Opinions on travel bans to prevent the coronavirus from spreading? Will this actually be effective or only delay the spread?
Airplane travel definitely seems particularly problematic because of the recirculated air. I certainly wouldn't want to take a plane flight at this point in time, we don't know a lot about this virus yet it seems.
This will affect economies drastically since we are a global economy. There will probably be a domino effect throughout the world.
Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.
I have a heavy year of travel planned, including a trip to Portugal in two months. At this time I am intending to travel. Obviously if this thing explodes into something more sinister than it is, then I will give that a critical eye.
The swine flu directly impacted my family by infecting both of my sons while they were in another state at Boy Scout camp. They got quarantined there and it was hairy, but we all survived. This doesn't seem, so far, to be any worse than that.
I am less afraid of the virus itself than I am the economic impact.
Specializes in Psychiatric and Mental Health NP (PMHNP).
The Dow went up 1294 points today, March 2. So I wouldn't worry too much about economic impact. The mass media and social media are trying to create hysteria and I'm sick of it.
There is no reason people have to travel for commerce. We have all sorts of great video and voice communications methods now.
The only industries that should take a hit due to a travel ban are tourism and transportation.
There is way too much panic over the coronavirus at this point, at least in the US.
A travel ban is a form of quarantine and quarantines are indeed effective. The airlines are going to react to the market. If demand for flights to Italy goes way down, then the airlines are going to discontinue or greatly reduce flights to Italy. And so on. It's that simple.
Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
18 hours ago, FullGlass said:
The Dow went up 1294 points today, March 2. So I wouldn't worry too much about economic impact. The mass media and social media are trying to create hysteria and I'm sick of it.
There is no reason people have to travel for commerce. We have all sorts of great video and voice communications methods now.
The only industries that should take a hit due to a travel ban are tourism and transportation.
There is way too much panic over the coronavirus at this point, at least in the US.
A travel ban is a form of quarantine and quarantines are indeed effective. The airlines are going to react to the market. If demand for flights to Italy goes way down, then the airlines are going to discontinue or greatly reduce flights to Italy. And so on. It's that simple.
It's appropriate for American workers who don't have paid sick time or access to affordable health care to be concerned. I don't know a single working class person who could comfortably afford to miss days of work, receive no pay, and be required to visit a physician that they can't afford. How many of them can afford a hospitalization? Medications?
Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
On 3/1/2020 at 10:38 AM, klone said:
What sucks is all those people who are in conservative mutual fund IRAs, and due to retire in the next few years. They probably lost about 20% of their retirement over the course of the week.
They're probably gaining it back as we speak. The markets have already started rebounding.
Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
19 hours ago, FullGlass said:
A travel ban is a form of quarantine and quarantines are indeed effective. The airlines are going to react to the market. If demand for flights to Italy goes way down, then the airlines are going to discontinue or greatly reduce flights to Italy. And so on. It's that simple.
I think a great marketing plan for airlines would be to meticulously clean their cabins between flights and advertise the fact. I, for one, would pay more to fly in a plane that isn't disgusting when I board.
Specializes in Psychiatric and Mental Health NP (PMHNP).
36 minutes ago, toomuchbaloney said:
It's appropriate for American workers who don't have paid sick time or access to affordable health care to be concerned. I don't know a single working class person who could comfortably afford to miss days of work, receive no pay, and be required to visit a physician that they can't afford. How many of them can afford a hospitalization? Medications?
We should all be concerned and watch this closely. Perhaps I said this poorly in my prior post - my point is that there is no reason to panic. I am angry that the mass media and social media seem hell bent on creating panic, and I suspect this is purely for political reasons, as they think this will hurt Trump. Well, also because they think it gets more people to watch their stupid news or click on their stupid blogs or whatever.
Concern - yes
Panic - no
I did a lot of research into pandemics and am considering publishing a paper I wrote on this topic. The truth on disease control:
Standard measures such as handwashing, face masks, etc., along with quarantines are just as effective as vaccines in preventing spread of disease, including airborne disease. Reread that very carefully. If you want, I can provide citations.
The problem is that quarantine is politically unpopular and already the crazy ACLU is going to sue over this.
I understand people are concerned about missing work and so forth. We have not had mandatory quarantines since 1963, so we are working this out as we go. Since this is a forum for nurses, I'm pretty sure that if a healthcare worker had to be quarantined, their employer will allow them to be paid using sick leave and so forth.
At this point, the flu is still a far larger problem in this country than the coronavirus. And in China, the rate of infection has already slowed. These viruses tend to burst out on the scene, infect a bunch of people, then fizzle out. Often there is then a 2nd wave a few months later.
Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.
Trump wasn't in office when ebola walked through my hospital's doors. The media did the same things then. I think politicizing this issue and this discussion is a red herring and a mistake. For the love of Mike, can we just talk about this situation without making it about a conspiracy theory? The media is the same as it ever was.
Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
11 minutes ago, FullGlass said:
We should all be concerned and watch this closely. Perhaps I said this poorly in my prior post - my point is that there is no reason to panic. I am angry that the mass media and social media seem hell bent on creating panic, and I suspect this is purely for political reasons, as they think this will hurt Trump. Well, also because they think it gets more people to watch their stupid news or click on their stupid blogs or whatever.
Concern - yes
Panic - no
I did a lot of research into pandemics and am considering publishing a paper I wrote on this topic. The truth on disease control:
Standard measures such as handwashing, face masks, etc., along with quarantines are just as effective as vaccines in preventing spread of disease, including airborne disease. Reread that very carefully. If you want, I can provide citations.
The problem is that quarantine is politically unpopular and already the crazy ACLU is going to sue over this.
I understand people are concerned about missing work and so forth. We have not had mandatory quarantines since 1963, so we are working this out as we go. Since this is a forum for nurses, I'm pretty sure that if a healthcare worker had to be quarantined, their employer will allow them to be paid using sick leave and so forth.
At this point, the flu is still a far larger problem in this country than the coronavirus. And in China, the rate of infection has already slowed. These viruses tend to burst out on the scene, infect a bunch of people, then fizzle out. Often there is then a 2nd wave a few months later.
You have more faith in for profit health industry than I do. Nursing homes, clinics, small community health centers and private urgent care already run thin staffing with few paid benefits for staff.
It's appropriate for American workers who don't have paid sick time or access to affordable health care to be concerned. I don't know a single working class person who could comfortably afford to miss days of work, receive no pay, and be required to visit a physician that they can't afford. How many of them can afford a hospitalization? Medications?
The thing that sucks about that is I know several people who don't work who can get free medical while there are many who work that can't afford it.
When the virus hits a community hard, there may be school closings, restrictions on large gatherings, perhaps even an order for businesses to close and people to stay home.
Having enough food to shelter in place makes sense. The water supply should be fine.
I live where it is not uncommon for power outages to last several days. We're used to having what we need close at hand.
Emergent, RN
4,304 Posts
And the development of a vaccine!