UK hosts please stop advertising your place for 'co-vid' retreats and putting others at risk

[Helen3]

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/apr/06/minister-condemns-airbnb-hosts-offering-covid-19-...

So ashamed to see some UK hosts are taking advantage of the recent pandemic and advertising their place 'as Co-vid retreats' contrary to recent legislation in the UK that bans all STRs except for those housing key workers, those attending a funeral (and other essential visits).

Don't you care that you are helping spread the risk of the virus in your community, or do you live somewhere else and don't care that you are putting others in another community at risk.

Airbnb you put a block on hosts with shared homes from advertising their listing. Why don't you do the same for those with whole listing in the UK, unless they are signed up to host through your key worker scheme.

[Pilar1]

@Jessica-and-Henry0   @Helen3  @Sarah977 @Helen350

Yes it’s a UK thing, but as usual Airbnb didn’t clarify anything in their email announcing the calendar blocking. I thought the lockdown was for a month and as I knew it was declared on March 23rd by our PM the dates didn’t add up. It turns out it was for an initial period of 21 days to be reviewed on Easter Monday ?? (Do you know? @Helen3) 

I started self isolating long before they announced it and have no intention of accepting any booking, but I live quite central and close to a Hospital so was contacted by NHS personal a few times. Since I feel pretty useless as it is, the only reason I kept it open was to direct any requests to other viable avenues as I’ve been unable to get enough information from Airbnb about their own program.

BTW, I don’t use Instant Booking either, did a trial for a month and it was a disaster; the fact it’s not compulsory is probably the main reason I have stayed loyal to Airbnb.

[Sarah977]

@Pilar1  I've never even tried IB- no way I want to share my home with someone I haven't even had the opportunity to communicate with. The day they make IB compulsory is the day I leave the platform.

[Helen3]

Hi @Pillar1

Looks like lock down in UK will be extended to mid May. I blocked my calendar up to end of May three weeks ago and may well extend to June soon.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-update-boris-johnson-live-cases-deaths-uk-symp...

Airbnb sent all UK hosts information on how hosts with whole listings can sign up - did you not receive it?

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/d/medicalstaysuk

[Pilar1]

@Dimitar27  

I’ve always wanted to visit that part of the world; besides your famous roses, now I have another good reason as a frustrated Archaeologist, so glad you mentioned that in your post. Maybe one day, when all this is history, we can swap places. 

@Sarah977 

Totally agree, and I bet it won’t be just the two of us leaving. I’d love to go back to México one day too, had a look at your place and it looks lovely, we can still dream, can’t we? 

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Pilar1 @Sarah977 

I had IB open for a while to keep me higher up in searches. Fortunately, most of my guests sent an inquiry first anyway.....(since most were booking long-term) and after I had a few good reviews I quickly turned IB off and haven't looked back. 

For the past  2 yrs, I 've been regularly checking if there are any alternative sites...... unfortunately for a home-host like me, Airbnb still seems to be the only platform with enough potential guest users to keep 'em coming. 

[Sarah977]

@Pilar1  And you'd be more than welcome. One thing I like about participating in this forum for a couple years now is that I know exactly who I'd want to stay with all over the world if I ever get back into travelling mode. 🙂

[Robin4]

@Sarah977 

Sarah, you may be interested to know this. Researchers at our Monash University have discovered that a long standing treatment for head lice which has been around for 30+years kills the Coronavirus

https://neoskosmos.com/en/162160/monash-scientists-find-head-lice-drug-stops-covid-19-from-replicati...

Ivermectin, pronounced (eye-vuh-mec-tin) can be administered as a pill, a lotion, or a shampoo and will kill the Covid-19 virus within 48 hours.

Now what is exciting about this is, it doesn't stop people from becoming infected it is not a vaccine. But.......it will stop people from dying. It will kill the virus off in almost all cases before it has had time wipe out the humans lung capacity.

It is still early days Sarah but, this could be that short term magic bullet we are looking for!

Cheers......Rob

@Helen3 @Jessica-and-Henry0 @Pilar1 @Huma0 

[Sarah977]

That is awesome, @Robin4. I imagine it's a pretty heavy duty drug, though, if taking it internally will kill head lice. I would think it's a systemic insecticide. There are pills for dogs like that, that kill fleas. Comfortis and Bravecta.  You can literally watch the fleas falling off the dog within an hour of giving them the pill. I tried it on my dog once, but it caused her to break out in ulcerating sores all over her legs within 12 hours, which took a month of daily treatment to go away. I then looked online and found reports of other people whose dogs that had happened to from that pill, as well as people who said their dogs went into convulsions and died within 24 hours.

The thing about all these pharmaceuticals is that they have all sorts of side effects and bad reactions. But I do hope there is safe promise with this drug you're talking about.

[Robin4]

@Sarah977 

Hey, I don't ague with a thing you say but, Sarah, stop for a second and consider what this drug is for? It is given to children....and has been for the last 30 years, to control Head lice, Scabies...... and my guess is, if there had been a serious enough side effect problems with it, the FDA/TDA would have removed it from sale long ago.

This is not a drug under development, it's been around since Methuselah won the Kentucky Derby on a three legged horse!

We all know, a vaccine is at least a year away, and the reason I am excited about this is, here in Australia we have probably managed this a bit too well and we have not built up a pack-herd immunity to the virus. You need to have had an infection rate of at least 67% of the community to build up a pack resistance. We can stamp this out quickly here....but we are going to keep on getting re-introduced to the virus as soon as we start opening our borders up again. There are going to be ebbs and flows with this virus for years.

What we have to do is quickly get to the point where the virus is not a significant risk to us....we aren't going to die from it. It will just be like having a bad cold.

If we can get to that point Sarah.........Bring it on!!!

Cheers.......Rob

[Sarah977]

@Robin4 Yes, agreed, that's why I said it would be great if it works, without any dangerous side effects. As far as herd immunity, I don't know why people are talking about it as if it's a viable solution- I haven't read anything thus far that even suggests that they have determined whether getting the virus once confers immunity. People can certainly get the regular influenza over and over again-- that's why people line up for flu shots every year.

Yeah, what's scary is that people are wanting to jump the gun too quickly- if they start lifting isolation and distancing orders and opening borders too soon, before there's an effective vaccine, it will just prolong the whole thing and we'll have to stay home even longer. If ustralia went down to no more cases, people could stop isolating, but the borders need to stay closed until there's a vaccine or the virus dies out. 

Those of us who are basically homebodies, who spend most of our time doing projects around the house, gardening, etc, are having a much easier time with the isolation, I imagine, than those who are used to being out and about all the time. I can imagine for those people, especially if they live in an apartment with no outside private space, it's pretty difficult.

[Sarah977]

@Robin4  You say this drug is perfectly safe, because it has been around forever and given to children. But I read the article, and it's still in the petri dish stage. I also did some reading on the drug- it is contra-indicated in people with kidney or liver disease, cancer, weak immune systems, passes through breast milk and it hasn't been determined if it affects a fetus if a pregnnt woman takes it. So basically, some of the people who are at highest risk for bad cases of coronavirus. What comes to my mind is that the dosage at which it is given to children safely isn't necessarily the dosage that would be required to kill the virus in adults. I'm sure there are lots of things that can kill the virus, but whether they'd be safe to take at the dosage required is another story. It's safe to take a sleeping pill, but downing an entire bottle will likely kill you.

Not trying to be a Debbie Downer here-of course I hope they come up with a defense against the virus as soon as possible, I'm just hesitant to get excited about something that's still in the rudimentary testing stage.

[Cathie19]

Yeah Robin, I heard it from the scabies perspective about a week ago. But obviously trials are being undertaken.

[Dimitar27]

It's all about advertising, I think. Every man on the planet knows about Stonehenge, but most people have never heard about Perpericon, Heraclea Sintica or Garlo Well-Temple (probably an ancient telescope).

I was very surprised, that some people know about the rose oil.

About the virus...it's not sure, that there will be a vaccine or effective medicine soon. It will take year or more.

[Huma0]

Here is what the Government website (updated 27th March) lists as the accommodations that must close and the exceptions:

Accommodation Exceptions

Hotels, hostels, B&Bs, holiday rentals, campsites and boarding houses for commercial use

Where people live in these as interim abodes whilst their primary residence is unavailable, or they live in them in permanently they may continue to do so. Critical workers and non-UK residents who are unable to travel to their country of residence during this period can continue to stay in hotels or similar where required. People who are unable to move into a new home due to the current restrictions can also stay at hotels. Where hotels, hostels, and B&Bs are providing rooms to support homeless and other vulnerable people such as those who cannot safely stay in their home, through arrangements with local authorities and other public bodies, they may remain open. Those attending a funeral will be able to use hotels when returning home would be impractical. Hotels are allowed to host blood donation sessions.

Caravan parks/sites for commercial uses

Where people live permanently in caravan parks or are staying in caravan parks as interim abodes where their primary residence is not available, they may continue to do so.

[Robin4]

@Huma0 

Hey Huma, just came across this. I won't swear to how genuine it is, but it was released by a very popular Pakistani journalist/ social media blogger by the name of Yassin Juma.

He seems to keep on getting himself into hot water and has been arrested numerous times for his social media comment.

This one might just get him arrested again........

Good to know the worlds politicians are keeping themselves safe from Covid-19!!! ;-((

Cheers......Rob

@Sarah977  @Helen3  @Dimitar27  @Sally221  @Pilar1  @Jessica-and-Henry0