If you are not living under a rock, you most certainly have heard about Coronavirus which is now spreading in the whole world. Many are panicking, fake news about the virus are flooded the internet. Others don’t seem to care. While panicking is absolutely unnecessary, we strongly encourage you to be responsible, respect and care for your other fellow humans.
It’s more than understandable that it’s a hard decision to cancel the trip you have been planning during the last months. We know, that you will most likely loose money, if you have your flight and accommodation booked already, but this is the right way to do. In the following paragraphs we try to collect another few reasons (beyond the obvious ones) why you should stay home during the corona virus crisis.
Travel bans & restrictions
As the coronavirus spreads, more and more countries are restricting or banning travels in and out from their countries. The situation is changing rapidly and this means that even if you get to the border of destination you might won’t be able to enter the country and you will most likely be stuck for weeks somewhere where you don’t want to be.
- USA bans all flights from Europe and UK.
- India has suspended all visas issued on or before Tuesday to travelers from Japan as well as those from Italy, Iran and South Korea.
- Thailand’s declares that travelers from 11 high-risk areas – including Japan, mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore – will need to self-quarantine for 14 days after arrival.
- Japan lists about 50 countries and territories on its website that have issued advisories regarding Japanese travelers, including Saudi Arabia, Mongolia and Vietnam.
- Singapore barred any foreign nationals who were in South Korea, northern Italy or Iran over the previous 14 days from entering or transiting through the city-state.
- In China all travelers from Japan, South Korea, Iran and Italy will be directed to self-quarantine for two weeks.
- Venezuela, Colombia, Chile and Uruguay went on national television Friday to report the partial closure of borders, quarantine measures, and the banning of large public events.
No social activities and cultural programs
Even if you can enter to a country affected by coronavirus, do not expect many things to going on. No tourist attractions, museums will be open. No parties or concerts will be held. More and more countries enforce the bars and restaurants to stay closed. For example, Spain announced a nationwide lockdown, while France or Germany moved to close all nonessential businesses including cafes, restaurants and movie theaters. Italy is under a nationwide quarantine.
Tourists are not welcome
If you are traveling from a foreign country, be prepared that you might not be welcome in these times. You are a potential health threat to locals and they may not be as friendly with you as you’d expect. Be respectful and keep some distance when it’s necessary.
Boredom
If staying home in your own apartment sounds boring to you, try to imagine how bored you could be somewhere without the comfort of your own home. Imagine being stuck somewhere for several days where internet is slow, there is no food delivery, you don’t have books or forms of entertainment other than your phone. Imagine, that you spent your savings on a trip where you can’t do literally anything but staying inside.
Traveling during coronavirus pandemic is irresponsible
As the coronavirus outbreak worsens, we need to be responsible. It’s everybody’s responsibility now to keep each other safe, healthy and alive. We have to change our habits and accept that our individual actions has a great and direct impact on worsening or bettering the situation.
The best advice we can give is to change our mindset: instead of trying not to get infected, we should assume we ARE infected and do everything so we don’t transmit it to somebody else.
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