[capetonianm]

The above is very true, but I heard that a senior police officer in Cape Town said that the greatest concern at the moment now is an increase in domestic violence, so unfortunately I felt it appropriate to add that sad note of reality to the above light-hearted and probably very true comments.

[Swissdiver]

[postquote quote=994538][/postquote]

A mini baby-boon indeed, but also divorces and some family drama (it is already happening unfortunately)…

[rferguson]

[quote quote=994537]Looks like BA has abandoned its plans to maintain some flights to Accra. No flights since Sunday evening and nothing for next couple of days either.[/quote]

I don’t think they abandoned flights voluntarily. I know that this Mondays LHR-ACC service departed LHR made it half way to ACC then turned around and returned to LHR. I’d imagine circumstances in Ghana had changed whilst the aircraft was enroute.

1 user thanked author for this post.

DavidSmith2

[Potpourri]

We planned to travel to South Korea but was cancelled due to the outbreak. I just want this outbreak to end, keep safe everyone.

[Reporter]

British Airways approach;

Strategy 1 = Alex Cruz takes a pay cut
Strategy 2 = steal money from pensioners whose flights are cancelled
Strategy 3 = Alex ignores emails from victims of strategy 2

Moral = Can’t trust BA under Alex Cruz.

[capetonianm]

40% of the world’s population, 3 billion people, do not have the means to wash their hands at home.

In sub-Saharan African, that proportion rises to 63%.

When CV takes hold in the high density areas / slums / squatter camps / informal settlements, whatever one wishes to call them, it will explode exponentially. I doubt if, for various reasons, we have even seen the start of that.

3 users thanked author for this post.

MarcusGB, stevescoots, openfly

[RoyJones]

To date BA have been no worse and a little better than many airlines c.f Lufthansa Group who have closed off their refund system. Easyjet have been clever by extending their booking period, something that is probably not easy for others who use the fairly standard airline reservation systems that were designed many moons ago for up to a year in advance. QATAR, whose country is in lockdown are trying to corner the market [using the unlimited funds of the State], others are limiting their flights to those routes which can be maintained through “belly freight” and returnees. Once the virus is controlled and that may not be until late this year tourists will be much reduced and a percentage of business travel replaced by conference calls and the potential of 14 days quarantine at each end of a trip. With reduced traffic governments will want to ensure they have a “flag” carrier in case of another emergency – watch fifth freedom being restricted!

[SimonS1]

Government of Dubai to inject new equity into Emirates.

https://gulfnews.com/business/aviation/covid-19-dubai-to-inject-new-equity-into-emirates-airline-1.1585646032302

[MartynSinclair]

Sam Chui’s interesting visualisation of the worlds aircraft fleet..

[MarcusGB]

Firstly, THANK YOU ALL, in contributing so much to this topic i started.
It was during a trip from Europe via Asia, onward to Australia (with lots of stopovers) when i felt, heard and witnessed so much was going on, changes to Travels, the impact of this new Virus. Trouble was clearly ahead.

It has been really one of the most significant, longest, most contributed to threads for many years, a disturbing event, interrupting our travel lives.
Not to mention, the Airline Industry employees Worldwide that Enable / Enrich our Air travel experiences,t and the huge supply chains linked. How distressing times this is for them.
It seems to be a life event we shall all not forget.

The information shared from people’s localised and personal experiences, as well as Debate and opinion’s have really added to the resourcefulness of The BT Forum. I am sure they have helped many, enabled us to be updated, aware, share, debate and contribute.

A SPECIAL Thanks, also to the BT Team, especially Tom and Alex, for keeping running, both the printed versions, This Forum, amazing updates and News, the overall site during this time. It is i am sure we could all agree, a great wealth of experience, shared, localised, Worldwide perceptions of many, helpful and Informing, and informing us all. I hope we can also realise that WE ourselves are a “Community” thanks to BT and its Team, enabling this platform, Worldwide.

We all share a love of Travel, but is has Stopped!!

Who would ever have thought, in a matter of weeks, Worldwide grounded Airline fleets, Business and Tourism travel, closed borders, and we are under “Lock Down” within our homes. The huge impact upon The travel and Tourism sectors Worldwide, especially Air travel, must be unprecedented. The economic impact and costs Worldwide, beyond calculation, and no time scale now….
The Value of BT on line, especially The Forum, News, represents a great asset of Our Worldwide “Business Traveller Community.”

When we can see a rebuilding and renewal of travel, We can start, a subject of “How Air Travel Emerges from the Covid-19 Impact”.

(We should clap our hands to say Thank You to everyone involved in the Business traveller Team, and recognise our own BT Community Spirit?)
Safe wishes to All.
MarcusGB

7 users thanked author for this post.

Jacob, DavidSmith2, CathayLoyalist2, ASK1945, MartynSinclair, fatbear, Tom Otley

[TupeloKid]

Unfortunately, medical knowledge and logic do not necessarily go hand in hand. Dr Shunmay Yeung of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has been quoted all over the world as saying that people should not wear face masks. However, if you watch carefully the video in which she says this, you will find that she is vague, illogical and self-contradictory in this oft-quoted source.

She says that wearing a face mask is “not that effective”. At best, this is woolly language more befitting a sheep (geddit?) than a scientist. At worst, it is dangerous. “Not THAT effective” leaves open the possibility that it is still partially, even moderately effective, yet she is conveying in the rest of her video a message, upon which people may base a decision affecting their health, that they should NOT wear a mask at all (unless in contact with an infected person), even if it is moderately effective. (More on that below.)

Then she says the virus is not airborne because it is transmitted through droplets. So how can it be transmitted through a cough or sneeze if those droplets are not travelling through the air, albeit over a relatively short distance, to reach the victim? What is that if not airborne? Perhaps the scientific definition of ‘airborne’ means sustainable in the air for a longer period, but to the layman – and the video is aimed at the general public – it just means ‘in the air’, hence she is still effectively giving dangerous advice.

And why should someone not protect against being in contact with an infected person? Unlike for hospital staff, fellow passengers in lifts, buses and planes have not been diagnosed for us, or even for themselves. Maybe they don’t realise they have symptoms, or maybe they think it’s just a cough, or maybe they are on the way to the doctor or plan to go to the doctor tomorrow. And how can we stop them coughing or sneezing, or breathing onto us from two feet away in any case?

One of the arguments against using masks is a straw man fallacy: “SOME masks are of poor quality, and don’t filter much”. But that doesn’t mean that a decent mask DOESN’T offer protection.

Some of the science behind recommending not using a mask is that the virus is too small to be captured by the mask. But this is not very relevant, except maybe in a lab. Common sense (and usage) tell you that breathing into a mask will at least reduce the distance most of the air breathed out will travel. Take a mouthful of tea then breathe out without a mask on: you won’t feel it because the mist air has been projected away from you. Now do it again but breathe out with a mask on: you will feel the warm air remaining around your face, i.e. the range of your breath is significantly reduced. QED.

And then Dr. Yeung sidetracks to “the best way” to reduce risk, thereby suggesting that you should choose only one way to stay safe. There are many ways to avoid road accidents: do we pick only one of them to the exclusion of others?

And the final inconsistency is that both Dr. Yeung and the Singapore Trade Minister, recorded secretly when Singapore was likewise also positively recommending the NON-wearing of masks, say – or said – that masks should be kept for health personnel. So, masks are ineffective for the general public, but effective for hospital staff? Logical, or not?

The good news is that both the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Singapore government, not to mention the WHO, have now conceded that mask wearing can help contain the spread of the virus, as evidenced by Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, people reached for masks from the word go, and – despite being bang next door to China, with numerous land and sea crossings, having 25% more flights with China than Singapore, doing less testing and less tracking than Singapore, etc. – in short, the only precaution where Hong Kong outperformed Singapore having been in mask usage, Hong Kong now has only half the number of cases per head of population that Singapore has. Go figure!

2 users thanked author for this post.

capetonianm, Woodpecker

[capetonianm]

I’ve given up listening with more than half an ear to some of these so-called ‘experts’ for exactly the reasons cited above. So many are couched in terms such as ‘could be’, ‘might be’, ‘thought to be’, ‘people have said’ (what people?)

It’s basic common sense that a mask of almost any kind is going to be better than none, for both parties. At least I’m operating on that basis.

1 user thanked author for this post.

TupeloKid

[DavidGordon10]

I am sorry capetonianm, but “basic common sense” is useless for making decisions on scientific or medical matters.

It used to be thought to be “basic common sense” that the earth was flat, and “basic common sense” that you did not need to wash your hands before delivering a baby. de Pfeffel Johnson used the same idea as he shook the hands of patients on a recent hospital visit, and look where that got him.

The use of face masks in this and many other situations is a highly nuanced question. “Basic common sense” tells me that bluster is not going to help answer the question.

1 user thanked author for this post.

ASK1945

[capetonianm]

Fair enough, and I know someone who says that common sense dictates that the earth is flat, but why would two people, in close proximity, both wearing masks, be a worse scenario than if they were not wearing masks?

I need to be convinced that having a barrier, of any kind in place, is better than nothing.

1 user thanked author for this post.

TupeloKid

[ASK1945]

[postquote quote=995648][/postquote]

PPE1 masks – which are what cheap or homemade masks are will be fine when worn for a few minutes and both people wearing them is definitely better than nothing.

However, they become moist very quickly (“……………. Now do it again but breathe out with a mask on: you will feel the warm air remaining around your face, i.e. the range of your breath is significantly reduced” from above) and they then become much more dangerous. Breathing in a viral load is likely to be greater.

Healthcare professionals wear PPE2 masks for general face-to-face use at a 2 meter distance, and PPE3 masks when actively treating Covid-19 patients.

[Author]

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