Should We Travel Now?

As Covid-19 cases soar across parts of the USA, I’m once again asking a question I thought I’d answered: should we travel now?

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It was early March when I took a short trip to DC. I’d already been traveling quite a bit this year. My wife and I took a vacation on Kauai, Hawaii in late January. In February, I took one of my regular trips to Seattle to visit family.

But Covid-19 was lurking. I was in the Seattle area when local officials reported the first known U.S. death from the virus,. He was a “man in his 50s who had underlying health conditions.”

The next day, I joined 40,000 fans packing CenturyLink Field to watch the Seattle Sounders. They played the following Saturday, as well. American sports stopped altogether just four days later.

The world seemed to change overnight. Restaurants and retail businesses closed their doors, and those who could worked from home.

We Stopped Traveling

Americans largely stopped moving around, except for essential needs. During those two months, gas prices in my area dropped to $1.29/gallon. In parts of Oklahoma, it was under $1. But few of us had anywhere to go.

The most astounding feature of our Great National Lockdown was how few people were flying. Airlines kept flying but with vastly reduced schedules. Yet flights were nearly empty — often with loads of just five percent. On April 14th, air travel hit rock bottom. The TSA screened just 87, 534 travelers on that day, compared with 2.2 million a year earlier.

Our family was no exception. We canceled travel plans and stayed at home. Our dog never got excited to see us, because we never left.

The First Time I Asked: Should We Travel Now?

As quarantine fatigue set in, I wondered when it would be safe to travel again. It’s a pandemic, but maybe flying is safe. After all, I hadn’t heard of any Covid-19 outbreaks traced to air travel, and still haven’t.

I read about the hospital-grade HEPA air filters used on most airlines. That research nearly convinced me it was safe to get on a plane. When the airline industry finally mandated face coverings for all passengers, I was in.

I had a trip booked for the end of May. I’d been thinking of canceling, but instead moved it up to May 18th. What a strange experience.

But by the time I returned home, I was comfortable with flying and with travel in general. I’d flown on two planes and stayed in a hotel. A month later, we took a family trip with my wife and daughter.

During May, many states tentatively (and some not so tentatively) started to open up. We started going to restaurants.. At first, just outdoor seating. Later, we’d sit inside where social distancing was in force. We went to the beach, carefully and safely.

We never assumed that the novel coronavirus would simply disappear. Even as we tried to resume our normal lives, we used face coverings (they are very effective!) in public and respected social distancing guidelines.

A Not So Funny Thing Happened

By June, we saw the results of a country that had opened too quickly. U.S. cases soared, especially in the South and Southwest. We saw evidence in our own community that face coverings were the exception, not the norm.

Young people (especially) went back to the bars, often with little thought given to social distancing. Many people contracted Covid-19, but were asymptomatic. One top official at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) tells CNBC that asymptomatic transmission accounts for most of the recent Covid-19 cases.

Back to Quarantine

Over the past few weeks, my wife and I have gradually returned to quarantine life. We’ve stopped going to restaurants, sticking with take-out and delivery instead. We rarely leave the house, except to walk the dog around the neighborhood and to buy groceries.

It’s a lot different this time, because there is no stay-at-home order. I also think we’ve learned a lot about masks since the lockdowns started in March. I feel safe when people around me wear masks. But at least where we live, face coverings aren’t a given. That probably explains better than anything why the South is seeing a record number of new cases. I know several people who’ve contracted the virus, and at least one has died from it. The virus is serious, and I’m not playing around with it.

So I’m Asking Again…

Should we travel now? I thought I’d answered that question two months ago, but I’m thinking about it a lot right now. I feel confident that flying is safe. I feel less confident about other means of transportation, like trains and buses. Even though public transit is safer than you might think.

It’s a bit of a moral dilemma. My home is in the middle of a pandemic hot spot. And although my wife and I are playing it safe, there are no guarantees. What are the odds that we contract the virus? What if, in our travels, we carry the virus to a place that had Covid-19 under control? I’m fine with accepting some risk to myself, but I don’t believe it’s my right to pass along that risk to others.

That said, I trust face coverings to keep others safe from the virus. If I’m wearing a mask, it will be much more difficult for me to pass Covid-19 on to you. My wife and I have stayed at home inside our bubble. When we travel again, the main risk would be getting the virus during the trip — not while we’re at home.

Should we travel now? I’ll answer the question with a qualified ‘yes.’ It’s okay to travel, but with respect for the well-being of others. Follow the rules, don’t let down your guard, and continue to take Covid-19 seriously.

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Cover photo: Downtown Mobile is ten minutes from my home, and it’s as far as I’ve traveled during July 2020.