Host covid restrictions

[Denis130]

How are you fellow hosts addressing Covid 19 as far as guest bookings?  Are you asking for some sort of shot record to validate they have have had a Covid vaccine shot or some other record of recently being tested for Covid and found A-symptomatic?

[Anonymous]

@Denis130 No, this is a terrible idea that has no basis in the current science. 

An estimated 40% if transmissions come from asymptomatic carriers, and while the vaccine is effective at defending its recipient against the worst symptoms of infection, there's no certainty that it prevents transmission.

The existence of a vaccination program and improvements in testing both offer hopeful paths forward, but they don't justify hosts playing doctor. At this moment in time you still have to apply all the same precautionary measures with all guests, regardless of whatever information you think you have about their viral status. And if you're not set up in such a way that you could safely host a contagious carrier, your only reasonable option is to pause your listing until conditions change.

The progress we've made thus far is fragile, and if we start slacking off out of a false sense of security, we only create more opportunities for ever more infectious mutations of the virus to evolve and evade our limited defenses. 

[Helen3]

I'm not sure how the vaccine is being rolled out in the US but here in the UK those who have had the vaccine are mainly over 80's and health and care workers . @Denis130 

So the vast majority of hosts and those travelling won't have had access to it.

 The best way you can protect yourself and any cleaning staff  and guests is to leave a decent time in between checkout, cleaning based on best practices around Covid and your next guest checking in.

It maybe in the future there maybe some sort of Covid vaccine passport system but I don't think it would be appropriate for hosts or guests to ask for proof of vaccine. 

[John5097]

A lot of people are renting apartments to quarantine away from more high risk family members. I've had guest stay who didn't want to spend the holidays with their partner's teenage kids so she could visit her parents, who are vulnerable, for the holidays. All of my guest have been very smart. Additionally, ABB has become a shared apartment for a lot of people who would have no other place to live. Should ABB just toss them all out on the street, while bars are allowed to remain open at full capacity? All of my windows work and I have ceiling fans, all the bedding gets washed between guest and the entire place completely disinfected. Haven't had a single problem with covid, except guest canceling which is fine. Personal choices go a long way. 

[Anonymous]

@John5097  Nobody suggested that Airbnb throw people onto the street. The OP is in a very different situation from you, as his listing is a private room in a shared home. 

[John5097]

@Anonymous My reasoning was if ABB required a proof of vaccine, which isn't even available to 99% of the population, then some guest wouldn't have a place to live. The OP didn't mention his specific listing so was just a general assement of some potential consequences of ABB policies the topic raised. Although appreciate the clarification. I don' think that was the intention of the original post and will try and be more clear about that next time. I think the reality is that a lot of people have no choice but to live in close quarters with others, and ABB offers more flexibilty for people who want to quarantine.  

Also I just read your comment. 

"No, this is a terrible idea that has no basis in the current science."

I'm at a loss why you would take issue with my comment? I don't think its a terrable idea at all. I wish it was possible to vaccinate everyone to keep everyone safer. I have learned a lot from a lot of your post, I think for the most part they are very helpful, but at times perhaps most of us could always use some improvent on our phrasing. 

[Anonymous]

@John5097   Airbnb wants to make more money, not less, so it's not going to introduce requirements that drastically reduce its number of potential customers anytime soon. 

But in saying that it would be a terrible idea for hosts to demand medical records to screen guests, the harshness of my phrasing was intentional (though I'm sorry if anyone's feelings were hurt). This is just not an effective risk-mitigation strategy at this crucial moment in time. Someone receiving a negative test result before their trip can still catch the virus during their stay, presuming that they're able to leave the house, so they are not substantially lower risk than guests who haven't been tested. As for vaccinated guests, the topic of whether they can still transmit the virus to others is currently being researched , but for the time being we can only treat the vaccine as a defense to the patient, not to the others around them.

I'm sure there are plenty of homeshare hosts who have found a way to organize their households around social distancing and adhere to the safety protocol required by Airbnb. But we're unfortunately not at a point yet where a vaccination or test record is a reason to relax the protocol, so there's currently no justification for a host requesting these credentials or discriminating against the unvaccinated/untested.

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2839/what-are-the-health-and-safety-requirements-for-airbnb-stay...

[John5097]

@Anonymous great points! I read the OP question again.. he is only asking if any other host are requiring proof of vaccination.. so guess I should have just responded no, although I'm very diligent about following the covid cleaning protocol and all the local social distancing requirements and such that seems to be working well for our county that includes a massive tourism industry. I'll look forward to more discussions on this topic though and really appreciate everyone's input!  

[Denis130]

@Anonymous @John5097   Please just re-read only the first sentence of my initial OP and respond.  My bad for offering additional wording that was not useful.

Looking for ideas from hosts that I may not have considered since I have never had all the answers, and the Host group is a wealth of great information.

[Anonymous]

@Denis130  Re: the first sentence, the way I have been addressing Covid-19 is by indefinitely pausing my listing. Given the layout and size of my home, it would not be possible to distance or minimize access in such a way that would prevent household transmission, so I have not been open to guests since January 2020. 

When the time comes that my partner and I have both been vaccinated and public health advisories no longer discourage unnecessary travel, we look forward to hosting the friends and relatives that we've missed first and foremost. It remains to be seen how long it will take before my kind of people embrace the Homestay experience as wholeheartedly as before the pandemic.

[John5097]

@Denis130 I'll just keep following the covid cleaning protocol. If guest want to hang out and do something, maybe go paddle boarding. 

[John5097]

@Denis130 I don't think anything was wrong with your first comment. In 4 months this will likely be a different conversation, and that may very well have been the time frame you had in mind. Guest may want to know if host has been vaccinated. The conversation kind of evolved into suggestions and possible consequences of hypothetical policies. I'm trying to keep my comments more concise but a challenge to keep everything is perfect context, and there are worse characteristics than getting a little off topic. I also have been very careful to keep away from crowds, don't eat out, and only do group bike rides or paddleboarding. Guest self check in. Good luck and I guess we will just have to keep an open mind as things keep changing. 

In some situations a host may also get more reservations they require a vaccine in their house rules. Might be a good way to filter out an Qanon conspericy theoriset. 

[Helen350]

@Denis130 I'm a home share host in the UK. With only one bathroom, shared by all. I host through Airbnb and a UK lodger finding platform. In the UK leisure travel was banned from late March - 3 Jul 2020, during  November, and from early January  2021 til now and beyond.

I have continued to host from Lockdown 1 on 23 March 2020 till now. I've hosted at least one person throughout. Obviously during the travel bans, I've only hosted folk permitted to travel for work; doctors, nurses, carers, pharmacists, social workers, and engineers on a new water pipeline, and in the nuclear industry. - Skilled labour is in short supply here; health workers & engineers have to be recruited from 100 miles away.

Whilst I acknowledge that you can't eliminate ALL risk, I mitigate risk by no longer socialising with guests these days. When leisure travel is banned & I can only host travelling workers, they'll be too weary to socialise anyway!  On arrival I show them the bedroom, bathroom & kitchen, as quickly as possible, then we have no more contact. When I have more than one guest in, they stay in their rooms (as most did before covid), so we are all in our one-man/woman bubbles. (There were couples when tourism was allowed last summer.) 

I am encouraged by the UK government guidance re the circumstances under which someone must isolate following a covid contact, i.e. Isolation is only required if you have been WITHIN 2 METRES OF AN INFECTED PERSON FOR 15 MINS OR MORE. - So I figure, that IF my guests were infected, I'm never within 2m for 15 mins or more. So risk is low. (Viral load.)

I guess we all have to assess the risk for ourselves (within our countries' laws) .... I figure I have a good immune system, and at nearly 60 - well, could be better, could be worse!

[Denis130]

@Helen350   Thanks for your insight Helen.

[Emilia42]

No. I only remind my guests of the compliance form my state requires all lodging places to obtain. Other than that I do not mention Covid, and honestly, very few of my guests bring it up at all.