Omicron: and so it begins

[Gordon0]

Our PM has just announced all arrivals (into the UK) will now need a PCR test...but guests will also need to isolate until they have their results. I wonder how many of of my pre-Christmas (all-from-overseas) guests will pull the plug within the next 24 hours...  

The testing companies must be praising God (or the Omicron variant) for their good fortune.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-59443504 

[Gordon0]

I believe there’s a bit of a misnomer here. The rule is travellers must take a test on or *before* day 2.

My guests arrived at Heathrow early doors this morning and had their tests there and then. Their (negative) results landed via email an hour ago, @Helen3.

[Helen3]

Good to know thanks 

[Helen3]

Five of mine cancelled in the last 24 hours @Gordon0 

[Mark116]

@Helen3  Ugh.  Our two longest reservations for December are both from Europe, so far neither has cancelled yet.

[Gordon0]

On a side note, @Mark116, do you know, is Weehawken now on the Airbnb banned list? Stayed at an excellent place there a couple of years ago but can’t find any now (and liked the location).

[Mark116]

@Gordon0  Yes, Weehawken did ban Airbnb, and so did the surrounding towns, e.g. NJ side of Hudson River... Edgewater &  West New York.

[Helen3]

This is new guidance that affects guests staying in the uk @Mark116  so shouldn't affect you. 

[Gordon0]

Feel for you, @Helen3.

[Helen427]

@Gordon0 **

Some of us live very privileged lives because we live in the countries we are with resources we take for granted.

I learnt much from a guest of mine who came to New Zealand for work and has since returned to live in Nigeria and the challenges they face with lack of clean water and sanitation.

We all need to help those less fortunate than ourselves.

If you have the chance, locate Lord Birkenhead's book written in 1930 about the World in 2030 A.D , it's insightful to the current situation we all find ourselves in.

There's a good chapter on Aid.

Personally, I would like to see the Option to Donate one's vaccination doses to these people in need.

**Content hidden due to its unverifiable os misleading nature

[Cate14]

I’m not sure how this forum works, but I am currently being threatened with a $100 penalty and removal of my Superhost status because I am having to cancel guests due to a week long power outage at my property in the Lake District

How do I tell Airbnb I’m not just being an unreliable host? The properties are all-electric, and are presently dark, freezing cold, and with no cooking facilities or hot water, so completely uninhabitable except by any passing Inuits! 
Any idea how I get through to Airbnb that none of this my fault and that I’m looking after their guests as best I can? Thanks 

[Ann72]

@Cate14  Last year, my well went dry, and I had to cancel 5 bookings.  I called Airbnb immediately because I wanted them to do it so I would not be penalized in the fashion you describe.  Miraculously I got someone on the phone who handled the whole thing.  I had to provide an email from my plumber confirming that the well was dry and I had to refund every guest.  She took care of the whole matter within the day and my account showed 0 cancellations and 0 penalties.  Your best bet is to get in front of this with them and to cite the terms of service noted by @Mark116.

[Mark116]

@Cate14 I would cite the policy that includes an exemption for 'large scale utility outages' if the problem goes beyond your property.

Natural disasters. Natural disasters, acts of God, large-scale outages of essential utilities, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and other severe and abnormal weather events. This does not include weather or natural conditions that are common enough to be foreseeable in that location—for example, hurricanes occurring during hurricane season in Florida.

[Robin4]

@Gordon0  @Ann72  @Mark116  @Cate14  @Helen3  @Sarah977 

Despite what you might read in a lot of internet posts, I have had discussions with a number of epidemiologists include an amazing professor from Johannesburg whose link I will post here.

Let me tell you what I have learned......

To bring home the point, Covid-19 is weakening in severity but becoming more adaptable and easier to transmit with each variant that comes along.

The Alpa strain was the most deadly with the highest rate of hospitalisations and deaths……but it was comparatively easy to block in terms of transmission. With each variant the virus has to adapt to counter not just vaccination but the inbuilt immune response in the human body, so it turns to producing more proteins to attach to human cells. In other words its abilities are getting spread thinner each time it has to adapt.

**

Sorry this link does not seem to be working I will try to fix. It's an 8 minute read but it is worth it!

I wish everyone a happy and safe Christmas.

Cheers........Rob

**Content hidden due to its misleading or unverifiable nature.

[Helen3]

Hi @Robin4 

thanks but I've been working on the Covid programme since it opened here in the UK in March last year so we will need to agree to disagree on this one  regarding the importance of isolation.

[Michelle53]

@Robin4   Viruses mutate when they replicate i.e. make copies of themselves, since the DNA copying process doesn't always happen exactly 100% the same each time.   The more the virus replicates, the greater the chance of a mistake in copying, i.e. mutation, i.e. variant, occurring. 

In other words, the greater the number of people that get sick, the more chances there are of mutations and thus variants. 

This is why influenza is different every year. 

If everybody got vaccinated, obeyed mask mandates, kept social distancing and took all the other recommended precautions, we'd reduce the number of potential mutations because fewer people would be getting sick.   

Covid is not going to go away. It is just going to keep changing all the time, as long as people are still catching it, and passing it along.