This forum has certainly given me pause, with its very scary accounts of such unfortunate encounters with COVID. I would not discount these one bit, but it does occur to me that they are after all anecdotal, rather than large scale studies, leading to the recommendation for renewed attention to masking and isolation. Even Professor Goodnow, who had some percentages to report, was not really giving a scientific/statistical review.
So I thought for a bit of anecdotal balance, I would throw in our own experience. When COVID first came out, we were suitably terrified, and went into fairly complete hibernation. Even at the gas station, I would bring sanitiser and chorine, spray everything in sight, look with suspicion at the push buttons for "do you want a receipt?", get back in the van, re-sanitise hands, look with suspicion at my car keys - had I touched them while in some unsanitised state?, and so forth. In the grocery store, we only went in off hours, and then spent most of the time dodging people who strayed within 6 feet, or who looked like they were about to do so.
The thought of travel - spending time in a cigar tube plane with hundreds of others, staying in hotel rooms of dubious sanitation, eating in restaurants, was terrifying. We watched others on Cycleblaze swanning around Europe, and trembled.
Finally in Spring of this year we decided that with our advancing years, we would rather die out on the road than cowering in our basement. We asked "What is the Meaning of Life" anyway, and set off on 5000 km in Europe to find out.
During our trip we stood packed in airport security lines, flew in cigar tubes, and found ourselves in hotel breakfast buffet rooms crowded with 50-60 bus tourists. The Europeans had almost entirely discarded masking, and for the three months of the tour we almost completely forgot about COVID.
Now back in Canada, we feel the society's paranoia lurking about, lots more masked people, and the hospitalization statistics here are not looking great, though still about the same as when we left.
We might go back into hiding, or we might pack up soon and head for Spain, or Mexico. We'd be rolling those dice a second time - hmmm. But anyway, this has been our anecdote - 75 year olds with co-morbidities sweeping around Europe, eligible to gather up every virus they have circulating, but now home safe and sound. Just sayin'.
Steve thanks for such a positive story. It’s great to hear that you and Dodie were able to travel so easily and safely. Reassuring in fact. If all goes to plan, on 8 August I’ll be sitting (well masked) in a flying cigar tube for about 22 hours (Sydney to London).
The main reason for the travel is to see my nurse son who’s now working in one of London’s hospitals. There’s plenty of work in the covid wards, and there are chronic shortages of medicos.
I have packed my small wheeled folding bike with the intention of using it to get around London to avoid the crowded public transport but I won’t be doing any significant cycle touring this trip. However I’m now reconsidering taking the bike. The statistics which concern me more than the rising covid stats are the lost baggage stats.
Something like 25% of Oz air passengers are reporting lost luggage. Qantas Airlines are reportedly losing luggage and canceling flights with such alarming frequency they’ve been forced to make a public announcement about reviewing staffing levels and flight schedules.
I wouldn’t care too much about losing a normal suitcase, but I don’t want to lose my Bike Friday Tikit. I’d rather run the virus gauntlet on the London Tube system.
You might want to consider renting a bike in London and just travelling with carry on bags. We did this from Frankfurt and mailed a box with the extra stuff we could not fit. Won't be needing it that soon and we felt the mail is more reliable than the airlines at this point.
That’s an excellent idea Steve. I have also recently discovered that Brompton have bike rental stations throughout the UK, so I’ll have a closer look at that system.
Chris Goodnow has written this article as a follow up to his recent interview on the ABC Radio National Health Report.
Myths about Covid.
We have about a gross of N95 masks. I keep one in my velomobile in a ziplock, one in each automobile, one in my man purse, one on the lawn mower, and one in my pocket every time I leave my house. We have an order in for another gross of the N95's. We actually order them through our healthline part of our insurance.
1 year ago