Pre-trip COVID anxiety - advice/anecdotes welcome!

[zillayen]

Only 2 more wakeups until Disney!!!

Hope you have a wonderful time!!

 

[IndyToThere]

We've played it fairly cautious throughout. My wife is a front-line nurse practitioner and has seen all manner of sick patients, virus deniers, super cautious, etc. We typically take a few vacations/year, so we were definitely missing out when 2020 stopped everything. Our travel history throughout this:

- 1st vacation: Oct 2020. Hilton Head condo rental on the beach. We drove (normally we fly). Either got takeout meals to eat at condo, or bought groceries & cooked, or ate a few times outside. Didn't eat indoors. Always wore our mask in any building. Were able to distance from others on the beach without an issue. Result: no illness

-2nd vacation: March 2021. (wife was fully vaxxed at this point) Orange Beach, AL condo rental on the beach. We drove. Either got takeout meals to eat at condo, or bought groceries & cooked, or ate a few times outside. Ate once indoors during a very quite period of the day. Always wore our mask in any building. Were able to distance from others on the beach without an issue. Result: no illness

- 3rd vacation: Oct 2021. (everyone in our party was vaxxed, except for our 7 year old nephew) Disney for a week. We flew. Ate various Disney dining. Observed the mask rules (at the time, masks on for anything indoors, but not needed outdoors). Result: no illness

- 4th vacation: March 2022 (family vaxxed and boosted). Disney + Universal for a week. We flew. Ate at various restaurants. Observed the mask rules (only required on bus, monorail, and airplane+airport). Result: no illness

Everyone will have their opinions and comfort levels. My take: the virus will never fully go away, ever. However, we have things available to help mitigate: vaccinations + boosters (and also better treatments). If you are vaxxed (and boosted), you've done what you can to help mitigate. Also, the virus counts now are pretty reasonable. They aren't what they were during first of the year, or during the time before vaccinations were available. There is always some risk, but with a vaccination, the odds of a serious complication are significantly reduced.

One thing I noticed was that while we had it comparatively good during 2020 (both of us had our jobs, our health, son was able to behave while working on remote learning, etc), I had this weight on my conscience when we couldn't plan to travel or really do much of anything. After that first vacation to Hilton Head that fall, that weight was lifted, and my mood just felt better. Even though we didn't do anything new that trip (we've been to HH a few times in the past couple of years), it helped my mood more than anything.

As for not worrying - think of it like this... when driving down the highway, are you wearing your seltbeat? Staying with the flow of traffic and not speeding? Avoiding cutting people off and giving yourself time to brake? Basically, doing the things to help mitigate into getting into a (serious) accident. If so, then you've done what you can. You can nix driving or riding a car for the rest of your life to avoid getting into an accident, but if you take the precautions that are available to you, you will quite likely be ok and able to come out on the other end without an issue.

I work with someone who's spouse doesn't feel comfortable travelling yet, and they haven't taken any vacations since this started. She likes to hear of the trips people are taken, but I can see a small bit of sadness in her eyes when I mention I'm going on a trip. I feel bad for this person, because I remember that melancholy mood during 2020 prior to our first vacation.

 

[Feberin]

If a person is not vaxxed, well they are playing with fire. There is almost no legitimate medical reason, backed by science, to not be vaxxed.

According to the FDA and CDC being under 5 is a reason not to be vaccinated yet.

 

[xipotec]

According to the FDA and CDC being under 5 is a reason not to be vaccinated yet.

touche, I ammemd my statemt to those over 5.

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

We went in March when it was SUPER crowded and my kids were great about wearing their masks. I actually posted a trip report and you'll see that in most of them their masks are down around their chin unless we were eating or I wanted a 'nice' picture and I grabbed them quickly. I am VERY anxious about Covid as well and was EXTREMELY nervous about being around so many people, but we didn't get sick and it was fine.

We kept our masks on indoors and did minimal indoor eating (we had birthdays so we did do some), we would take our masks off if we were outside and not, say, standing back to back in line. Basically if we felt that it was safe enough with enough air circulating and space between people we took them off. We wore them in line for the most part, DEFINITELY when lines would move indoors. And we took Covid tests before and after we returned. Just keep up with your hand washing and be aware of your comfort level and you should be okay!

 

[charmed59]

If you are vaccinated and boosted and careful as you seem to be you will likely be fine. On the off chance you do end up with Covid, Paxlovid pills (the tamiflu of Covid) is pretty available in Florida with a prescription from the urgent care dr. So you have a reasonable backup.

 

[gregskellington]

I've been 3 times so far during covid and got it once, after my trip in March. I was not being careful. Being careful worked for me the other two times, as well as places like Vegas for NYE. If you're worried, just protect yourself. It helps.

I was quite sick but I am still here.