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Reopening is not just happening soon for many businesses across parts of the United States, it is now in the offing for travelers as well.
For those who want to get on the open road or on a plane, the “how” you travel will be just as important as the “where” in staying safe from COVID-19.
“Where are you going? Are you going to stay with family vs. going to a hotel…and then eating out all the time,” Dr. Mary Beth Graham of Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin asked of WTMJ’s John Mercure during the recent WTMJ Cares Roundtable. “The more exposures that you have in the community, potentially…an increased risk for you to get exposed.”
Dr. Graham suggests people should try to define how well-controlled the places will be where they are traveling, and how controlled the method of transportation will be.
“My personal opinion: I feel for myself much more at ease when I know I’m going from a defined environment to a defined environment,” she says.
The most controlled transportation environment right now is within our own cars.
“Take a nice fresh bottle of hand sanitizer with you. After you touch common surfaces, put the gas in your car, do the hand sanitizer. Then look forward to getting up to your cabin and having a good time,” Graham added.
Many experts agree that travel-related companies (airlines, ride share providers, hotels, cruise ships, etc.) are taking extra precautions.
“Getting on a plane or a motorcoach or even a riverboat cruise or ocean liner, right now, you’re going to have the cleanest conditions one could ever have hoped for,” Rose Gray of Fox World Travel says. Gray hosts the “Fox World Travel Show” every Saturday morning on WTMJ and was also a featured guest on Thursday’s Roundtable.
Dr. Graham adds that hotels are also taking more precautions, but there are some common areas that may not ever look the same to travelers.
“A lot of people choose a hotel with the morning buffet,” Graham says. “The common areas where people are going to pick out food…I’m not quite sure how hotels are going to do that. I’m really not sure. I would not be in favor of going down to grab the bagel where all of the rest of the bagels were.”
In the end, Dr. Graham says the best defense comes from our own common sense.
“It’s going to places where you know they’re doing social distancing. You’re doing your hand hygiene…and keep your mask with you.”