When to re- open my holiday cottage in rural UK after Covid19 lockdown?

[Louise188]

Hi Airbnb colleagues,

My holiday cottage has been closed since March-April due to our UK lockdown. Now the lockdown is being lifted in gradual steps, I am wondering at what point to re-open. There is clear guidance on cleaning and disinfecting, and I will be able to leave a day clear between each booking to add an extra health safeguard. The cottage is adjecent to my house, it's attached in fact, so the wider issue is how to best respect government guidelines (foggy as they are) and my famiy, my close neighbours, village population, village shops, local tourist places of interest, etc. Hiking on the moors is possible as always, very popular locally and no health issues there. Local car parks are now open, but local toilet facilities are not. Do I re-open when the toilets do?!! When cafes and pubs open??

I would like to hear how other hosts are judging when to re-open.

Thanks

Louise

[Jillie1]

Yes, tricky decisions indeed Louise but tough because it's some people's only income and if they're on their own too.  I thought the virus lingered a little bit longer than 24 hours on hard surfaces so that's good to hear as I was going to put 2 days either side of an entry/exit.

[Sarah977]

@Jillie1  @Louise188 I haven't read anything to contradict the reports that the virus can remain active on some surfaces for an average of 3 days, and sometimes longer. It is said to not be viable for more than 24 hours on porous surfaces, like cloth, but lasts longer on hard surfaces like plastic and metal (interestingly, it doesn't appear to survive at all on copper, but that's not particularly surprising to me- copper has some properties that some things find toxic- if you have a problem with tree roots working their way into plumbing pipes, putting a length of copper wire inside the pipe will keep the roots from growing in).

As to whether contracting the virus from surfaces is very likely, or the viral load necessary to actually get the virus, there have been conflicting reports.

BTW, viruses can't "die", because they are not considered to be living organisms- they don't survive without a host body and infect you by attaching themselves to your cells. Instead, they become non-viable if not ingested.

"It has been argued extensively whether viruses are living organisms.

Most virologists consider them non-living, as they do not meet all the criteria of the generally accepted definition of life.

They are similar to obligate intracellular parasites as they lack the means for self-reproduction outside a host cell, but unlike parasites, viruses are generally not considered to be true living organisms.

A primary reason is that viruses do not possess a cell membrane or metabolise on their own - characteristics of all living organisms."

In deciding whether to open back up, it's not just the risk to your own health to consider- if the guests are lax about precautions, they could expose many people in the community to infection, and also anyone they encountered along the way to get to your place. I think we have to look at the whole picture- if we accept travellers, we are contributing to enabling people to possibly spread the virus around.

[Helen427]

@Louise188 @Jillie1 

Bear in mind that there's a Judicial Review application that's currently in the UK legal system as to if the lockdown is lawful - suggest you check out UK's legal eagle Francis Hoar & his twitter account for a legal opinion on the matter in general terms.

The submissions are tucked away on Crowdfund website and can be found through applicant Simon Dolan's account.

 It's due to be heard around the 11th.

There's always "grey areas" in law.

Unless one is infected with a virus one is free to do as one pleases, within the boundaries of law.

We have had some challenge various legalities of it here in New Zealand, successfully, including to be able to see loved ones who were dying.

Interestingly the submissions for the UK Judicial Review refer to Case Law in New Zealand.

As an aside, you may also like to read case law in Crown Prosecutions UK website as a number of cases have been thrown out as the people concerned didn't have Coronavirus so therefore couldn't legally be prosecuted.

All the best

From across the yonder in Auckland, New Zealand.

[Louise188]

Thank you Helen from NZ. What  a truly global community this is. I will check out the cases you mention , thank you. 
Are you re-opening or do you have a date in mind?

Maybe in U.K. we can’t even have a date in mind because we don’t know if there will be a second spike in infections, ie if the r rate will rise above 1 or not. We will see if track and trace helps, the give has said it has started but has not given any detail yet beyond the number of doctors employed to do it. 
All the best to you Helen. 

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Louise188 

July 4th. 

My diary is open for June too, but I'm strict on enquirers fitting into any essential workers categories and up to now they have all not booked.

But because the situation can change, all my bookings except one during July have sent a pre-booking email asking what my cancellation policy is. It's strict. However, I've pointed out to them that if they cannot travel due to government guidelines I will refund them my part of my cancellation policy, because I'm grown up and can make decisions like that without them being imposed on me. My guests and ourselves get on very well together.

I do point out though, that Airbnb won't do that and they will still need to pay their £200 service for the privilege of cancelling. That would be DESPITE whatever cancellation policy we had.

Is any host seeing any continuing theme here?