Eff you, COVID-19

[aome]

All three of our schools (elem, middle, high) will be closed tomorrow for deep cleaning, as a staff member has apparently been in contact with someone showing potential symptoms. I hope tomorrow is the ONLY day we lose, but I have a feeling we'll be shifted to online classes soon, as well. No idea how that will work for elementary kids,

Comments

[meathiel]

I'd been wondering about your Europe trip. Will you get any money back?
I guess my trip - flying out to Marseille on April 17th - won't happen either.

[aome]

I'm not real hopeful about a refund, but I haven't asked yet, either. Hopefully we can look into that in the next few days.

[loupnoir]

I threw out all of my travel plans when the WBH dropped a tree on his shoulder in December. Still dealing with associated problems. Just when I had a glimmer of hope for a fall trip, the pandemic hit.

This is affecting our concert series. Attendance at the last one was less than anticipated, our next show has very low ticket sales for a popular band, and one of the two gigs in April just cancelled.

Groups I follow on FB are posting about their cancellations. I feel sorry for those folks. Most are a long way from home, not all of the shows have been cancelled, and all they can do is hope that enough gigs are left to not go bankrupt.

[aome]

I feel awful for a lot of people - service workers, small business owners, parents who cannot afford to stay home when their kids' schools close, kids who won't get decent food without school, etc etc.

I'm sorry to hear that WBH's shoulder is still such an issue. :-(. Definitely hoping global health and WBH's health both improve later this year so you can travel after all.

[spiffikins]

I dunno if you can get to Europe, but I'm pretty sure you can get home - unsurprisingly the orange idiot lied on tv - they are not blocking US citizens from coming home, just going through extra screening.

Plus - if you are in Europe and want to come to the US, you just need to fly in via Heathrow, since flights from the UK are not being banned...

I'm actually pretty sure that US citizens cannot be denied entry into the US - doesn't mean that you can get *home* - you might be taken to a quarantine location - but you would have to be admitted into the country :D

[aome]

Yeah, I saw the next morning that US Citizens were not included in the travel ban. However, in response to Trump's ban, Austrian Airlines (which we had booked) has now halted all flights between Vienna and the US (except for Chicago, for some reason), which means they've offered to refund or rebook anyone who's been affected. I've filled out the online form asking for refund; hopefully there won't be any issues.

The hotel we'd booked in Salzburg was technically "non-refundable" and also the more expensive hotel (compared to the Vienna booking) but Salzburg has taken the step of closing ALL lodging through the end of April, so they're going to automatically refund everyone. And at least we hadn't booked any train fares, admission tickets, etc yet.

But it's still disappointing.

[spiffikins]

Totally disappointing - but at least you aren't losing your money.

I feel like 2020 is shaping up to be a really weird year for us all

[schnoogle]

“A staff member has apparently been in contact with someone showing potential symptoms” leading to school beinng shut for a day of cleaning seems like a stretch! Unless that person with symptoms was thought to be very very high risk. I hope everyone in your family is OK. Stay safe!

[aome]

Schools are really trying to go above and beyond, probably for fear that someone will sue their arses off if they DIDN'T, and someone got sick. :-P

Everyone in my family is ok for now, and hopefully will stay that way. How is it in your part of Oz?

[schnoogle]

It’s difficult to buy toilet paper but otherwise largely business as usual. I think all the Australian cases are in our major cities so far. I’ve decided to stop going to my larger choir and my French class, but am on the fence about my small church choir. Meanwhile, my parents are flying interstate to a capital city for my cousin’s wedding! It’s all changing pretty rapidly, though. Over the weekend our prime minister announced anyone arriving from overseas needs to self-isolate for 14 days and they’ve banned gatherings of over 500 people. We’ve got a major annual national day of remembrance for the military coming up - ANZAC Day (25 April) - and almost every state has already cancelled their events which is a HUGE deal.

[aome]

they’ve banned gatherings of over 500 people

They've just banned gatherings of over 50 people in New Jersey. :P

I'm sorry ANZAC celebrations are being cancelled! :(