Guest not practicing safe COVID guidelines

[Peg2]

I host in my home but the guest does have a private hallway with their own bath.  This is my 1st guest since COVID. I have a guest that arrived yesterday and she indicated she was a health care worker and was traveling to care for a cancer patient.  She indicated she just need a place to crash.   One she arrived I realized she is really in town to visit her daughter and the sick person is her daughter's boyfriend.   She completely unaware of COVID risks and is not practicing any measures to prevent infection.   I offer for her to use my washer and dryer but she chose to go to a public laundromat- when I later suggested the laundromat could be infected, she indicated she had no idea it may not be safe.

I  have since updated my house rules and reference the CDC's guidelines to prevent getting sick and requiring my guests to follow these guidelines.  I have also removed access to my kitchen.  The space has a mini frig and microwave.

I called Airbnb yesterday and they have nothing posted on the website or in the T&C that requires guests to practice safe COVID guidelines.   What is everyone else doing if they share a space with their guests?   

[Sarah977]

@Peg2  Most home-share hosts are not hosting at this time, and in many areas of the world this has been mandated by the govt. Just because your govt. has decided that things can be open, or re-opens, doesn't mean it's safe to do so, and I think we need to take responsibility for our own health. It's simply not safe to host in a shared environment right now, IMO, either for you or your guests. 

[Mark116]

@Sarah977  That may be true, but if there isn't a vaccine, then it will 'never' be safe again, so all hosts may have to decide what  level of risk they're willing to deal with, and airbnb may have to loosen its rules on what types of things a host can ask of a guest w/out being open to discrimination claims, such as  inquiries related to COVID, their health, and mandating different behaviors by guests than previously.  

[Helen3]

Of course it will be safe again, once a vaccine is found just as it was for TB, Polio, Flu, SARS, Measles etc. Hopefully we will see vaccines start to be introduced within a year or so.

The risk is already reducing as various countries are getting the virus under control.

Certainly I am not looking to host again until numbers dying and becoming infected are vastly reduced.

[Anonymous]

@Mark116  As an American living in a country with a functional social safety net, that's led by a trained scientist rather than a deranged game show host, it's pretty painful to look back at where you guys are and see what an awful set of options you have ahead. As time goes by, it will be more and more the case that the precautions necessary to minimize infection risk are the luxury of the most privileged, and for everyone else the risk will be weighed against the more urgently terrifying possibility of losing one's job or home. It's a sickening irony that millions of people will be forced to go to work in high-risk circumstances just to be able to have access to the health care that may be required to survive a disease their work and/or commute will probably expose them to. 

In short - I can understand why in-home hosts in this situation would choose to take their chances with the virus over deepening their financial despair. The problem is, the sum of people making that choice when the pandemic is still raging is precisely the reason you're going to have a vastly longer and deadlier period of crisis before anything resembling relief comes. 

Also: regardless of how you feel about discrimination policies, if your risk-management strategy is based on a stranger self-reporting sensitive information about their health, you might as well be flipping a coin. 

[Debra300]

@Peg2,

I've temporarily closed my place, but when I do re-open it will be after we make the rooms more self-contained (adding kitchenettes and small portable washers), so they don't have to share amenities with us or among themselves.

In addition to referencing the CDC coronavirus guidelines in your house rules, I suggest that you state failure to comply with them may lead to restricted access within your home, and possible cancellation of the reservation.  Put it in the Things You Should Know section of the listing, and include this information in your greeting/booking acknowledgement message to the guest.

[Scott-and-Mary-Ellen0]

@Peg2  We totally agree with what @Sarah977 said. We are in NH and when the governor extended the ban on hotels, motels and short-term rentals from May 15 to May 31, we neglected to update our listing and block the second part of the month. We just figured no one would be booking. Well, a NH couple instant booked our in-home unit. We got back to them asking about their situation, since NH restrictions allow exceptions for essential workers and vulnerable populations. We explained the extension, asked why they were coming, would they be willing to wear masks, etc. We got very cagey answers and finally cancelled the booking ourselves (our first cancellation on our end in our hosting history!) saying that we were "uncomfortable" hosting in our home during the government ban for COVID 19. We could have used the money, to be sure, but as people in the vulnerable age range and because  of the state restrictions, we are glad we declined. Why take a chance? 

[Anonymous]

@Peg2   

Q: What are people who share space with guests doing to avoid catching the virus?

A: NOT HOSTING.

The CDC's guidelines are aimed at slowing the spread of the Coronavirus between households, not within them. Based on what we currently know about airflow transmission, there is not a low-risk way to share a single-level house with a person actively shedding the virus. Posting a link to the CDC under your policy tab does not constitute an effective rule. And while you can require certain hygiene practices inside your property, your jurisdiction does not extend to the choices they make outside. 

If you knew for certain that every guest who stays in your home is an infectious carrier of the virus, would you still be hosting?

[Helen3]

We aren't allowed to do STR at the moment in the UK. But even if I could host I wouldn't because I feel it would be too risky with the high levels of the virus we have in the UK.

It is a difficult one if you haven't updated your house rules to take account of virus risks before they booked.