By Emily Woodbury
You may be sick of hearing about it, but the coronavirus isn’t going away any time soon (please prove me wrong, coronavirus gods!). It’s no surprise that it’s on our minds. You can see how it’s already affected us, RVtravel.com, here.
If you’re in an RV right now, consider yourself lucky. I’m writing this from an apartment complex just north of Seattle, where my neighbor’s door is less than two feet away from mine. Sure, I have my little cocoon of a space, but those public handrails…yikes! I’d like to be in an RV right now.
Anyway, a couple of Saturdays ago we asked you if you’ve cut back on participating in activities involving large crowds. Now, in my state, large crowds have already been banned since we asked this (like here in Washington, all events/gatherings of 250 people or more are banned, and in New York, the same goes for crowds of over 500), so your answer might be different now. Here’s what you said: 16 percent of you are seriously limiting your interactions with people, 28 percent of you have cut back from being in crowds but not a lot, and 56 percent of you have not, you’re just living your life as normal.
We got tons (and by tons I mean 83, as of when I’m writing this) comments on this one.
Alpenliter wrote, “Living just fifty miles from the epicenter of the outbreak (Kirkland, WA) and having heart disease, respiratory problems, AND Diabetes, you better believe I’m curtailing my activities. Our park has postponed all social gatherings until this thing is sorted out.” I live near Kirkland too, Alpenliter. Stay safe!
Reader Roy Ellithorpe is much like me. He commented, “I checked ‘I’m living my life as usual’ but for us, that means avoiding people as much as possible anyway.” Jeez, Roy, would you like to join the staff of RVtravel.com? You’d fit right in with us introverts.
Bounder, you’re brilliant. Let’s all be like Bounder. They wrote, “The only changes to our travel plans are to take advantage of cancellations at places where we were otherwise unable to book for this year.”
Many of you mentioned that the coronavirus is hyped up by the media, that it’s no worse than the flu, and that everyone should stop panicking. Well, I won’t say my thoughts, but I will leave you with this comment by Egroeg, which did make me laugh. “One of the better-presented bits of information came from the Yuma Health Department… ‘Wash your hands like you’ve just been chopping jalapenos and you need to remove your contact ‘Right Now!’
This made me both chuckle and exclaim… But of course…. Stay healthy all.”
Yes, indeed. Stay healthy all.
##RVDT1297
The State of Florida has seen to it that I do not participate in crowds over 10. My niece’s wedding was cancelled today. The venue and caterer were basically shut down by the Governor.
Just 8 days ago we were all out enjoying a band (outdoors) at a great brewery for St Paddy’s day … life has changed dramatically this week as an essential worker and part of the medical reserve corp. Staying safe & avoiding all crowds – thankful for live streaming events with my church, neighbors walking down the sidewalks for interaction (6 feet apart) in ways we have not seen in 30 yrs and easy ups to go visit older relatives from a distance outside for a quick meal together.
I imagine that a lot of the people who said they haven’t changed their behavior listened to the president who called Covid-19 a hoax which was repeated ad nauseam on Fox News. Both have certainly changed their tunes. Even Lou Dobbs is self-quarantining!
Our churches have folded along with every other kind of meeting and state office here in Texas. One can’t get into hardly anywhere without a personal key. Seems like folks are taking this virus pretty seriously and I am maintaining a distance from everyone, not touching my face and washing my hands all the time as well as using hand sanitizer when I can’t wash. We may be overdoing our reactions to this illness but I prefer to err on the side of caution. Being in seventh decade seems to have put me in a higher risk bracket so taking precautions and avoiding crowds suits me just fine.
we’re in an RV resort in Mesa AZ until Apr 15. from here the plan is (was?) to see my aunt in FL before heading home to Chicago. i’m wondering if it would be wiser to cut it all short and just head home now.
while i may not be overly concerned for myself, i feel it is appropriate for me to be concerned about unknowingly spreading the virus to others. while some are making a case that covid19 is “no worse than the flu” we should remember that there is currently no vaccine for covid19 while there is a vaccine for the flu. could make a huge difference in the general population.
We should be concerned, not necessarily for our personal safety, although that should be a concern as well, but for our medical system. The US is as prepared as Italy was for a major influx of patients (thousands) requiring critical care at the same time. https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/03/a-covid-19-coronavirus-update-from-concerned-physicians.html
Want to point out the unethical conduct during this pandemic of the Biltmore RV Park in Savannah, GA. Family made reservations and were required to pay 100% in advance weeks ago. The father had a lung transplant in 2019 and his doctor advised him to not travel during this pandemic due to immune system potentially being compromised.
They called to cancel their reservations and were flatly refused ANY REFUND at this park. Response was “you should have planned better”. This type of business ethics need to be shared among the RVing community!!
I was planning on seeing if I could there long term if I could while my house is being raised in Tybee Island. Guess I will look elsewhere.
We have cut back quite a bit. Not overly scared but cautious. Headed to camp ground today. Usually mind our own business as we relax and enjoy nature. Not much on big crowds anyway.
I’m living my life as usual, but my usual life does not include crowds.