Is coronavirus going to obstruct Pesach travel?

amother

Chartreuse

Thu, Mar 05 2020, 10:58 am

Unfortunately, like a lot in this epidemic, there isn’t yet enough evidence to know. But in general, someone who's pregnant is more at risk of catching viral respiratory infections such as the flu and feeling the impacts more severely. This is because pregnant people have weaker immune systems, as their bodies are working overtime to create a baby. But that shouldn’t be cause for alarm.

“There’s some illnesses that pregnant women are more susceptible to,” Roger Shapiro, an associate professor of immunology and infectious diseases at Harvard Medical School, told BuzzFeed News. “And we do not know right now if COVID-19 is going to be one of those.”

In a World Health Organization investigation of 147 pregnant women who got infected, only 8% had serious impacts and 1% were in critical condition. Of the 147 women, 64 were confirmed to have the disease, 82 were suspected, and 1 was not showing symptoms. Again, this study is preliminary and based on a really small sample size, so it’s hard to draw conclusions just yet.

https://www.who.int/docs/defau.....t.pdf

Zehava

Thu, Mar 05 2020, 11:00 am

Iymnok wrote:

Where do you have proof of that?
There have been two studies on 18 women in late pregnancy. The results were similar to those of healthy women. Unless there have been more studies, there is no proof in either direction and no information at all about earlier in pregnancy.

https://mothertobaby.org/fact-.....uses/

Amarante

Thu, Mar 05 2020, 11:13 am

Airlines have already cut flights and taken planes out in anticipation of people not traveling.

I am not sure exactly what the question is. If Israel (or other location) begins to quarantine visitors from specific location, then you would be able to get a refund of the ticket without insurance since it is an occurrence outside your control.

Travel insurance typically insures when YOU can't fly because of illness or other reason. In my experience, many people take this out when they book expensive stuff like cruises especially if they are older. I think for regular air fares, it is often possible to get a credit if one presents doctor's letter confirming inability to fly.

The larger issue - at least to me - is whether one would want to travel. I personally might be more comfortable either being sick at home or being quarantined at home versus away from home. On the other hand, if one is traveling to family, one might be fine with being sick or quarantined in that place. And of course, one might consider medical resources in each place.

amother

Turquoise

Thu, Mar 05 2020, 11:17 am

I know someone who just traveled from the US to Israel to attend the tekes of her lone soldier son. She was not allowed to attend due to the risk of coronavirus.

So yes, Israel is starting to restrict movement of Americans. IMNSHO, ask about refunds if travel is restricted, or if you are subject to quarantine. If the answer is acceptable, book the flights, but be ready to make Pesach at home if needed.

Elfrida

Thu, Mar 05 2020, 11:37 am

amother [ Turquoise ] wrote:

Anyone, who has been anywhere in chutz l'aretz within the past two weeks is not allowed to attend a gathering of more than 100 people. This is hard to enforce when it means things like going to shul, but for a formal ceremony with the army, there was no question that they would be strict about it.

This would have applied to Israelis who had been abroad as well, and had nothing g to do with her being g American.

I hope she at least got to spend some time with her son while she was here.

amother

Khaki

Thu, Mar 05 2020, 11:50 am

nchr wrote:

Do you realize the economic repercussions of such a decision? Most Western Countries could not afford to risk that. If every country in the world closed there borders for 2 weeks, shut schools and work etc. the virus would be over and contained, but the financial repercussions would be worse than the results of the virus so they weigh the pros v the cons. I guess never say never, but like Etky said, it would be a very very very hard decision.

Israel values human life above all else. And their measures reflect that compared to other countries.

ellacoe

Thu, Mar 05 2020, 11:59 am

When buying travel insurance, read the fine print and ask to be sure that it will allow you to cancel. Many of the policies are only allowing cancelation if the traveler actually has the virus or is ill. And will not let you cancel if the flight is still scheduled and you are not ill.

FranticFrummie

Thu, Mar 05 2020, 1:53 pm

100,000 Israelis expected to be in quarantine with tough new rules. https://worldisraelnews.com/10.....09_09

Israel’s Health Ministry took unprecedented steps on Wednesday to delay the spread of the deadly coronavirus, sending 50,000 into quarantine with harsh new rules that could see as many as 100,000 forced into home isolation for a two-week period.

The huge spike in quarantine numbers is the result of a new list of countries put on the list for which home isolation is required. Israelis returning from Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France and Spain now fall under the new guidelines.

America is not on the quarantine list yet, but it's only a matter of time.

nchr

Thu, Mar 05 2020, 3:12 pm

amother [ Khaki ] wrote:

Israel values human life above all else. And their measures reflect that compared to other countries.

I think Israel is probably taking measures to stop the virus from spreading, and is definitely taking better measures than the US from a standpoint of maintaining control of its spread. However, countries like China and South Korea have taken even more extreme measure, the former of which may not have had a choice. Israel values certain human life because they are known to commit human rights violations, but that is irrelevant to me and to this conversation. It is also important to know that an economic crash would probably result in a significant adverse impact upon human life, including death because locking up a country for two weeks could literally create something like the depression (countries like Italy could afford this since their economy is very different from the US which simply cannot take an economic risk like that).