I’m a host in Santa Monica, which really means that I’m a host in LA,Venice, MarVista, Playa del Rey, etc. etc., because people move all around the area. Many, if not most, public venues are now asking for proof of booster shot as well as vaccination(s).
Everyone who has been here lately has had the both vax and booster. I have a guest arriving who got a J&J vax last June (one shot), has had COVID twice since, has not been boostered and is traveling from NYC. We know other folks who’ve had the J&J shot who’ve had Omicron. I am not saying that I would refuse this guest – actually have already accepted him – but my concern is more about who he might be hanging out with. This is a tough time, being in a large urban area! I do not personally come in contact with my guest if I don’t want to, as there’s a separate entrance, but I do ask (particularly in this case) that people wear masks while coming and going from the property.
Just wondering about the thoughts with this “new” level of exposure and the strains that will surely pop up in the future. I asked the guest if he didn’t think a booster would be a good idea since so many venues in the LA area are requesting it. In my house rules, I request proof of vax (not “require”) but at this point anyone with an interest in a small residential AirBnB is not going to want to confront the COVID issue. Is the booster another level of commitment safety?
why would you even even ask for having the vaccine from the guests, the vaccine doesn’t stop spread anyway. You are not sharing the place with the guests also so I don’t dee the point. With Omicron everyone will soon also have natural immunity.
" the vaccine doesn’t stop spread anyway" - it stops it spreading by stopping you getting it in the first place
“everyone will soon also have natural immunity” - this does not prevent you getting it more than once and boosters, whether you’ve had it before, or are double vaxxed vastly, like by a factor of 20, reduce your chances of hospitalisation and by 100 of death. Hard to believe people are still saying such ignorant thing at this stage of the pandemic which is nowhere near over.
the vaccine doesn’t stop you getting it, it just stops you getting hospitalized
I am all for the vaccines, I got it and the booster also, but it should still be personal choice
I’ve just been in hospital for a week and seen the impact of Covid on getting a hospital bed, waiting 8 hours or longer, because of the huge number of unvaxxed Covid people coming through ER. I don’t have Covid or even anything close and it impacts on me and many others not just those who have had elective surgery cancelled. I had an operation on Xmas Eve because no one else wanted to wake up in hospital on Xmas Day. I ask my guests to provide proof of double vaccination, as is the law, and scan in using the QR code. It also assures other guests that I take the threat of Covid seriously and value their well being while in my property.
I live in Bali, and for domesric or foreign tourist to enter here double vaccination is a requirement to enter the island but my personal oponion it should be everyone’s choice.
No, spreading a deadly disease around should not be a personal choice.
And the unvaccinated are the ones clogging up the ICUs, overtaxing the health care systems, and preventing those with other serious medical issues from getting a bed. You think that’s okay? It isn’t a “personal” choice when it negatively affects others.
but why are there so many cases in the most vaccinated countries
If 90% of the population is vaccinated, then obviously the majority of cases are going to be among the vaccinated.
I awoke at 3:00 a.m. and for some reason looked at this thread. I’m tired. Not only because it is the middle of the night but because there is so much misinformation in this thread being spread by people who voice opinion as medical fact and people who’ve immovably embraced it.
As a nurse, I will follow the science, not the people who feel it is their right to put themselves & anyone they may come in contact with at risk or illness or death.
This thread would be tagged and closed on Twitter for spreading Covid-19 misinformation.
@E_S_MARK i am vaxxed & boosted. If my rental was home share, I would request the same of my guests. Anyone touting anti-vax or natural immunity could go stay elsewhere. They don’t understand the natural nature of viruses to evolve which is unpredictable & can make the virus more lethal or more easily spread, or less of each.
Goodnight.
Thank you for your supportive response. I agree, but not entirely sure what the official AirBnB response is.
Even if “everyone” might get Omicron, there are degrees of severity. I feel an obligation to protect myself and those around me and use whatever means at hand to do it.
We are not permitting the antivaxers to have a platform here. However, not all the mods spend all day here like I do (lol) and sometimes a post stands awhile before we see it.
To my knowledge they don’t have one on the vaccine. You have to do what you think is best for your business. I clearly state that I prefer vaxxed guests and that I’m fully vaxxed myself. But I don’t try to “require proof.” I just don’t get enough per night to fool with that and guests are separate from me though they are at my home.
Here’s a link to Airbnb “official policy” in case anyone needs a refresher:
Notice they do support masking and distancing when interacting with guests. They also tell hosts to follow local laws. So if you are around your guests as the come and go from the property or if local laws are requiring masking then Airbnb should support you. However, Airbnb’s support should be pretty low on your list of concerns. You have to do what you think is best and if the guest complains to Airbnb then their response is probably going to be based on how competent your CS agent is.
Because effectiveness of the vaccines decline over time and vaccinated people think they can go back to their pre-covid life. So they crowd into events, get lax about mask wearing and distancing. Many have symptoms, think it’s allergies or a cold and then go spread it to others. Also there are still a lot of things we don’t know about this virus. Every credible expert on the virus/the pandemic agrees that the vaccine is the single most important tool in slowing the spread, reducing hospitalizations, severity of illness overall and the death rate. The vaccines do prevent infection in some people, just not in all people. There’s also evidence that vaccination reduces the chance of having what is currently called “long-covid.” We don’t know what effects covid is going to have on the global economy long term. For example, will millions of Americans be unable to return to work full time or have to go on disability earlier if we let covid run rampant? If we “let it rip” or prioritize personal choice over scientific prudence we aren’t going to be able to put the genie back in the bottle. We’d rather hear that we did too much than we did too little 5 years from now.
Spreading misinformation about the pandemic is not going to permitted on this forum. There are plenty of other places on the internet where one can go and question the judgment of the scientific consensus or promote the value of freedom over safety.
Do you homeshare?
And I’m not sure if AirBNB has an official response!
Just want to chime in here and agree with @muddy, people should not have to the right to refuse a vaccine that’s been proven safe when it’s for a disease that kills.
My father fell and broke his ankle recently. He’s 86 years old. He had to wait in the ER for hours. During his time there, his heart rate dropped extremely low and they discovered he needed a pacemaker. He couldn’t get one for over a day, because there was no room in any hospital for over a 100 mile radius. We live near Columbus Ohio and Pittsburgh, PA, both of which are sizable cities, and he could not get a bed because they were filled with COVID patients.
They finally admitted him to the Ohio State University hospital ER where they did the surgery. They found him a bed once the surgery was over, but he had to recover from the surgery in the ER, not a recovery room.
People are dying of things other than COVID because selfish, uneducated idiots are refusing the vaccine, getting COVID, going to the hospital for treatment, and sucking up all the medical resources for something that could have been prevented. Maybe the vaccine doesn’t prevent you from getting COVID—but it sure decreases your chance of landing in the hospital and/or dying from it.
Our Airbnb is separate from our space, and I would have a different response if it were a shared space.
Personally I am vaccinated and boosted.
But I would not ask the question or make a ‘request’ for evidence of vaccination because vaccinations have become such a politically charged topic and since I am not in contact with them I don’t see it as relevant, feel it would be seen as intrusive. Plus I read that there are a lot of fake cards out there.
I recognize that there is some ‘contact’ in the sense that when cleaning the virus could be in the air. After each stay we do ventilate for at least 30 minutes, often longer, with windows open even in below freezing weather during much of the cleaning. Our cleaner doesn’t mind and likes the fresh air.
I agree with you.
On this idea of everyone getting omicron, the point of getting vaccinated is so that when you do get omicron that it is VERY likely not as severe, so that you don’t suffer long covid or require hospitalization/medical treatment that is just a preventable dead monetary cost to society AND also directs medical resources away from others, as recounted in this thread and puts a greater strain on the medical community and first responders and others you’re in contact with.
In addition, even though an omicron infection is much less deadly than the delta variant no one knows for sure how it will affect a given person. The whole point of vaccination and boosters is to train your immune system, not just once but again with the booster. SO from what I have read is that you want to get vaccinated AND get booster(s), even for those who have suffered COVID.
We also don’t know that omicron is the last variant. In fact, we expect more variants. The next one could become more deadly.
But your question remains on whether you should request proof of vaccinations for a non-shared space. In the end, it is your business. I think you ‘can’ do it so long as it is part of your house rules communicated before booking, but as I relate elsewhere here I don’t request or require it.
Sure provided they stay at home and isolate if they get sick and don’t go outside risking other people’s health, Or go to a doctor or hospital so as not to be an unnecessary burden on the health system that is struggling with the unvaccinated, causing people without even Covid related conditions to suffer. But apart from that let them exercise their right to make their personal choice which obviously affects no one but themselves. But not in my Airbnb.