Timing is truly everything.
 

Back in august. My in-laws said, “ come to visit, we’ll get together, have a few laughs....”

Sure why not? We found a great deal to vacation in Taipei and Tokyo. A great deal. AKA; non-refundable.

Oh boy. I’m have been on hold with a delightful lady from Orbitz. She is sympathetic, but Orbitz (the company) could really care less about me. Orbitz doesn’t even play music while we are on hold. I keep hoping I’m not disconnected.

I’m not particularly paranoid, but going to Tokyo feels ridiculous. One warning is :stay away from public transportation. !! Really? It’s ALL public transport. I’m pulling the chute. Throwing more money at the problem. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect Asia to catch fire at the virus level. My thoughts and prayers go out to them. It must be awful at the epicenter. I feel like a poopy-head complaining while people are having real troubles. Man, I spent real money on gifts. I have a Dyson cordless vacuum I was taking. Grr.. lots of chocolates and whiskey.

Timing is everything. I’m planning a road-trip to AK summer/fall. Hope I don’t cause a hantavirus outbreak. :). I’m gonna have great whiskey on that drive, and I can vacuum up behind me.

Travel insurance would probably not kick in unless there is some official warning about going where you are going.
Not playing music, that's just inhumane. Did you tell the Orbitz lady about whiskey and chocolate? I mean, how could she say no? "I have whiskey, I have chocolate, I have a frikkin' vacuum cleaner! And I need to deliver these at a later date, TBA.

If you go, you'll know how it feels to be the soldier in the red uniform from Star Trek.

You can thank the CCP and their worldwide operatives for this.

The local doctors were well aware of the severity way back in December.

"Red uniform..."

That was FUNNY.

Was speaking with the owner of the dry cleaning place I use who is Korean. He pulled the plug on a trip to Korea because of the outbreak. He told me he’s arguing with the travel insurance company for a refund, whose policy covers “natural disasters” but apparently they don’t consider virus outbreaks to fit the definition.

Why a refund. Can't most flights, even the non-refundable flights be rescheduled for a smallish fee?

Anyone going to Italy ?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-51602007

I have a friend who is going on an adventure packed trip to Thailand and Laos in 2 weeks. I told her I certainly wouldn't go but she is determined to carry on at this moment..

So if the local doctors were well aware of the severity in December, the outbreak must have occurred at minimum two weeks prior, probably earlier, like sometime in November because the latency of the infection is two weeks or so. In addition, it takes a few days or a week or so after infection to show itself symptomatically severe enough to rise to such a level prompting them to investigate if they were in fact dealing with a novel virus.

If the local doctors knew immediately how severe the infection was they must have also known alot more about the virus than they admit.

I'm going with the latter.

If face masks or condoms don't keep you safe and infection free, I'd take a hard pass....

Timing is everything.
Just imagine if the poop hit the fan while you were there?

Face masks should keep the aerosol out of the nose and mouth, right? But then what about the eyes, I assume swim goggles would help with that. I understand that touching surfaces is a common way to get diseases, so maybe latex or nitrile gloves too.

What you want is the N95 Respirator

aka, "a mask"

At least you didn't go and get caught in the middle of all this.

Gotta count your blessings and take note of that silver lining, eh?

I was in China from 11/23 - 12/05, and the flu totally kicked my ass in mid-Jan. But I'm fine now.

If timing is everything, don't dwell on it - there's no point

I just got back from Japan last Wednesday. I was ~2 hours north of Tokyo, but flew in and out of Narita. I wasn't really concerned when I left to go (the Saturday before), but even while I was there, things started going downhill with the Diamond Princess, etc.

My return flight was delayed at the gate in Detroit. They would not let us off until a medical team interviewed some of the passengers. I only mention that as that was obviously non-standard.

Another interesting observation - the flight over there was nearly empty. I'd say 25-33% full. The flight back to the US was PACKED.

IMHO, your risk of getting the virus is probably very low. I honestly wouldn't worry about it. The biggest risk is probably getting caught up in some sort of quarantine/travel delay nightmare for which your options will be limited.

I've worked the Japanese for years (and have been there a number of times) and as much as I really like them (and going there) their culture does not deal with this type of stuff very well. IMHO.

Outstanding. You seem coiled and ready with a spark of an idea.