Everyone’s hosting is on hold until COVID-19 is gone

I feel really bad for hosts like single moms who are using Airbnb to pay the mortgage and put food on the table and have no savings or other source of income. Even though a lot of us have come to count on the rental income, we’re not all going to be in a financial crisis situation where we’ll lose our primary residence or be surviving on Kraft dinner and hot dogs.

Can you quote which stat you are using when you say airbnb hosts have a high risk of getting the virus? @summerfun

On what basis are you making this claim? Define high risk?

And could you respond to the questions I posed in response to your initial post.

Or are you just here to scaremonger?

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It doesn’t help my tour business in a town of 33,000 that can have up to 6 cruise ships with 25,000 passengers coming ashore on a busy summer day when the headlines say “CDC director says don’t go on a cruise” when what he actually said was “If you are elderly or already have health issues, don’t go on a cruise”!

Last year was my second year of Air, and I have noticed that I don’t have the young backpackers or honeymooners from Singapore, Taiwan, or Malaysia that I had booked at this time last year. However, about 70% of my bookings happen about 3 to 6 weeks prior to arrival.

Helsi,
I like this forum. I learned a lot. Hence shared my concerns. All info on risk is publicly available. You can keep your head in the sand and claim that all this is “the sky is falling”. However, 70% of the guests already made up their minds. They don’t share your optimism and are not coming in the next 3-4 months.

If example from Boston biomedical company where one individual who visited Italy infected 70 people by just being in close proximity with thrm for a few minutes, than nothing will convince you. Airline staff and taxi drivers already realized the extent of the risk. Apparently, Airbnb hosts are not there yet. Guess what, guests don’t care.

If you read other posts on this subject, you would see that I work in health and am actually actively involved in working on Covid-19 issues, so I would say my knowledge and awareness on the issues related to it are pretty up to date and based on fact not rumour. @summerfun

On what basis do you say I am burying my head in the sand. I am taking precautions as advised by the NHS that I work for (the best health service in the world and the one that has actually been most proactive in managing containment).

You on the other hand have made a series of unsubstantiated and untrue claims. For example;

  1. You state it is a ‘western world pandemic’. Wrong it’s global.

  2. You state as an over 50 you can easily catch the virus from your guest. Wrong - you are more vulnerable if you have lower immune systems/lung conditions whatever your age or older people with compromised immune systems. Being 50+ does not make you vulnerable.

  3. You state the earliest a vaccine will be available is March 2021. Wrong - we don’t know yet when the vaccine will be developed.

  4. You say most responsible people will put travel on hold. Wrong. People need to make informed choices about whether they should travel based on their health, areas they are travelling to/from etc. Millions and millions are continuing to travel safely

  5. You state as a fact that hosting is very high risk. Wrong. Many hosts, host remotely and those that don’t aren’t particularly at risk if they carry out the health advice on minimising risks. You are much more at risk being in crowded indoor spaces then you are on a one to one basis in your own home.

  6. You state that Southern Europe isn’t prepared but Asia is. **Wrong. Southern Europe and Asia are made up of many countries. Each has prepared in different ways. Why are you lumping the areas together.

  7. You claim that warmer weather will exacerbate the virus. Wrong again. Like the Flu virus all evidence so far points to it being seasonal.

And then your latest comment that 70% of guests have already made up their mind. Made up their mind about what exactly. If you mean not to travel. Then can you provide a link to where this has been quoted? or is it another made up stat you have developed to support your view?

Guests and hosts should do what makes them feel comfortable in this situation. But rumour-mongering and spreading false information which you fail to back up by quoting any authoritative sources is just wrong. Please stop.

Absolutely we should be taking this situation seriously and making informed decisions based on the facts, our personal circumstances and guidance from our health bodies. What we shouldn’t be doing is scaremongering.

I haven’t had any guests cancel so far and my home remains open to all.

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Everyone is on high alert with COVID-19. There are people who are at high risk. There are families who have or will lose people they love.
Sadly it’s simply the way it is. I’m already dreading it. I think my area is up to 5 known cases.

HOWEVER there is a reasonable approach. Chicken Little (the sky is falling) is going to cause excessive damage and make a tough situation worse.

  1. Wash your hands. Wash your hands. Wash your hands.
  2. Use hand sanitizer. If you don’t have hand sanitizer WASH YOUR HANDS.
  3. Make sure you can self isolate if needed for two weeks. Stock up on enough basics & food but do not hoard.
  4. Have some Gatorade type electrolyte replacement drink ready in case you do get sick. An alternative is the powdered electrolyte water additives—I think the taste is awful and it is usually sweetened with aspartame so NOT my first choice BUT cheap and fairly easy to find.
  5. What’s your favorite “I’m sick” comfort food? Stock up. Did you know that chicken soup truly has some healing properties?

I think because when I was a child, my mom gave me Campbell’s chicken noodle soup, so when I’m sick only that overly salty almost no chicken concoction will do. I rather doubt that is the chicken soup with healing properties though…

  1. Wipe down your home, phone, steering wheel often with antibacterial cleaners.
    Some cleaners will damage your phone screen. It’s choice—I can buy a new phone if I have to verses illness.

  2. Be smart. Do you have a fever? Are you are having trouble catching you breath, are your lips a bit blue, are you feeling a bit confused? Go to the emergency room! Don’t wait until tomorrow. Tomorrow may be too late.

  3. Sniffles, slight fever, manageable diarrhea, but breathing ok. Stay HOME. Do not go out and share your germs.

  4. Call relatives, neighbors, friends etc. if you can tell they are having trouble breathing or are confused, insist they seek medical attention. If they are sick but need something, do what you are comfortable doing but help them get what they need & stay isolated.

About rentals: Maybe it will be a boon for hosts. If I were traveling, rather than stay in a hotel that is full of hundreds of strangers, I would stay someplace small where I can prepare my own coffee and a simple meal.

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My family lives in Orlando, where none of the big attractions have modified attendance policies. My wife reported yesterday that most of the regular grocery stores or super stores have empty shelves. It is impossible to find any paper products like paper towels or toilet paper. Also no disinfectants.

I rent our apartment in a small town (pop. 5,000) 110 miles from Orlando. Late last night I went to our Walmart and found everything I needed in stock.

This weekend my family is coming up here and plans to stay at least a month. My son’s wife (31) had a brain aneurysm over three years ago and is paralyzed. My wife (70) is her caregiver. After they arrive we are “quarantining ourselves.” We will place grocery orders at Walmart and pick them up in the parking lot.

Last night I was able to stock up with enough wine to last two months–my wife is Italian and must have her glass (or two) of wine with dinner.

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Good luck to you and yours, kaiserdr.

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@Helsi I wish you safe and profitable 2020.
I stopped here :slight_smile:

Well, my small town now has three people tested positive for COVID-19.

Our grocery store still had plenty of water, toilet paper, and spray cleaners tonight. They were out of hand sanitizer and there had obviously been a run on canned food. The ladies at the register said they had been busy non-stop all day.

I plan on contacting my next guests to let them know about the cases, and what I am doing extra to clean the house for them. I will offer them a refund if they choose to cancel.

Mainly I am worried about my parents, and have asked them to stay at their home as much as possible and let me do errands for them.

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Just announced: A 30 day travel ban on all traffic from the EU goes into effect this Friday.

Doesn’t apply to travelers from the UK.

Yet…

Right. My thought, too.

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If this had been done weeks ago… Oh well. Barn door, meet ass.

… NBA has cancelled (?their entire season). Maybe.

Few people realized that Covid-19 is 9/11 of modern healthcare crises. The world will never be the same after this pandemic over.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/03/11/nation/how-biogen-leadership-conference-boston-spread-coronavirus/

According to local radio 2,000 test kits arrived yesterday from CDC to Boston Hospitals. With this pace it will take months to just identify all infected. Yes, stores have all supplies for now. This is the area where 4 million people live in close proximity to each other. 60+ universities with 400k students, hundreds of top biomedical companies…and helpless gov response ( stay home or talk to your doctor). The worst is yet to come.

After just completing a 18 month home renovation, we are postponing the opening of our new Airbnb. Although in an isolated rural location ideal to self quarantine, we don’t want guests bringing their pathogens with them. My guess is it will be September at the earliest before things get back to normal.

Or mid July as nobody knows impact of hot weather on Covid-19 regeneration and spread

Current testing only allows identification of active disease and will not identify previous infection in recovered individuals. Many mild/sub-clinical infections will go unidentified to no detriment to the individual patient , i.e no treatment was required. Identifying each case was a valid aim while containment was being attempted. However now that the virus has seeded in communities world wide , it is not the number of available “test kits” that will make or break us, but the availability of resources to manage the really sick.
I work in a tertiary hospital emergency department and am personally witnessing the impact of panic and misinformation on our ability to perform our normal functions , let alone manage a surge of really sick patients ( a horror yet to unfold here).
A side note as a host- our listing is snoozed for the forseeable as I regard myself as a risk to guests !

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As you host in your home that makes sense. Thanks for taking the time to post here.