll have no income either, but that's another issue....)
I still came on my trip because my family is important to me, and like you, I am in good health and hope I wouldn't develop a severe illness if I did become sick. I'm also of reminded a quote (I don't remember its attribution) that seemed apt when I headed to the airport this morning: "A ship may be safest in harbor, but that's not what ships are for."
I hope you are able to decide on a course of action that makes sense to you and your loved ones!
Thanks, Meredith.
DeleteAt this point I am not planning on cancelling my trip.
When I get to my apartment down there, I intend to go to the supermarket and stock up on canned goods, just in case I should need to self-quarantine myself.
And, as in your case, if I get stuck down there, I can think of worse places to be!