Chances of you dying from a plane crash: 1 in 180,000 Chances of death from SARS in the Philippines: 1 in 50,000,000 Considering the higher risk of dying from plane travel, there should be a moratorium on all flights. Then again, 20-50 million Native Americans were wiped out by disease brought by their European colonisers, easing their takeover. What would America be now without imported virus? Don't we all love a Hollywood ending?
We canceled our scheduled trip to Taiwan next Thursday. We were supposed to celebrate my GF’s birthday and we were bringing along her mom with us but we didn’t want to risk it because she’s already 70 years old and both of us just had a bad cold last week. We’re also more concerned of the situation in airports, like how clean they are of viruses from travelers coming from different parts of the world. And finally travel advisories keep changing almost everyday. It would be a party pooper if a travel advisory come up saying we need to be quarantined for 2 weeks or be sent back home.
Mm...expect more changes in the situation and travel policies. in Taiwan, the govt may soon require wearing of masks before being allowed to board trains and subways. Bring masks before leaving for Taiwan. Also, make sure you have travel insurance. Medical bills in a foreign city will hit your wallet hard.
FWIW we are still lucky because we are an archipelago dotted with thousands of island masses and no land mass border crossings. Other countries are not so lucky; infectees can just go over to the other side through porous points and not be detected anymore. European countries face an overwhelming challenge of keeping its borders closed but wide expanses, mountainous passes and rivers and lakes offer avenues for illegal crossings. In the US, one can hide out in the generally vast forest reserves, hills and valleys, bunkers and small towns to escape detection, kinda of what Rambo (and those survival preppers) can do. But what do we do to boatloads of foreigners in our seas escaping the disease in their own countries, or even Pinoys from provinces heading to other provinces, if we do impose a more restrictive travel ban (not only by air or land)? Do we shoot and sink the boats and let these people die at sea? Or do we risk our own selves by allowing them to disembark? Can we, as humans, allow their deaths knowing we too face the same trepidation if we do save them? Is this what will define our humanity now?
Mirroring your logic of comparison, Chances of you dying in a plane crash: 1 in 180,000 Chances of dying in a motor vehicle crash: 1 in 103. Considering the higher risk of dying from motor vehicular travel, there should be a moratorium on all such vehicular travel. Ang silly. The comparison of odds of mortality between one dying from SARS (an epidemic that barely registered in the Philippines and lasted for 2 years in its entirety) and one dying from a plane crash is absurd as these two are completely unrelated adverse events (an infection vs an aviation accident). I mean people travel by air a lot every day hence there is an inherent risk of plane crash, albeit statistically very small; however, are people even exposed to SARS these days, that one can die from it? The last documented transmission of SARS was 14 years ago as it was successfully contained. I find it hilarious - the thought process of how one goes from SARS to plane crashes, in an attempt to make such a silly conclusion just to drive a warped point. Where did you even get the "chances of death" statistics in regards to the SARS in the Philippines? I'm curious of the reference that you used.
IMO social media just blew this out of proportion. When SARs and H1N1 sit people were not as paranoid. Now that the travel ban is up, all connecting flight going through hong kong will be affected as well. Let's hope it improves soon
Agree In 2002 to 2003 data shows that there were merely around less than a million on social media, Now its 2.5 BILLION on social media everything has gown including exaggeration
Of course, it was silly because it was meant to parody the absurdity of people's paranoia and panic.The SARS stat reference was retrospective, to highlight that in spite of the hysteria then, only 2 out of 100 million in the PH died (were they even Pinoys?). There isn't a case yet of local nCoV transmission in the PH, yet it's showing that when it comes to online hysteria—and Miss Universe votes—Pinoys are #1. Thank goodness I am no medical professional; I can still be my court jester self.
My wife is also travelling before and after that week. So if we miss that trip... Next time I'll see her is in April! (her March is also full of business trips, I marked my calendars to reach home early to do the laundry) Reading local Phuket news and the place is quieter than usual
Update.... I have to cancel my trip. Company I work for just released a memo that mandatory quarantine must be observed if coming from an affected country. 14 days is too long, plus I have no leaves yet. Oh well.....
^what qualifies as "affected country"? I also have a Thailand trip on wash-my-Palm Sunday. Until then, Phuket viruses are the yeast of my worries.
Agree this "affected country " has been creating confusion The Philippines has reported a reported case, does it qualify? Imagine if we are stopping travel to the USA , Canada or Japan.
OT - They were Pinoys. A Filipino who, for some reason, visited a patient diagnosed with SARS in Canada was the first. That Filipino, while not yet exhibiting any symptoms, flew home to be with an ailing parent in central Luzon. That Filipino and the parent were the two who died from SARS in the Philippines.
If the parody you're trying to make is from a person with absurdist paranoia, that downplays the threat of SARS, it actually works.
For the company, a country or even city that has the virus qualifies for an affected country. I guess can't go anywhere for the time being.
