Ben Schlappig, known as Lucky from the One Mile at a Time blog is contemplating a trip to Iceland next month and the way he frames the discussion, and the ensuing comments, are a fascinating sociological study in how people are reacting to the coronavirus pandemic and travel.
There are some people who should certainly isolate themselves – anyone that’s elderly and especially with pre-existing health conditions is at greatest risk from the SARS-CoV-2 virus for instance. And there are places that you shouldn’t travel to, current coronavirus hot spots like the New York area (still), probably Chicago and Los Angeles, and certainly Russia, Brazil, and Turkey.
However what Ben is describing is incredibly safe, at least compared to the various risks we’ve incurred on a daily basis like driving in cars and eating fatty foods. He’s talking about visiting Iceland – which plans to welcome visitors starting June 15, with COVID-19 testing on arrival. He shouldn’t be sheepish or apologetic about this.
- Being outdoors in Iceland is very low risk, lower risk than going to the grocery store near his home in Florida.
- While he could well fly with someone who has the virus, and there’s a chance that person could spread it and Ben or his husband would be one of the people that catches it, since everyone on the plane is getting tested on arrival they’re likely to know very quickly if they were exposed to someone with COVID-19 during travel and can self-quarantine in Iceland for two weeks.
- If they did get the virus they’re are at low risk of the most serious challenges from the virus because they’re young. To be sure there are outlier cases of younger people without pre-existing conditions who wind up with real problems but those are rare, if you lived avoiding that level of risk you wouldn’t drive to the grocery store in non-COVID times.
- The reason for them to take measures to avoid getting the virus is less to protect themselves as much as to avoid spreading the virus. However they’ll be tested on arrival, limiting the likelihood they’ll be asymptomatically spreading it in Iceland. And Ben says he plans to self-isolate on return. So the risk of spreading it back in Florida is very low as well – less than going to the grocery store at home.
You can create a story where he picks up the virus inside of Iceland (where the virus is almost non-existent today) but wouldn’t have picked it up at the grocery store or the Florida beaches. And you can further suggest that he spreads it on the flight home. That could happen, but we’re not living in total lock down in fact much of the country is opening up.
My barber shop in Texas is re-opening. Gyms and exercise studios (Orange Theory!) re-open on Monday. The governor is expected to announce a plan to re-open bars next week. What Ben is talking about is far lower risk. He should take the trip – and do so without apology.
While there are readers who advocate ‘no travel until a vaccine’ even a vaccine isn’t a panacea. Like the flu shot it may not be completely effective. We may see a vaccine that prevents 30% of people from contracting the virus, and that reduces severity of the illness for some who do catch it.
Indeed to the extent that hospitalizations remain at manageable levels we should continue to experiment to find ways to live life while avoiding virus spread, recognizing that catching it later is better than catching it now because of the speed at which research on treatments is progressing. It is time for some people to start planning travel to some places.
It’s far to stay inside and fair to argue from a principled position for total lock down. However travel is already off the bottom. We’re seeing that in passenger numbers and hotel occupancy (this week ends five straight of increased hotel stays). I’m seeing it in forward air bookings as well with plenty of reduce schedule flights filling up in July. Car rentals are up, too.
What’s important is to travel responsibly, for some people to avoid it altogether, and to engage only with those businesses you trust to follow the very best protocols.
You might know a lot about air travel and miles, but it is clear to me that you do not have a very good grasp of how this virus is spread and what tests for this virus can and can’t accomplish. I suggest that you stop giving out bogus medical advice.
You can contract the virus while flying, and neither you or the person who gave the virus to you may not test positive at arrival. In fact, Lucky may not become symptomatic and/or test positive for days. So he or his boyfriend may end up bringing the virus home and give it his mother who is receiving chemotherapy.
Hubs and I are still booked from MSP-KEF on June 20. My 70th Birthday celebration. Still debating….
I’m surprised Iceland would let Americans in that soon.
Who is Lucky?
@Naoyuki anyone who is infectious on the plane will test positive on arrival. Then all the passengers will/could be isolated.
No one should every have to apologize for legal travel. That said, I’m somewhat disturbed by how little information “the authorities” have released about who is ACTUALLY getting the virus and where. You would think that every hospitalized patient (and/or their family) would fill out a questionaire detailing their activities for the past 2 weeks before contracting the virus.
New York seems to release the most data, and it’s still quite limited. We do know that most people get the virus at home (presumably from other infected individuals). There doesn’t seem to be many workers getting sick is supermarkets and stores, which is surprising (at least to some). We have basically zero data about flying. Like are flight attendants getting more COVID than the random population? And we don;t need anecdotal stories, we need hard data. What about people who have flown in the past two weeks (there are now millions of such people in the USA)? We need to know how effective the HEPA filters truly are. And what about hotel guests? We have plenty of fear, and so very few facts.
Anybody who tells anybody else that they should not travel (legally) to any place that allows you, can go fu@k themselves
People are free to do anything they want within the parameters of the law, it is as simple as that
You don’t want to risk catching the virus, stay home for as long you deem necessary
Has Iceland actually said they will be letting Americans in? Seems insane any country would.
Like I can see they will let EU citizens in, but Americans. Seriously.
Fly. But the Hamlet virtue signaling is transparent and gross.
Just say I have the right to travel and make a living. And everyone else should have the right to work as well.
Just a silly boy.
I’m glad he penned that piece and that you expounded on it. People need to start understanding the true relative risk of travel, given that the virus is nearly everywhere at this point. I’m taking my first trip on Sunday to Tucson, Arizona to enjoy some desert hiking. It will be super low risk, and I have no qualms doing so. We can’t hide in our houses waiting for a fabled vaccine.
Will you be joining him Gary?
Asumning the risk of contracting coronavirus through air travel and tourism is the same as the risk of harm from driving to the neighborhood grocery (I seriously doubt the validity of that assertion no matter how fine Gary wants to slice it and dice it), we must eat. Air travel is discretionary. If Schlappig wants to support workers in the tourism industry, he can find an organization and send a check. Who wants to go on vacation and wind up quarantined for 14 days because someone on the plane happens to test positive?
Some people will contract the virus from travel. That cannot be disputed. To paraphrase a line from Huckleberry Finn ‘You pays your money and you takes your chances.’ I’m liberal politically but when it comes to risking serious bodily harm for myself or others, it makes sense to be very conservative. Ain’t no do overs with CV-19.
Yes, Gary, as Travis asked, “Will you be joining him for a getaway spa week during a pandemic?” A valid question.
Or perhaps you are like the rest of us and trying to figure out how to travel in the coming months to keep our businesses alive.
There is a vast difference.
Hi John:
You have seriously not grasped what the Chinese Virus does. To most people, absolutely nothing. Should a 85 year old chain smoker with lung cancer travel right now? Probably not. However, almost everybody gets a do-over with the Chinese Virus. Do a bit of research.
Also, Obesity kills 300,000 Americans every year. This virus is at 80-90K. I would recommend that you lead the charge to ban spoons until that epedemic is under control. This is all about saving lives right?
We have 9 international trips planned for 2020, starting 6/15. As Davy Crockett said in 1832
“You may all go to hell and I will go to Texas.” You may all stay home, I will go see the world.
PS. Wasn’t Georgia going to have 1000s and 1000s of new infections since the reckless governor opened the State wayyyyyyyyyy to early??? Again, check the facts.
This is a dangerous take to perpetuate. The arrogance is quite something.
Perhaps leave the experts give advice on matters you are not skilled in.
Last I checked Iceland was part of Schengen and the rest of the zone has not agreed to open borders to non-EU residents. I did not see anything to the contrary in Iceland’s recent announcement (except that it would welcome UK which recently left EU). Maybe Ben has German citizenship from his parents?
I’d be interested in knowing specifics of how you differentiate between Ben and Covidiots.
Not surprising that selfish bloggers who run selfish, monetized blogs would want to gin up the “reopen” hysteria that the right is running with. You’re not an epidemiologist, and neither is lucky. It’s incredibly selfish, reckless, and typical of entitled Americans to do things like taking a trip while people are still dying. No amount of science will convince any of you troglodytes or opportunistic money grubbers. I will proudly call out the selfish and reckless jerks who are endangering others. Some things (human lives) are more important than another photo op on a plane.
@Deltahater, Ha ha! Have fun on your trips. B/t/w Davy Crockett died in Texas.
I don’t care who travels or not. But that Ben is only writing it to attract attention. So needy!
Luckys just seeking Clickbait headline driven attention. He has these little outbursts once every 30 – 45 days on average.
Those clicks are needed to prove to his customers (the banks) that his product (the readers) still exist.
Ps. Thanks to his hideous grammar, it appears that he is only possibly, potentially going to contemplate travelling to Iceland.
Given the fiasco in America it would be irresponsible and arrogant of us to travel to other countries. We needed, testing, tracing etc etc first.
Ben/Lucky at OMAAT is also a citizen of Schengen state Germany and thus even currently admissible to fellow Schengen participant Iceland.
There is no certainty yet that the Schengen zone will open itself to the average US and Canadian passport user coming as a tourist on June 15th. Even Denmark is facing a growing hissy-fit from Danes about whether or not it should open itself further to Sweden, and they seem more fine with opening up further with Germany and Norway than with Sweden. In this environment, it’s not going to be easy to eliminate the Schengen ban that excludes most ordinary US tourists today and may even do so on and after June 15th of this year.
Love the self described experts ranting about how we need a cure, or vaccine, or whatever before we can travel again. NO. If you’re scared, stay home, the rest of us will take the risk and live our lives.
Fine if he goes, so long as he stays and doesn’t come back.
More propaganda by peddlers of travel services. Your lot has lost all credibility.
Different guy, but look what these travel “experts” were saying ON MARCH 6, with the title “Why I’m not slowing down my travel during coronavirus” https://thepointsguy.com/news/critical-points-travel-during-coronavirus-outbreak/
Of course, 100,000 Americans are soon to be in no small part due to pinheads like this blogger. Even Trump says that the virus came by plane.
@Erik. +1.
@Amy – how can you disagree with my by linking to an article from The Points Guy you disagree with (that I wrote separately about why I disagreed https://viewfromthewing.com/10-things-shape-how-a-traveler-should-approach-coronavirus/)?
What even is this logic? Do better. It’s safer than driving? Okay but driving is generally a necessity. Is traveling to Iceland? And yes, obesity is objectively more harmful to Americans than COVID19. Your comparison really only tells us that Americans are extremely overweight on average. We know that. Traveling anywhere without a necessity at this time is selfish. It’s that simple. Opening up is not a binary issue (read: simply good or bad), but rather a complicated spectrum. Some actions are inherently more dangerous and more selfish. But traveling to Iceland? Selfish and irresponsible on that spectrum.
@Levy Flight – “We needed, testing, tracing etc etc first.” but there’s testing of everyone heading into Iceland, doesn’t that meet your criteria?
@Stuart – I haven’t been invited.
If I were Lucky, I’d go to KEF and stay there for another two years. Way safer to be in the land of Bjork than the land of Trump…
I’ve already been to Iceland, but absent that it’s likely the safest current destination other than Greenland. Iceland’s economy depends on tourism to a significant extent, so opening up in the way they propose makes sense. Whether the USA-Schengen issue is resolved by June is unknown at this time.
It’s selfish, period.Done for braggadocious clickbait. Don’t apply for credit cards through the links and the incentive will decrease for
others, too, contemplating a “I was first to travel” mentality.
Isn’t there a directive from the State Department that says “avoid non essential travel”? My travel got cancelled this summer, too, like everyone’s. It’s a minor inconvenience for a greater purpose.
Excellent article on current airline travel safety
https://www.facebook.com/LADbible/videos/2320846491393524/
Left out of this article is the likelihood that even if YOU don’t test positive for the virus, you could face a 14 day quarantine just because one person on your flight tested positive.
I doubt Lucky’s health insurance is valid in Iceland. Once you get Covid, you have to get treated wherever you are when the virus first manifests.
Re the German passport – I think most countries have restrictions based on residence or place of departure, not citizenship. But, then they can have exceptions to the rule based on citizenship.
A friend of mine who is a US/German dual national just went to Germany and was immediately told he had to quarantine for two weeks.
Gary: You had to know that this post would be a lightning rod for everyone with a differing opinion, so I applaud you for writing this. Naturally there are those who can’t discuss the topic without tossing ad hominem attacks towards those they disagree with; they just can’t help themselves.
As you point out, even once we have a vaccine it won’t be 100% effective. Life is full of risks and the question is how you manage those risks. I’m 65, which puts me in a “high risk” category. Or does it? I have no co-morbidities and have been exceptionally healthy my whole life. The vast, vast majority of people having severe complications or dying have compromised immune systems. I don’t. I work for a company in Panama and will be traveling there for work as soon as I can because I have determined the risk for me is extremely low; certainly no more dangerous than going grocery shopping or to a big box store.
I also have in-laws in their mid-80s who have several of the identified co-morbidities. We don’t plan to see each other until their doctor feels it’s safe. They are quarantined and should be. This is good risk management. Quarantining the healthy is not.
I also plan on wearing a mask in public for the foreseeable future; not because it will keep me healthy but because I don’t want to spread it and because many people feel uneasy around those without masks. It’s not much of a sacrifice for me to wear a mask if it makes someone else feel safer.
If you are scared of something happening to you, then by all means STAY home. I’m an adult and I can make adult decisions. I’ve lived a long time making decisions about how I want to conduct my life given what the “experts” have told me to expect given certain decisions – if I smoke, I run a higher risk of health issues, if I spend too much time in the sun, I run the risk of getting skin cancer. I think you get my point. If I go to the grocery store today, I run the risk of walking by someone who can give me a deadly virus. But, guess what? I know for a fact, that if I don’t go to the grocery store, I won’t eat and I will die. I also know that if I stay stuck in my house, I will die of boredom.
Just love all these people who insist it’s their “right” to travel needlessly. The bottom line is…despite testing you cannot KNOW for certain or guarantee you aren’t contagious (i.e.false negatives, lag in results, carriers) Oh, YOU’RE willing to take that risk? Well I’M not willing to be subjected to the risk you pose to ME and other UNWITTING people whose paths you will cross. And I’m also not willing to trust YOUR assessment of the health risk to society.
@Jh
Agree
Then YOU can STAY home
Since you might cross path with an infected person at the grocery store, I suggest you never venture out of your home again
@jh – Tough then. We’re going to travel whether you like it or not. Lock yourself up in your home if you’re unwilling to take risks.
@Ron – I don’t know details of Lucky’s health insurance, mine is definitely valid in Iceland, why do you ‘doubt’ his would be?
@erik Hope you wont have to say “tough”…when someone you care about dies from Covid-19.
Totally agree with you Gary.
@PB1
Wrong and Wrong. Try Again!
There is enough evidence to suggest that not all infectious individual would test positive.
Also, if even one passenger on the flight tests positive, everyone on that flight would need to be quarantined, if the best practice is going to be followed.
But I don’t expect the general public, including Gary Leff, to really understand this adequately.
@erik -1
@deltahater enjoy your 126 days in quarantine.
@chump Die! MF! of Covid
@naoyuki
Aren’t we blessed that we have you to understand everything and enlighten us With your wisdom!!!!
What would we do without all mighty individuals like you???
@Doug
Luckily, there are a plenty of people who actually understand this stuff even better than I do, so the world is still safe, maybe.
But if there a poorly misdirected sarcasm turns out to be the cure for this outbreak, we would be eternally grateful that you still got some of it left inside your brain.