More security against Coronavirus

[Columba0]

Coronavirus Since it is a worldwide epidemic and, that there are thousands of travelers from countries where cases have been detected; I believe that BNB could implement some type of requirement that safeguards as much as possible and, until the health authorities get a vaccine, for travelers who wish to use the platform, and who come from countries affected by the disease. Otherwise, BNB would NOT do its best to keep the epidemic from spreading, or to safeguard the health of hosts around the world.

[Columba0]

In my case, I live in the same apartment where I host guests from all over the world, a carrier, not only could infect me, but also other guests and people around me. The city where I live is small and the ties between neighbors are close, so this would be a great risk for everyone. That is why I ask BNB to take extraordinary measures in this situation. I believe that the hosts must be responsible, but also the platform must do everything possible in this situation and create a more secure environment worldwide, with extraordinary measures at least until a vaccine is found to solve this enormous problem of health. I believe for all this , if it is within the requirements of BNB to fill in a questionnaire with these simple questions (   Has the guest or host been in China or an affected country a month or more time  ago, for how long, and if they think they may have been exposed in some way to infection?   )    in addition to helping to raise awareness of the danger and responsibility in this matter, travelers and hosts, we would feel safe knowing that we are going to or we receive people with low risk of prior infection, or failing that, freely decide if we face the risk with knowledge of the cause.

[Helen3]

 @Columba0 

If you want to ask your guests these questions, then do add them to your house rules.

I would have no confidence the guest would necessarily answer your questions correctly.

I would much prefer to follow WHO advice on minimising the risk.

[Gina136]

@Helen3 @Columba0

WHO, and the CDC in the US, are evaluating the routes of spread. Direct contact (within 6 feet) and travel correlate with transmission.

There are daily updates on alert levels for different countries,  and on travel advisories.

In order to evaluate risk, it is becoming very important to know the travel history of a person in the previous 4 weeks (cases have just been document of people without symptoms passing the disease to several others they have been in contact with, that is, shedding can occur before or without symptoms appearing). It is too early still to know how this new viral variant is behaving.

AirBnB could definitely implement a system to document recent travel history of any Guest requesting bookings. Just one more metric of the many they use all the time!! From an IT point of view, it's absolutely no problem to set that up, so that Guests can make up their own informed decisions based on their particular location, situation, and risk tolerance.

The question is: does AirBnB have any incentive to set this up?

[Larry339]

@Columba0 based on the WHO, the Covid 19 virus is now reported 45,000 cases in 28 countries. It is a global issue, but the most recent indications are that it is not as deadly as SARS or MERS. And do people self-report if they have visited any of the 28 countries with Covid 19 cases? I live in Canada with eight reported cases and no deaths, and most people do recover.

Also, based on the World Health Organization, the seasonal flu affects up to 1,000,000,000 each year, with 300,000 to 600,000 deaths. They advise to wash and disinfect your hands frequently, don't touch your face and cover when you sneeze. That is the same advice for the seasonal flu or Covid 19. I recently had guests from China, and we adhered to those precautions, and all is well. 

I believe that is a host should decide what is best, but put things in perspective, my chances are much higher dying from the season flu (3,5000 die each year from the seasonal flu in Canada) than from Covid 19.

[Gina136]

Your chances of dying from COVID-19, I hate to say, are a moving target and merely based on what is known *today* about COVID-19, which is emergent and yet well evaluated.

Your chances of of dying from COVID-19 have increased dramatically in the last 3 weeks, and will likely increase in the following weeks.

Comparing a well documented risk (influenza) to an undocumented one (COVID-19) is in itself risky.

I agree with Columba0 that AirBnB could do more to help guests and hosts evaluate the risk of viral spread: the most clear risk of transmission of COVID-19 so far is travel history. AirBnB, based solely on an IT platform, could do a lot to help document travel history of AirBnB travelers, say in the previous 4 weeks ot any given booking.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

I'm sorry but I believe you have as much chance catching this virus from a supermarket trip as from a visitor. I vote people just stand back from their guests if they are really concerned

[Gina136]

Disagree.

A trip to my local supermarket will put me in touch with my local community in Watertown, MA, still not affected.

Accepting a traveler from Wuhan will put me in close quarters for a number of days with someone directly from the epicenter of the disease.

Until the disease is contained or bettern known, accepting Guests with unknown travel history will put me at much higher risk than going to my supermarket.

I would certainly like to know where people sending booking requests for my home have been travelling during the previous 4 weeks before making a decision.

[Piotr48]

People are getting too paranoid about catching the virus.

[Gina136]

But not cautious enough yet about preventing spread.

[Columba0]

@Helen3 @Mike-And-Jane0 

 Thank you very much for taking the time to write in this forum.

It is true that apparently the same risk is in going to the supermarket as in receiving visitors from other countries. I live in Spain, very close to the border with France. Right  now in Spain the government does not consider us to be in danger, since there have been no positive cases of coronavirus among the population, the cases of the affected people have been infected in other countries and when they have come as tourists to Spain, they have been detected and quarantined.

But the reality is that in Spanish airports there is no medical control, nor at the borders. Infected people were staying in hotels, and could be detected quickly. In France, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Russia, Finland, Italy and Germany there are already cases of virus infection. My question is, such a big  company that promotes international hosting such as BNB should not do anything to try to minimize as much as possible the risks of contagion, having as they have such a big capital to be able to take action?

[Gina136]

@Columba0 

Hi Columba. I'm also from Spain but living and hosting in Watertown, MA, US.

In my location near Boston, I host mostly international students, academics, and professionals, as well as out-of-state professionals (business people, travelling nurses, etc.). Because of the global footprint of my hosts, and because of having a child at home, I am following the COVID-19 situation very closely (like so many AirBnB hosts).

I agree with your position and think that AirBnB could do more to participate in averting geographic spread of disease. As the number of cases sprouts quickly around the world, and global and national health authorities have ramped up in preparedness (many corporations, organizations, and schools have mobilized their contingencies for health epidemics and are preparing their stakeholders), AirBnB seems stuck in the extenuating circumstance policy and how to apply it to coronavirus-related cancellations (in a very conservative and limited way, judging from comments in this community).

The most clear risk of transmission of COVID-19 so far is travel history. AirBnB, based solely on an IT platform, could do a lot to help document travel history of AirBnB travelers, say in the previous 4 weeks of any given booking.

I have asked AirBnB to state what it is doing in that regard.

I am afraid, though, that AirBnB does not have much incentive to do anything. Like any other "digital matching business", it operates in a regulatory grey area, and has very little accountability.

We, users (Guests and Hosts), will have to step up big time, get informed, and make risk assessments. As Hosts, we will have to do that in the face of very limited information about the Guests' travel history.

😞

[Columba0]

@Larry339 @Piotr48 @Helen3 @Mike-And-Jane0 @ Thank you very much everyone for participating in this forum. I think it is very important to listen to what the hosts think from different parts of the world about this issue that now affects us all

[Larry339]

@Columba0, I agree that we should listen to other opinions, and we all have different perspectives and insights to share. Listening to learn from other people is critical not to respond but to understand what they say. I think there is a real fear of risking your health or even death from this pandemic.

I do think the media helps feed this risk. All media tends to report on negative news because it gets our attention and humans are wired to avoid danger. But we can't get away from it.  TV, radio social media all report incessantly, and it's hard to put any risk in perspective when you are barraged all the time with the minutia of any issue. I think the risk seems higher than it is based on all we know so far, and there are many real risks in our life every day that threatens us, but we have accepted those risks.

I  believe that it is always the host's decision to accept a booking or not, and the host must make the decision based on what is right for them.