Hi All, What are your thoughts on the Corona Virus. Will you still go-ahead with booking your 2020 snow holiday? Or considering postponing your snow travel plans for 2020. I am in the stages of planning my snow holiday. Before making any commitments, would love to hear your travel snow travel plans for 2020.
I am booked and going no matter what. If a certain age group stays at home - and maybe they should Da Bo will be less than half full
I'm already booked for Thredbo and have every intention of following through with that booking. I'm assuming they still have toilet paper in Kosciuszko National Park
Don't think you would have any problems booking later this year. Wouldn't bother booking anything prior to June this year considering what is going on, and no international Chinese travelling to boot.
As soon as all the aussie resort workers return to jindy in april/may they'll bring it here for sure. Wouldn't be surprised if the snowy mountains are in quarantine before snow hits the ground.
Planning on Perisher this winter and Japan in Jan. Nothing booked yet, waiting for the inevitable el cheapo deals to surface
For better or worse I'm already booked in, mostly because I knew when I was wanting to be there, and a good option for accommodation came up with earlybird pricing at 34% discount in August. I'm not anticipating cancelling the trip unless something dire occurs.
booked in for 2 one week stays. might cancel and say goodbye to the money if it's looking dire close to the stay. will probably day trip through the season providing lifts are running
I’ll be playing it by ear also. Had plans for a decent amount of time, including a trip for the Ski.com.au get together. All will be re-evaluated closer to the go date. Things have changed dramatically in the last few weeks, who knows where we will be at by then. Might be a fading memory, might be a country on lockdown.
So here is my thinking: I have booked my trip to the snow for 5 weeks in July. Personally, I believe that if this virus manages to take control, you are likely to be safer in the mountains that you are in Sydney or Melbourne or any other for a coupe of reasons. 1. Everyone at the snow is wearing gloves and “a face mask” (balaclava). The key way that this virus is transmitted is touching a surface or someone who is infected and then your face. If are wearing gloves and a balaclava, it becomes very very difficult to do. As for when you take your gloves off, juts before you put them back on wash them very well with soap and water, or if that isn’t an option like at Eyre cafe, juts don’t touch anything that isn’t food or yours. Employ general hygiene practises like opening the door with your foot is another easy one to do. 2. you aren’t I’m contact with anyone except your intermediate friends and family for more that 10 minutes at a time, and the surfaces that they are touching/breathing on are again through gloves and a mask. The only risk that could arise is from members at your lodge/accomodation. This is far far less than using handrails or elevators in a city. So TLDR, unless it gets exponentially worse, I think we will be ok.
You wear a balaclava Skiing in Australia? Dki gloves would be one if the best virus transfer devices I think Plenty of secretions wiped on them and never cleaned
Speak for yourself. Mine get washed (not daily but still...) As for the inside - Wear thin liners, have 2 pair, wash each night.
Yeah agree with above. Yes I wear a balaclava skiing in Australia. I get sunburnt really easily and hate getting cold so kill two birds with one stone. While I don’t wash my gloves every week, I never (even before now) put them in my mouth or wipe my nose with them.
yeah I wash mine everyday(never) too I do wear liners that I wash but doesn’t help the odd unconscious nose wipe with the glove then touch the arm rest or goldola, putting them down on the lunch table gondola ride would be a great vector actually luckily not prevalent in Australia
Sorry i snot wipe constantly! Don't shake hand with me at the snow! And no i don't wash the gloves daily!
I also don’t particularly think the danger in ski resorts is worse than crowded places in metropolitan areas, such as public transport etc. However, I do think people are potentially underestimating how bad things may get, and what draconian restrictions may be in place. I think it is quite feasible that the resorts may be closed and that there could be travel restrictions that stop people travelling internally within Australia. That is exactly the situation in Italy at the moment. I am currently skiing in canada. I have been leaving my glove liners on, and wearing those when opening doors, doing things on the hill, then removing them to eat etc.
Ok so I was getting over a cold during my exam on snow a few weeks ago. I had to blow my nose regularly - had pockets full of tissues. I took my gloves off, lowered my face mask (buff), blew into the tissue and put the used tissue into a separate pocket. Then I put my gloves back on. At lunch my gloves went into my helmet not on the table. First stop was the bathroom to wash my hands. If it wasn’t for the exam (and the fact it was a non novel cold not coronavirus) I would’ve stayed in bed. It’d be easy to ramp up measures. Add the liners, and wash regularly. Wipe down gloves with disinfectant each evening, swap out fresh face mask/buff every few hours, wash them each evening. Avoid crowds at the pub/restaurants. Takeaway offerings would be good, eating alfresco optimal. As for the ski resort: regular disinfection cleaning would help - door handles, bathrooms, tables. All this will be moot if the planes stop flying, cities are placed on lockdown and ski resorts ordered not to open.
The WA Dept of Health modelled the peak as arriving in August. That was announced a couple of weeks ago and the prediction may well have changed as the data on transmission becomes more detailed. Ski lodges and hotels in the winter are ideal places for contagion. Most people won't get critically ill but may go nuts quarantined in a lodge for two weeks.
I snot wipe with gloves when not sick only. But a lot of infections people are asymptomatic. Running nose in ski resort is a by product of cold weather. But yes i supect ski resorts will become like airports with public health signages.
In Monterosa, Italy, the gondolas and cable cars weren't running, chairlifts were. Gondolas and cable cars are confined spaces putting people close together. Airy chairs ok. That nice new Thredbo gondola may have to wait a while to carry passengers.
Hopefully they have enough people to operate the lifts and keep the punters fed. With on mountain staff living in shared accommodation, trying to self quarantine or isolate infection amongst the staff will be interesting
Yeah this will actually be the hardest part for resorts to manage. A few people don't show up for work and leave big gaps. But if staff accom gets affected they could lose a large group at once
Agree, but in Guthega the year before last, I was riding the Freedom Chair with a guy coughing his lungs up almost non-stop. he sounded crook, so I covered my mouth with a neck warmer (don't use facemasks, balaclavas etc in Oz) but it didn't stop me getting his flu. I'll never forget that. Might be a good year for skinning?? Other than potential contact in the carpark, what dangers of virus infection could possibly exist in Australia's Main Range?
Is there any logic in people "intentionally" contracting the virus now, in order to be at no risk later - or is that not how it works? Me thinks 3% death rate is no higher than your average flu and if they provided stats on the 'recovery rate amongst healthy people between 20 and 60' it might be something like 99%. I'd take those odds.
I think part of my message was overlooked. While I agree that their is a basis for concern, and that other skiers/boarders have different habits related to how they operate when they are at the snow, one cannot justify that skiing, in "relative" open air and with careful planning is any worse than staying in a city. I catch a train and a bus every morning to and from university. I touch hand rails with my bare hands at Wynyard and Redfern, as well as indirectly touching windows as well as scanning into uni and opal card pads. One must be so careful not to touch their face until they can wash their hands. This is all not to say that I'm not being careful, I am but Surely when the alternative is staying at home for most people in the city?????? That beig said, I believe that we are looking at (for most) at least 4 months before this becomes relevant. A lot can happen between now and then, in either direction. If we are going to start worrying about a virus that as of right now has infected 0.000000364 percent of our population and of that % an even small amount has (tragically) died, all of whom were over the age of 80, then so be it. We all have to be aware of what is going on, and try to maintain a neutral level headed approach to this. As someone who suffers from a lung condition, I am not concerned yet. The current advice from my local GP and I quote "look at the total population of countries then vs the amount of infected, and tell me if you think you should be concerned". I believe that we have plenty of time yet before it becomes a real concern.
That is the basis for an immunisation (albeit with a few more steps thrown in). At the moment it is a risky buisness because we dont really know about numbers of people being infected and their ability to get re-infected As you also mentioned, there are now over 50,000 people who have recovered from the virus.
please no-one get me wrong. If you are over the age of 80 and/or have a chronic lung condition then this virus is a real concern. If you are outside of those characteristics, and you dont get the "severe case" its highly unlikley that your life is in danger, particularly here in Australia....
*given current health and hospital situation. **YMMV if infected at the peak of infection, with no icu beds, no tamiflu, ventilators or medical staff etc
Avoid crowds at the pub/restaurants. Ski lodges and hotels in the winter are ideal places for contagion. <<< these I may plan to get it before the ski season probably everyone will get it before a vaccine arrives ?
Corona virus mortality and age, sex, and existing conditions: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-age-sex-demographics/ though it's a bit dated.
I'm hoping all the punters stay at home due to Coronavirus fears and keep the lifts less busy. I'll be there regardless.
Flu death rate is 0.1%. So covid-19 death rate (3%) is 30 times the flu death rate, or 3000% greater.
My experience of spending a season in staff accommodation at Smiggins is that EVERYBODY (staff, at least) caught EVERYTHING that was going around. When you think about it, you're basically living in a humidicrib - warm, humid, damp surfaces everywhere, recirculated air - what's not to like if you're a bug?
