Is it possible to travel responsibly (during a pandemic)?

[Ghost95]

You're totally correct. Our mere existance has an impact on others... directly or indirectly.

I just can't put my trip to Cozumel (which was awesome and I had no issues) in the same category as my Whole Foods home delivery. I did the trip as responsible as I could (masks, testing, 14 day strict self isolation before and after trip) but in the end, it was elective and unnecessary travel.

But you still chose to do your trip...

 

[MichaelMc]

To the people that say travel is reckless and selfish, irresponsible ect.... do you go out to dinner, do you go to the grocery store, the bank, your family members home? Serious question

Dinner: No
Grocery: No
Bank: Twice for quarters for apartment laundry
Visit: No

I've been shore diving three times socially distanced since March. That is about the sum total of my excursions past the curb to take out the trash. Lately, I've put local diving on hold as people are joking about staying off step ladders around here as hospitals are slammed to the limit.

I'm lucky enough to study/work from home. I am not high risk. But I do not need to get sick nor add to the community asymptomatic transmission rate. When I go out, do the laundry, or to the mailbox, I have on a face shield and a P100 respirator from Granger with added exhale filter. I have an existing HEPA air filter running in my solo apartment. Possibly overkill, except there are people being stupid. This protects me from them, and them from me or others through me.

Lots to do at home. I do have a wall of windows with a sunny view beside my desk. There is time for socializing when this is over.

If you want to support dive destinations, bars, restaurants, send money and eat at home for a fraction of the cost. If you want to support workers in health care, factories, grocery stores, infrastructure, police and fire: wear an effective mask and physically distance to destroy the community spread.

We are in a pandemic. With a P100 mask and eye goggles, I think air travel would be safe enough if I had to. But I have no need to.

 

[Jackie Treehorn]

But you still chose to do your trip...

I did. But it wasn't responsible. And I knew it was irresponsible when I decided to go. I accepted my irresponsibility and did as much as I could to mitigate risks to myself and others, but in the end, I chose elective travel... which is a binary decision. The responsibility factor should be binary as well.

If I replayed my personal scenario back again... with every factor the same... would I have made the same decision? Yes.

 

[O-ring]

I think you can make the argument that any unnecessary travel is irresponsible. Necessary travel might be the need to fly for a lifesaving organ transplant or a mandatory business trip, but it's hard to justify "I was bored and tired of sitting at home and wanted to go diving". People have tried the economic argument, but as @MichaelMc points out it is far safer for all concerned to send money to those impacted than to travel there and spend money on diving. Then they get the benefit of your dollars, euro, yen (whatever) without the thousands of touch points and infection vectors that come with you actually traveling.

We run into a similar kind of debate in the motorcycle community. If I want to go to a track and ride around at 150 mph that is generally considered ok since I am making a conscious choice to engage in a risky activity but am only putting myself at risk (and others that choose to be on the track with me, but that's a scenario where everybody on track knows the deal and is there willingly). If I decide I want to go out on public roads and ride around at 150 mph that is generally frowned upon as highly irresponsible since I am putting other (unwilling) people at risk. I don't see this as fundamentally that much different. I've got a LOB booked for June that is a reschedule/voucher from last June that I'll have to make a decision on here pretty quick. If things remain as they are the responsible thing to do is probably to eat the cost and stay home. Time will tell if I am responsible enough to do that.

 

[Ghost95]

The dynamic in this conversation is interesting in that there are people who are "lucky" enough to work from home or study from home....and there those of us who are not. Please don't take offense at that, but still, we are not all lucky enough to do that. We have to be out and about. We have to go to the store. We have to go to the bank. We can't just stop.

I HAVE to travel. The stress on my wife and parents is huge. I still have to live in the world. I go to the store with your kids. I still stand in line with you at the liquor store (Rum makes it better).

I guess the difference between me and others is that I give a shi*. I don't want your mom to get sick. I Don't want your aunt to get sick. I try to stay away from you and EVERYONE!!!!!

Regardless of the consequences, we all have to..."Keep on keep'n on"...

Just stay T.F. away from each other...and when it's over then it's over and you can go back to doing what you do, whatever that is.

Travel is the same. Take the precautions, stay away, and enjoy the solitude...

 

[Ghost95]

With respect to keeping Covid-19 under control, elective/recreational travel is irresponsible. Period. No matter what precautions are taken.

But we (individuals, governments, corporations) are flawed and we do irresponsible and selfish stuff. With proper COVID protocols or otherwise.

If we as individuals choose elective travel right now, we should be honest with ourselves and accept the fact that we are being irresponsible. No masks, wipes, distancing, quarantining, economic support of local economy, etc. can justify it.

Yes, I've been irresponsible once. I took all those precautions and followed all recommendations and guidance... but in the end, I didn't really HAVE to do it. I chose to do it.

I find it "interesting" and not in a patronizing way, that you find this kind of travel irresponsible but, but in a later post say that you would do it again.

I don't understand.

Do you "feel" that this kind of travel should be limited or eliminated but that you should be able to or would do it again?

Your later post says...
I did. But it wasn't responsible. And I knew it was irresponsible when I decided to go. I accepted my irresponsibility and did as much as I could to mitigate risks to myself and others, but in the end, I chose elective travel... which is a binary decision. The responsibility factor should be binary as well.

If I replayed my personal scenario back again... with every factor the same... would I have made the same decision? Yes.

I really don't understand this train of thought. I thought it was wrong but I would do it again???
Please explain.

 

[Esprise Me]

It's honest. Every one of us does something that, if we were being honest, we would acknowledge was not responsible. Many people cannot handle the cognitive dissonance and so twist themselves in knots trying to justify the things they do. And some of them fool some of their listeners, at least some of the time, into thinking that behavior really is responsible. But it doesn't make it so. I respect the honest reckoning, and attendant efforts to mitigate the damage, more.

 

[MichaelMc]

I'm privileged (lucky) enough to be able to study/work from home. Many have to be out for work or kid's school.

Groceries can be shipped, particularly dry stuff. I mourn the loss of my snacks and frozen pizzas. But I'll manage on basics, and my waistline is much trimmer.

Contactless pickup is likely the more infrastructure responsible yet pandemic safe grocery method. I started March 15 last year with the no-stores all-shipped mindset and haven't shifted to the new options yet. (At the time, I was in a Journalism class that transitioned to covid coverage, so I was abreast of the news.)

 

[Schwob]

... Type O blood-- name a risk factor, I don't have it...

Good post. One (just trying to understand type of) question about you mentioning type O blood:
I understand that type O is great as blood donor, but that would not help I’m this context - or? Is it somehow deemed beneficial, as in Corona infection related risk reducing?

 

[Esprise Me]

Good post. One (just trying to understand type of) question about you mentioning type O blood:
I understand that type O is great as blood donor, but that would not help I’m this context - or? Is it somehow deemed beneficial, as in Corona infection related risk reducing?

There have been some studies suggesting those with Type O blood are actually at less risk for COVID:
Possible Link Between Blood Type and COVID-19 - Hematology.org
Type O blood linked to lower COVID risk, taking Vitamin D unlikely to help

It's not definitive, and I'm not taking it as a license to be careless, but it does make me think I might as well get my own groceries and free up the delivery folks to serve those with known risk factors.