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There are few no-risk activities during the Covid-19 pandemic, but there are ways to mitigate risks. Fully vaccinated people are, of course, at much lower risk of contracting and spreading coronavirus than people who haven't been vaccinated. CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen advises approaching your activity decisions with that in mind.
Two days ago the CDC came out with new guidelines for surface cleaning. I don't know how to link it but you can just google it.
Basically they downgraded the cleaning requirements for using disinfectants to just soap and water.
On April 5, during a White House COVID-19 Response Team briefing, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, said the CDC updated its guidance on cleaning and disinfecting to prevent the spread of COVID, which had been the same since Jan. 5. According to Walensky, the changes to the guidelines reflect the science on transmission that experts now understand. "People can be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 through contact with contaminated surfaces and objects. However, evidence has demonstrated that the risk by this route of transmission is actually low," said Walensky. As a result, the CDC now says it's unnecessary to disinfect surfaces regularly. https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/cdc-...lFJXx_umtT3p23
I've been using hotels pretty freely since the pandemic- first ventured back last August on a road trip to SC from KC- Dad is in LTC and my siblings live there and it's best done with one overnight en route. I've also taken a few road trips with the guy I'm dating and have even taken my granddaughters (ages 4 and 7) on overnights in a local Embassy Suites in their town. I'd taken the older one to Chicago a couple of times pre-COVID but that's a plane flight and DS and DDIL and I agree it's not time to return to the planes yet.
I'm now fully vaccinated but the hotel stays don't seem to have been a risk since I've had two negative antibody tests. They're being very careful, breakfasts are either pre-packaged stuff or served to you by an employee. Coffee is still free-flowing, thank heaven. The hotels with smaller gyms limit use to one person at a time and masks are required in the larger gyms if someone else is using it, too. The Embassy Suites had a separate card to enter the pool and limited the number in the pool area at one time.
We do takeout only- last time we just bought a lot of stuff at the grocery store. They thought that microwave mac and cheese was a great treat! I avoid sharing elevators with others. Some people are getting lax about masks, especially where local laws don't require them- I stay away from them. Last time the Embassy Suites had a large business gathering- they were down there in the reception area in the evenings, eating, drinking, talking- and unmasked. Not smart. We avoided them too.
We went last June for an overnight, and the guidance was basically the same then. We were masked, confirmed cleaning protocols before going, disinfected everything ourselves when we got there, did not share the elevator with anyone, no food/room service/housekeeping, etc. Obviously we weren't vaxed at that point, but I think we were as safe as could be and had no issues.
At this point, we're SO CLOSE, we're going to wait until we're vaxed to go anywhere.
My last hotel stay was in January 2020 but I do travel a great deal. I have Hilton Honors Diamond status. I will have to start staying in hotels this summer as my camper van will be too hot.
It makes sense to me to get a room on a lower floor and take the stairs. Stairwells have much greater air volume than elevators.
In an elevator, an infected person coughs or sneezes with a loose mask or no mask at all and those particles stay in the air a long time. For some reason we keep forgetting about viral clouds.
Wow, that's just overkill. You can't just "stay home" if you travel for a living, which lots - and lots - and lots - of people do. Most hotels cater to business travelers - not tourists.
I've been in many hotels in the past year - no problems, anywhere. I do not feel the least "unsafe" - as I am in no more statistical danger than I am at my local grocer or my office or a dozen other places I cannot avoid. Illness "by touch" was always uncommon, and now there's data to show it - so I HOPE the hotels "get back to normal" and clean my room more than once a week. It is NOT "safer" for me to get zero breakfast in the hotel - but have to go to Burger King instead. Same danger.
Are there more - or less - contagious people near your hotel - or near your home? No way to know - hm? Unless you're in an obvious "hot spot."
The desk clerk is behind glass. I see practically no one else - ever. The maid never comes. I still have to eat in very crowded, very public restaurants every - single - day - so the risk at the hotel is pretty much ZERO by comparison. Passing someone in the hall? Nationwide, worst of times, we had 1 in 100 random people contagious. Is it that guy I just passed in the hall? Or - is it me? No way to know - but we don't chit chat, just in case.
Point is - this article can be summed up in one sentence: "Yes, it is as safe as it ever was to stay in a hotel."
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