Covid 19 precaustions

[Sue332]

Hi All

I let out rooms in my home through AirBnb and we are about to go into a local lockdown which stipulates no one can meet socially with someone from a different household either indoors or outdoors.

I have checked through the government guidelines and AirBnb's health and safety guidelines and am still not 100% sure what I need to do.

My guests have exclusive use of several rooms in my home while they are here (bathroom, bedrooms, guest lounge, dining room, conservatory, hot tub in decked area with barbecue).  The only shared rooms, therefore are kitchen and possibly, but not necessarily, the wetroom with shower.

Do I have to move out of my home while I have guests resident (I have the option of a caravan outside, but would rather not have to move into this) or can I just make sure I'm never in the kitchen at the same time as them and wear a mask whenever I walk through the house?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Sue332 I don't think moving out helps as the transmission of Covid could still happen after many hours.

In the spirit of lockdown and not visiting other peoples houses I fear if you are in lockdown you have to cancel the guests stay.

[Sue332]

@ Mike-And-Jane0 Thank you for your response and I do see what you mean.

However, all accommodation whether inhabited or not has to be cleaned etc., and local bed and breakfast businesses are not closing, even if the owners live in the property.  What would you say constitutes the difference?

[Sarah977]

@Sue332  Is your main concern the legalities, or your own personal safety and that of the guests? If it's safety, it's been pretty well established now that the main means of transmission is people sharing smallish indoor spaces without a lot of ventilation. If you lived somewhere it's always warm and doors and windows were open all the time, it would be less risky than a house where the windows were few or mostly closed. And the wearing of masks, while it does protect the wearer from possible infection to some extent, primarily protects others from being infected by you. 

Personally, as a home-share host myself, it isn't of interest to me whether other places, like a traditional BnB, are allowed to host, whether it makes sense or seems unfair, I just don't want to take any chances on contracting this virus, so I haven't hosted at all since March.

Here's a very recent article, straight science, no politics, opinion or conjecture, that gives a good overview of what has been established to date re transmission, which may help hosts to make decisions:

https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M20-5008#.X2SlDI9_6z8.twitter