Absolutely. And so lockdown should continue. But humanity has spent its entire existing fighting issues. This, on an unprecedented scale perhaps, will be no different.

I am sorry but one needs to be optimistic; my cousin who runs a GP practice and his wife a physio who has been �retrained� to cope with the Covid 19 and says she has had absolutely nothing to do since the outbreak; are planning summer holidays as are their friends in the medical profession. Their rationale is that it gives one something to look forward to and tourism is also so important for the local economies of the countries one hopes to visit! We have no idea what this virus might do and it might disappear suddenly but if it does not, then we must either learn to live with it because otherwise the magic money tree will collapse...

That's great news. I hope we all analyse this properly when it is over.

I do not know where your cousin and his wife live, but they are very lucky to be in the medical profession and along with their colleagues are thumbing through travel brochures right now.
Where exactly would they consider going right now? Serious question by the way.
The magic tree you refer to is a serious issue. Indeed it was the case a colleague of mine made in going to Mauritius (no cases at the time) from Germany to support local tourism. When there they had an outbreak as Europeans flooded there and contaminated the local population. But hey it might just disappear. Right?

Viruses can do

Lockdown cannot and will not last forever, and it certainly will be lifted long before this virus is eradicated. It is has to, as otherwise the global economy will collapse. Feel like a broken record saying this. It is extremely short-sighted to say this must continue until a cure/vaccine/eradication. Because that simply may not ever happen.

At the moment, there are those of us who are looking ahead rather pragmatically, and saying the above. And there's those who are looking at this with an overly emotional view and saying it must continue indefinitely. I d o not want to sound callous. But, we cannot wreck the lives of millions for the sake of saving a few thousand lives. If that was something we as a society wanted to do, we'd have annual lockdowns for flu season. But we don't. And before long (bearing in mind June is still six weeks away) the restrictions will lift and life will go on, with the fact Covid is around and infecting allowed and managed.

I am fortunate that despite not being able to work, for the time being I am on full pay. But there are many who are not and many many families for whom a 20% drop in household income for an extended period will see them in serious financial strife. Especially if due to an unnecessary extended lockdown, many of the businesses they work for vanish, and they have no job to go back to.

We were lead to believe the NHS would be obliterated by this outbreak and the rush to build these Nightingales was a good decision. But the Welsh one is yet to take patients and there is nothing in Wales saying any of our major "normal" hospitals are at or near capacity.

Well... could it be that this is the case because of the few tests they're doing right now? Yesterday, as per the BBC's website, 19,000 tests had been done in the UK. On the same day in Italy there had been 60,000 and more in Germany.

Going back on topic, I read today that Emirates is extending its flight cancellations until July 1st, which is quite telling. That's a good yardstick to aim for: personally, I think this summer will be a write-off. Which government will allow flights, in the current conditions, to places like the US where you are having (only case in the world as far as I can see) people actively defying the stay-at-home orders to go out and protest?

The Italian government has had enough time now to assess how this virus spreads and has categorised industries according to risk level, and presumably other countries will draw the same conclusions. Air travel is considered the highest risk alongside healthcare. Even if lockdown is relaxed i expect travel will be restricted for some time to come.

If it's non-flexible, it's probably mentioned, otherwise it isn't, I guess.

I have a holiday booking for June (Rio de Janeiro) with a non-refundable room. In the overview of the confirmation mail of my booking, in the hotel section, it mentions "Non-changeable/Non-refundable" in the room description although I do wonder if this still applies since most hotels offer flexibility given the corona-situation, even on non-refundable bookings. Anyway, I'll see if I make it, and if not, how much money I will get back as a voucher or cash.

Wouldn't say hospital admissions are linked to testing. Well, they are, but not in the way you suggest. My point was that not as many people are presenting as critically ill as they have been preparing for - which is a good thing. We need to increase testing, of course we do. But increased testing and positives wouldn't necessarily lead to an increase in admissions. It is likely 10s of 1000s more of us have had it than the numbers suggest, having suffered no or only mild symptoms and required no medical assistance whatsoever, so, it wouldn't mean that 10s of 1000s more would have been admitted to hospital. If testing was increased and widely rolled out, as I believe it should be, what the statistics would probably be showing us is that the virus is actually far less deadly than we're statistically seeing at the moment in the UK. Because, what we'd be seeing is a vastly increased number of infections and only a fairly modest increase in deaths.

I agree with this. I think we are unlikely to see much business travel in 2020 and indeed know of some companies that have already ruled it out. I've got a diving holiday booked for July but am certain that won't be happening. I have some optimism that I may be able to get out to the Far East to go diving over Christmas and New Year. The issue of insurance will continue to be problematic too I suspect.

Yes, I read that and found strange that, for instance, air travel was given 'red' status (highest risk) but train/ground public transport was only 'orange'. I don't know about you all but between a hop on a densified BA 320neo and a ride on the Piccadilly Line at 07:30 AM on a Wednesday... I'd go for the neo in a heartbeat. Even on a middle seat in the first line of the non-recliners, with the guy in front going back as far as the button allows him to.

My idea was that the more you test the more you find, the more you find the more you hospitalize/quarantine/care for... You put a lid on it but you do increase demand on the hospitals. Having said that I'm absolutely not a medical expert.

Honest question as I previously asked. You or your cousin open up a travel brochure today - where would you plan on going this summer?

Is the Channel tunnel open?
I imagine air travel restrictions in place more to control possible infections in the community one travels to. Multiple examples of this to date.

Yes, one daily Brussels and one daily Paris service with the Eurostar. According to last time I checked the website, you need to fill a paper saying why you are travelling into France.