progol

crellston - US insurers are the masters of misinformation and misdirection, I think!

ninasdream

I had been looking into joining a medical mission to Vietnam as a layman volunteer from my place of work, and adding days on to sight-see, but China is a popular destination for travelers from Vietnam and so I am looking to another destination for now. I am disappointed, as I had been researching and brainstorming with coworkers for about six months.

jacketwatch

We use AC DEL-YVR-ORD.

Christina

<<probably because you guys don’t have public health systems like the NHS and rely instead on Medical insurance , which, I believe many rely on for cover overseas.>>

I'm not sure what that means, but it sounds like you think most Americans have some kind of medical insurance that covers them abroad, and I don't think most people do. I know I don't, and I have a very big major medical plan from a major insurer around where I live. I don't think typical US medical insurance plans cover you abroad. I think a lot of Americans just are clueless and don't even think about this kind of thing and travel without medical insurance coverage. I don't know the stats, but I suspect most Americans' basic policies do not cover them abroad. But of course, you can buy it with travel insurance.

I do not agree that US travel insurance policies are so difficult to understand. The exclusions you cite as common in the UK are the same things that are common in the US. No, a virus is not a "natural disaster." I know some policies cover things such as cancellation due to a CDC warning, like Nationwide does. So if you were going to some country like Africa or Asia or maybe even South America, it would be good to buy a policy that included that benefit.

Not me, but I know someone who has changed their plans due to this, but they weren't going to China, only nearb y countries. However, they changed their flight so they connect in Singapore, not Hong Kong. Which was a good idea as that airport is now closed, I believe.

thursdaysd

I did, but the megacorp I worked for self-insured. When it comes to individual policies you are probably right. It's certainly the case that Medicare does not, and although some Medigap policies have some coverage, it's minimal.

Of course, the other issue is evacuation/repatriation, which even my insurance did not provide.

jacketwatch

Very generous of you Mr. C. Thank you very much. We actually should be fine as we take AC DEL-YVR-ORD so China is out of the equation.
If you are ever in Chicago dinner is on me!

Guenmai

I personally wouldn't head off to China at present as it's a mess of a situation. But, I've been back here in S.E. Asia for about 6 weeks now and have seen the numbers go up quite fast with new cases even in this region. I've presently been in Singapore now for nearly 2 weeks straight, but am at the end of my vacation and am scheduled to fly home soon.

When I arrived into Singapore on Jan 21st, there were no reported cases of Wuhan virus here and now there are 18 unless there have been more reported since around yesterday. But, at least this country is vigilant about trying to stay on top of the situation and immediately quarantine sick folks. But, one never knows who might be infected, but not yet symptomatic and with being on crowded subways, in crowded streets and malls with a lot of folks hacking anyhow as it's regular flu season and also in hotels, it is a bit unnerving to say the least.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news...cases-12324270

It's good to be here in the region and get fast updated info on the TV news as to what is going on as just day before yesterday, it was announced that here in Singapore, every family will be distributed a free package of 4, face masks and one can decide if one wants to wear them or not. And days ago, it was announced that if one is coming back to Singapore from China, then one is to stay at home from work for 14 days and also not go to school for 14 days. This is the Chinese New Year season and folks have been traveling off to China to visit family and now are back in Singapore.

Just yesterday, I was at Raffles Place which is a financial center area and noticed a big sign that was informing people that the entrance to one of the big buildings had set up a temperature check point outside. There were lines marked off that one was to go through and a representative was sitting outside and watching folks coming through the line to be monitored. He was also wearing a face mask. And of course the temperature machines aren't perfect and one could be infected, but with no symptoms or fever, but at least it's something. At one of the airports a couple weeks ago or more, all of us passengers had to walk past a temperature-monitoring check point.

The below was on the news here the other day. A brave group of Scoot Air crew members volunteered to work on the flight to bring Singaporeans home. It was on the TV news here and was reported that there were more flight crew volunteers than even needed.

https://www.msn.com/en-sg/news/singa...min/ar-BBZtjT1

I'm not an immune suppressed person, but one of my best friends is due to an organ transplant of a couple decades ago, and that friend has to always think of personal health situations before taking off on vacation and especially oversees. Plus, if one would end up infected and sick with this Wuhan virus overseas and end up in a hospital or quarantined for 14 days, as that's what's happening in this part of the world, then that would really not be a pleasant situation. If one is going to end up infected and sick, then I personally don't know folks who would want to be sick and stranded overseas instead of being at home.

Hopefully, I'll make it through this outbreak as I made it past SARS, Bird Flu, and MERS. But, then a couple years ago a really bad Singaporean flu was out and I unfortunately got it and it took about a month to work its course. I'm one who hadn't had a flu since the early 2000s and which back then was caught, in flight, on the way from Germany to West Africa as I found out that there was a flu epidemic in Germany that winter. There were a lot of sick people on that flight from Germany to West Africa. I had started my flight in L.A. and then changed planes in Germany and was shocked that so many sick folks were even allowed on the flight as folks were hacking like crazy. The day after I arrived into West Africa, I woke up very sick. Bummer as I was traveling alone and for 2 weeks. No fun, but thank goodness to the African hotel staff who took care of me like family.

Happy Travels!

zhml

WHO announced a World Health Emergency. But in my opinion, This is a good time to travel as many travel fares go down.
IDK however, taking necessary steps to prevent diseases and enjoy the travel will be a good move.

ellen75005

We have reservations for early September, but if the coronavirus is still an issue then, we're all in a lot more trouble than we think!

I kept thinking about the poor people who saved up to travel to China to see the Great Wall and arrived just as it was being closed! On a lesser scale, it happened to us this past fall. We had reservations to go to the DMZ while in Seoul, but it was closed just prior to our arrival due to pigs bringing the swine flu over the border from China. We were so disappointed, but c'est la vie when you travel, right?

thursdaysd

Singapore may be taking precautions, but the situation in other parts of SEA seems to be different:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/02/w...gtype=Homepage

Sue_xx_yy

Ibobi you may have asked the wrong question about the right issue.

It is true that I could contract ordinary flu (assuming my shot that I had doesn't work for some reason) and if it gets bad enough, I croak. I'm no longer a young Sue so that is conceivable.

However nobody is relying on me to fuel the planes, fly them, or staff the customs/immigration kiosks. Y'all could just stuff me on the compost heap and business would go along more or less as usual.

The right question for you to have asked might have been, is coronavirus affecting someone else's plans, say to go to work to fly a plane.

Right now I would have a hard time flying to China even if I wanted to for that very reason - because so many airlines have suspended flights.

Sue_xx_yy

Thin. The trouble is, numbers alone have rarely been what people worry about, and not always without reason. In 1986, AIDs cases were estimated to be about 27,000 or so worldwide - the same as polio. But Elizabeth Taylor wasn't campaigning against polio.

To accuse Taylor in 1986 for being hysterical , would that not be a little unfair? We cannot help but be more concerned about something for which we have very little information, because it makes it hard to even devise a plan, let alone implement one. We still don't know the mortality rate of this new coronavirus, let alone a plan.

Anyway, to get back to the AIDS verus Polio comparison. Our 'plan' for polio, the vaccine, we had, so we knew it was just a matter of finishing the implementation. AIDS, as a fairly 'new' virus in 1986 (in fact it had been pinging about in this form or that one for some time, just not very successfully) was another matter. We had no plan or even much of a clue.

And we also cannot help being more concerned about ourselves and our kin, as opposed to others. Today, were the UN to report that every week, 7500 young women in the US, mostly of colour, were contracting AIDS, any number of advocacy groups in the West, including Black Lives Matter in the US, would be going nuts. They are not going nuts. But on the other side of the world, that kind of viral spread is happening.

And a few days ago, the papers carried the news, not of there being up to 260,000 new cases of AIDS in African adolescents, especially adolescent girls, every year, or of there being 55,000 deaths due to AIDS related causes in African adolescents in 2016, but the death of one (1) very well 'known' person whom millions of Americans admired on their TV sets, Kobe Bryant.

You mention death rate. Not many people die in helicopter crashes every year, I would think it must be at most a few dozen a year, but his death, poor man, got attention that 55,000 young people of the same skin colour on the other side of the world did not.

I have no idea how we can learn to pick out useful fear from the panic stuff, or 'triage' fear.

Guenmai

Interesting article and the information doesn't surprise me.

Today, the below article came out comparing the 2003 SARS outbreak that also hit Singapore with the present Wuhan virus situation. The article also goes into how the 2003 SARS outbreak was handled here and how the present Wuhan virus outbreak is being handled here.

I remember the SARS situation very well as I had been here in the region. But, China held back important information and a lot of time was lost for countries to try to take measures to prevent the spread and to quarantine those who needed to be. A lot of people had been exposed, but many didn't even know that there was a virus out there at certain points prior to both China finally releasing information and the official announcement and naming of the virus.

Tomorrow is my scheduled day to fly home as my 6-week vacation, here in the region, is now ending.

https://mothership.sg/2020/02/sars-w...eak-explained/

Happy Travels!

laurieco

China (and Malaysia) is actually my least favorite Asian country. While I won't rule out going back sometime in the future, I have no desire to go anytime soon. We are going to Bangkok and Vietnam end of March-April and I have no plans to cancel. We are flying ANA so will be routing through Japan. I may or may not visit Chinatown in Bangkok. I've been there many times so it was not exactly on my list of places to revisit in Bangkok anyway. We went to Burma, Laos and Thailand at the height of the SARS epidemic and never worried about it. I expect the same for this upcoming trip.

I should also add that since China is being shut off from the rest of the world right now, with no flights going in or out, and tourists not allowed to leave, since the incubation period is 14 days, by the end of March, I would think that it will not be that widespread in other countries, even other Asian countries. I realize there is human to human transmission and those already infected may be infecting others, but I would think that within the next couple of months, it will be contained.

kja

Hoping you made / make it home safely, Guenmai!

Guenmai

Kja: Thanks. I got home yesterday, Feb 03, and as usual I'm jet lagged out of my mind which is why I woke up at midnight and it's 4:47AM, here in L.A. now and I'm awake. The flight home was interesting as about 30% of us were wearing face masks and some of the flight crew members were also wearing them. I fly Singapore Air to L.A.

If folks would either just cover their mouths when they are hacking away or cough into their inner-arm area as most folks whom I know do, that would help a lot. But, the folks hacking the most were neither covering their mouths nor wearing a mask as I observed them in my area of the plane. Annoying, whether a severe virus is going around or not.

What was interesting was that when my flight landed in Narita, as there's about an hour there before boarding onto the same flight number and continuing home to L.A., there was a plane at the gate next to my plane that had also just landed. Well, passengers from both planes were disembarking at the same time.

The other plane that had also disembarked at the same time as my plane, was carrying a lot of passengers and every single passenger that I saw was wearing a white, face mask and the same style. It was a sea of passengers and also a sea of white face masks.

After disembarking the plane, not far away were tables set up and everyone was stopped and questioned. Each persons's passport was checked and then health questions were asked. I had on my face mask, but had forgotten that it was on as I had it on throughout the flight as did the passenger sitting next to me. When I got up to one of the officers, who was checking passports and asking health questions, he asked for me to remove my face mask so that he could check my passport photo with my actual face. We both had a bit of a laugh.

In that same line, there were two areas, one to the right and one to the left. The left one was for those continuing on to L.A. Then, of course when that was over, we all had to go back though the section with the x-ray machine and the metal detector station before being able to enter the gate area to continue on to the same flight number. But, this is how I always remember it being when landing in Narita.....get off the plane and then have to go through the area of the x-ray machine and metal detector area before being able to continue onward.

However, on this trip while flying from L.A.-Narita and on to Singapore, for the first time since I've been flying that route, they eliminated the going back through the area of x-ray and metal detector before being allowed to go onwards to one's next destination. I had even commented to an airline staff member that that step had been eliminated and he commented back that it had been. But, still not eliminated in the other direction.

Happy Travels!

kja

@ Guenmai: Interesting -- thanks! Good to know you've gotten home.

allyboy

We are currently in week 2 of our month long trip to Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos Our original flight on Cathay Airlines back to LA on August 25th from Hanoi to Hong Kong and Hong Kong to LAX was cancelled causing us to have a 11 hour wait at Hong Kong airport. After several days we were able to have Cathay Airlines place us on an earlier flight back to LAX and still from Hong Kong airport. Our concern is whether or not to cancel our Cathay flight ( fight for insurance refund) and book a different airline that doesn't pass through Hong Kong airport. Our other concern is whether or not to cancel the remainder of our trip to Cambodia, Laos and back to Hanoi and fly home now. Once again we would have to fight for insurance refund from the loss of cancelled flights and hotels.

All due to the Coronavirus!

AJPeabody

Cancelling the rest of your trip due to fear of the virus would only work with cancel for any reason insurance, as would cancelling Cathay and buying a trip on another airline.

Guenmai

I go for the Cancel For Any Reason insurance whenever I can, but even with that kind of insurance, one doesn't get 100% back and there are also conditions to it and I have no idea how the travel insurance companies are handling this Wuhan virus situation. There's a lot of fine print to read before buying travel insurance.

I'm glad that I end my trips in Singapore and also glad that I got home on Feb 03rd as this Wuhan virus situation is a mess.

Some years ago, I had to cancel a trip (to Europe) due to a family situation, but before having left home, and I think I got 75% back on my airfare due to cancel-for-any-reason insurance. I get it more for the reason of possibly having to cancel before leaving home and wanting to get back part of my airfare as, as for hotels, I try to book them with the free cancelation policy and with plenty of time to cancel and get 100% back even if I've arrived into Asia, but maybe not yet into one of the several countries on my trip, but still within the timeline to cancel a hotel reservation and get 100% back.

Happy Travels!