Traveling to Seattle Next Week... Maybe? (Kirkland: hotel, home, schools)

[Empidonax]

Hi All,

My husband and I are scheduled to go to Western Washington next week for a trip (4 days in Seattle, 3 days on the Olympic Peninsula), but we're wondering if we should postpone our trip due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

We understand that we, like other people, are exposed to viruses all the time, so preventive measures go a long way in avoiding the virus and transmitting it to others. But it's hard for us to get past the media blitz and popular concern about the outbreak, and find out what's really going on there.

I realize that our concerns may be silly and over-cautious to some, but I'm just trying to gauge the situation.

Have you been seeing many tourists out and about in the city? Is it a bad idea for us to make the trip out there? Is life pretty normal and routine in spite of the reported illnesses and deaths?

Thanks for your insight....

[Seacove]

Does the hotel offer HAZMAT suits?

[Empidonax]

Originally Posted by Seacove

Does the hotel offer HAZMAT suits?

No, but I think it offers insulated bubble-pods that we can float around in.

[Diana Holbrook]

The cases here have *mostly* still been at one nursing home, right? We don't know where it may turn up next, but having it turn up at a nursing facility where people are already compromised is going to spike our numbers.

I'm personally avoiding places with lots of people if I can, but it might well be a good time to do touristy things with much thinner crowds. Really hard to say.

[Blondebaerde]

Originally Posted by Diana Holbrook

The cases here have *mostly* still been at one nursing home, right? We don't know where it may turn up next, but having it turn up at a nursing facility where people are already compromised is going to spike our numbers.

I'm personally avoiding places with lots of people if I can, but it might well be a good time to do touristy things with much thinner crowds. Really hard to say.

I don't believe "they" know where the cases came from. It's been floating around for weeks, undiagnosed, which "suggests" there are vectors know one knew about. Or why. Which sucks.

Latest recommendation, today, on our tenth fatality is to forego gatherings of greater than 10 people for three weeks. Look it up. An airplane is a tube of canned air and c. 140 people. I'll take a pass on that, Ghost Rider. I'm a bit cautious, live how you want: odds are in your favor. Governor has lots of options if he wants to batten down the hatches here in Kirkland, I'm waiting for it. Old folks keep croaking right up the street, unf, due to the virus.

Good luck with all that.

[flyingsaucermom]

Life is not normal.

-Microsoft just announced that any worker that has a job that can be done at home should stay home.

-Anyone over the age of 60 is asked to stay home as much as possible.

-Several counties have set up facilities for quarantine, including King County.

-My kids' schools are emptying out with each announcement of an infected person or death.

-Youth soccer club has changed rules for games moving forward. No handshakes.

That said.. this maybe a great time to visit. You won't have any crowds!

[rjshae]

Life isn't completely normal at the moment. Government is trying to encourage more social isolation. Downtown sounds pretty sparse for visitors. Risk is probably fairly low right now, but not zero. But I'll bet you can get some pretty good travel deals.

[Seacove]

Originally Posted by Empidonax

No, but I think it offers insulated bubble-pods that we can float around in.

There you go; a sense of humor is everything.

[DabOnEm]

They cancelled the big conference I was going to attend this month. Kinda bummed cause it would have been my first trip to Seattle but I've also seen those vids from grocery stores... I'll pass for now.

[Hemlock140]

Originally Posted by DabOnEm

They cancelled the big conference I was going to attend this month. Kinda bummed cause it would have been my first trip to Seattle but I've also seen those vids from grocery stores... I'll pass for now.

Same here, I go to an annual business conference that was scheduled this year for New Orleans in late April, and it was just cancelled. As for tourists, this is a fairly quiet time of year but passing through Pike Place Market, our biggest tourist trap, has been like a ghost town this week. In fact the vendors are getting really worried. When I leave work I pass by the waterfront tourist areas, and I have never seen it so quiet there except in the case of a rare snow.