Will you travel? [Mod Note in Post #1 - Travel Discussion Only! Megathread]

VG31

lainey_d_123 wrote: »

There's also zero science to show covid isn't transmitted outside. I personally rarely wear masks outdoors, but if I were at a busy, packed outdoor market or going down a narrow shopping street full of people, I'd prefer it if people were wearing masks.

Wearing masks in busy outdoor areas may be beneficial but having a blanket masks everwhere outside rule like Spain is crazy. If I go for a walk locally I might pass by less than 5 people on footpaths that are mostly 2 metres wide. Wearing a mask in such a sitution is completely pointless.

acequion

Diabhalta wrote: »

No social distancing whatsoever.

There might be a topless girl (or girls) in the pic, so delete it if you find them, I didn't check... they were everywhere..

Those photos from Prague look great and in these gloomy times it's lovely to see people enjoying themselves. However I would not be comfortable to be somewhere I couldn't distance.

It really is all about personal responsibility and personal comfort zone and the problem in Ireland is that these basic facets of choice have been taken from people and replaced by controlling, shaming and bullying, which is why the atmosphere here is so toxic.

I was twice in my own place in Spain this summer. I see myself as having a fairly balanced perspective in that I take Covid 19 seriously, don't want to catch it and don't want to spread it. So I'm perfectly ok with reasonable restrictions and behaviours such as hand hygiene, masks and distancing. While in Spain I pretty much avoided crowds but didn't deny myself the pleasures of the beach, the local market, lovely walks, meals out. But I just kept the mask firmly on [complulsory there anyway] and made sure I was never too long near groups of people. I avoided my communal pool though my neighbours didn't, so maybe I was over cautious but I'd be very conscious of the need to protect my elderly mum who lives nearby in Ireland. And not using the pool was a very small sacrifice with the sea nearby.

I'm back almost a week and no phone call from the authorities nor was there one last time. So this isolating malarky is again all about control and little to do with safety. Because I take Covid seriously I'm being careful and restricting movements but absolutely nothing stopping me taking the mick. And am hating being back in a country driven by fear and hysteria and run by clearly incompetent and hypocritical politicians.

dalyboy

VG31 wrote: »

Wearing masks in busy outdoor areas may be beneficial but having a blanket masks everwhere outside rule like Spain is crazy. If I go for a walk locally I might pass by less than 5 people on footpaths that are mostly 2 metres wide. Wearing a mask in such a sitution is completely pointless.

The tide is turning in Spain RE outside masks. I can’t see it staying in force beyond September or so. The socialist government have bitten off more than they can chew

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/spain-s-bizarre-mask-policies

Tenzor07

I’m in Belgium now, mask wearing mandatory indoors and on the streets. Signs everywhere.
A pain but you get used to it.
Just keep your mask dry when it rains! :-D

Del Griffith

John O.Groats wrote: »

When outdoor mask wearing is made mandatory here as will probably happen in the next few weeks or months it will bother him a lot more.

I thought they were following the science or at least pretending to, outdoors mask wearing does not stand up

Del Griffith

lainey_d_123 wrote: »

There's also zero science to show covid isn't transmitted outside. .

Well you can't really prove a negative but this is pretty close: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.04.20053058v1

TL:dr: New: Study of 318 outbreaks in China found transmission occurred out-of-doors in only one, involving just 2 cases.

It's very, very rare.

Diabhalta

acequion wrote: »

Those photos from Prague look great and in these gloomy times it's lovely to see people enjoying themselves. However I would not be comfortable to be somewhere I couldn't distance.

stay home, save lives

Tenzor07

Diabhalta wrote: »

stay home, save lives

Play Golf, save lives...

Diabhalta

I ended up in a pub last night (for those lost in all those posts, I'm in Prague) and the pubs here should close at 23:00, all of them. The pub stayed open until like 00:30. The cops drove past the pub and didn't stop at all. Very relaxed... Even the cops don't care. Nobody cares... It says a lot doesn't it?

Tenzor07

Diabhalta wrote: »

I ended up in a pub last night (for those lost in all those posts, I'm in Prague) and the pubs here should close at 23:00, all of them. The pub stayed open until like 00:30. The cops drove past the pub and didn't stop at all. Very relaxed... Even the cops don't care. Nobody cares... It says a lot doesn't it?

It’s says the cops need to go in Guns shooting!

polesheep

acequion wrote: »

Those photos from Prague look great and in these gloomy times it's lovely to see people enjoying themselves. However I would not be comfortable to be somewhere I couldn't distance.

A friend of mine was in the west of Ireland last week and had to leave a beach as it was too crowded for his liking. So much for staycation being safer.

Micky 32

Diabhalta wrote: »

stay home, save lives

Is that a bumper sticker you have on your car?

ShineOn7

Diabhalta wrote: »

I'm watching the numbers of active cases here in CZ for the last three four weeks and it's constantly around 5K. There's 100-300 new cases a day but it also seems 300 people a day recover.

Some good points in your post

The bit in bold above though; "recovered" with Covid just means you no longer test positive for it. There's many reports of long lasting damage, including lung scarring in Rugby players, in those that are officially listed as "recovered"

acequion

dalyboy wrote: »

The tide is turning in Spain RE outside masks. I can’t see it staying in force beyond September or so. The socialist government have bitten off more than they can chew

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/spain-s-bizarre-mask-policies

That's an extremely one sided article written by a Brit. And while I agree with a certain amount,for example the inconsistency of mandatory mask wearing on an empty street yet being able to take it off in a pub, I would disagree with your point that the tide is turning.

There is huge buy in from the public towards mask wearing. Huge.Yet there is flexibility too as you see people taking off the masks to give themselves a breather and you will see the odd person in a quiet street without one and I heard of nobody getting fined and it's not like the cops are out patrolling everywhere. And while it's true that you take off the mask once seated in a restaurant, you're expected to put it right back on if moving around or going to the loo.

I'd far rather throw on a mask and get on with life in a relatively relaxed environment than the situation here where you come back from abroad and could be docked two weeks'pay and it's constant preaching and fear mongering from the govt/media. And a lot more inconsistencies and hypocrisies in complying with regulations.

How effective the masks are is another matter. Personally I feel safer by their presence.

Plumbthedepths

ShineOn7 wrote: »

Some good points in your post

The bit in bold above though; "recovered" with Covid just means you no longer test positive for it. There's many reports of long lasting damage, including lung scarring in Rugby players, in those that are officially listed as "recovered"

Lung scarring is also an effect from influenza as in myocardial inflammation. Covid is also primarily a respiratory illness. Although since it's only with us about 8 months it's a little bit premature to state what the long lasting damage maybe.

sy_flembeck

acequion wrote: »

I see myself as having a fairly balanced perspective in that I take Covid 19 seriously, don't want to catch it and don't want to spread it. So I'm perfectly ok with reasonable restrictions and behaviours such as hand hygiene, masks and distancing. .

I would put myself in this category too, and many many others alongside. It's why I felt safe travelling to continental Europe last month, simply because I knew I wouldn't put myself or anyone else at risk by doing so. All it took was for me to behave exactly as I do here.

And this is precisely why I don't get the carry on of this government. Most people are responsible and don't need, or benefit from, the constant government drum banging. This shaming and bullying stinks of the (government spun) 'Public v Private' carry-on of 10 years ago and the fact that nobody seems to want to question anything has left me utterly bewildered.

Assetbacked

Tenzor07 wrote: »

It’s says the cops need to go in Guns shooting!

This sums up the posters who advocate for continued or stricter restrictions. Absolute nut jobs.

Assetbacked

ShineOn7 wrote: »

Some good points in your post

The bit in bold above though; "recovered" with Covid just means you no longer test positive for it. There's many reports of long lasting damage, including lung scarring in Rugby players, in those that are officially listed as "recovered"

There are millions of people around the world officially no longer testing positive, in fact most of the people who have been recorded as being infected with covid in the world nó longer test positive. If what you claim was legitimate, it would be pretty accepted at this point but it is still dubious.

ShineOn7

Assetbacked wrote: »

There are millions of people around the world officially no longer testing positive, in fact most of the people who have been recorded as being infected with covid in the world nó longer test positive. If what you claim was legitimate, it would be pretty accepted at this point but it is still dubious.

My point is that "recovered" doesn't always mean recovered

Anyhoo, these chats don't belong in this thread just like the masks posts didn't. So let's move on

Spanish Eyes

We have written off 2020 for abroad. Not worth the hassle anymore. Not that those who have gone abroad are out of step, don't get me wrong, it is an individual choice and risk assessment.

Don't know where to go in Ireland either. But that's for the Staycation thread. Clifden is looking dodgy lol sorry.

dalyboy

Moving on from masks ..... does anyone know what is going on with our new green list? Will Germany, UK or Portugal be on it? Thoughts ?

RebelButtMunch

dalyboy wrote: »

Moving on from masks ..... does anyone know what is going on with our new green list? Will Germany, UK or Portugal be on it? Thoughts ?

There's a whole thread dedicated to it

copeyhagen

dalyboy wrote: »

Moving on from masks ..... does anyone know what is going on with our new green list? Will Germany, UK or Portugal be on it? Thoughts ?

do we still have a green list?! whats the point nw, the damage is done. leave gibraltar on it and happy days....

ShineOn7

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

We have written off 2020 for abroad. Not worth the hassle anymore. Not that those who have gone abroad are out of step, don't get me wrong, it is an individual choice and risk assessment.

I'm right on the fence about it as I intend on living abroad for 6 months minimum if I go

The hard part is mustering up the balls to do it as this thing varies hugely from week to week

Micky 32

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

We have written off 2020 for abroad. Not worth the hassle anymore. Not that those who have gone abroad are out of step, don't get me wrong, it is an individual choice and risk assessment.

Don't know where to go in Ireland either. But that's for the Staycation thread. Clifden is looking dodgy lol sorry.

I’m thinking of a road trip to Scotland in September. Drive to Belfast to the ferry. The place i have my eye on to stay is fairly rural, cases not too bad in Scotland and it doesn’t need to be on the green list or sign a form.

Gael23

I was going to book for sometime in summer 2021 but I don’t feel right booking non refundable flights. Maybe nearer the time airlines will introduces some offers against that

noraos

Micky 32 wrote: »

I’m thinking of a road trip to Scotland in September. Drive to Belfast to the ferry. The place i have my eye on to stay is fairly rural, cases not too bad in Scotland and it doesn’t need to be on the green list or sign a form.

Hi Micky, I just did this, no questions on any side. No forms to fill in, Not even a passport check, masks on boat and keep your distance. Scotland was welcoming and friendly, actually worked out way better, less crowds etc.. I have had a worse reception by people at home. We stuck west and visited isle of skye, and it was amazing. Drove around 3k km and saw so much beauty and peacefulness.. saw an eagle dive for its dinner, had deer run across our path and had dolphins swim alongside us. Scotland is magic. And we were there after schools were back. No issues at all.

faceman

Hello all. I haven’t posted in a while so I’d though I’d give an update from Spain.

The U.K. quarantine pretty much killed any hope of salvaging any sort of meaningful tourism season.

Cases are stable again in Catalonia and things are slowly coming under control in Madrid.

Spain is testing an incredible amount of people, nearly double what was done during lockdown. Despite the increase in cases we haven’t seen a corresponding increase in deaths.

Spain went a bit irish and has closed bars that don’t have a kitchen for 3 weeks. (2 weeks to go) Karaoke bars and nightclubs are also closed in the same period. A new temporary closing time of 1am is in place. If you smoke you have to be 2m away from anyone else. (Hopefully they keep this one in place!)

My region is doing as good as before. Slight increase in cases but nothing of concern. The Spanish have been good about explaining when a cluster or outbreak is of concern. Similarly people are still very disciplined with mask wearing etc.

It’s sad to see so many business close though. Business is hard hit. I was running along the beach route yesterday, it should be packed but very few people are about.

If you’re considering a holiday I would have no qualms about coming over here.

ShineOn7

Faceman; thanks for giving a perspective of an expat in Spain. To read the headlines about it you'd think the Black Plague is riding through the country

Do you mind saying which part you're based in?

Tenzor07

faceman wrote: »

Cases are stable again in Catalonia and things are slowly coming under control in Madrid.

Spain is testing an incredible amount of people, nearly double what was done during lockdown. Despite the increase in cases we haven’t seen a corresponding increase in deaths.

If you’re considering a holiday I would have no qualms about coming over here.

Spain is doing a great job and they are managing the Covid situation amazingly..

This is just media panic and ratings grabbing to say that the situation there is bad or anywhere near out of control...!
The Media need to start focussing on how well Hospitals in Spain are managing and also focus on other things than Covid for once!