Should I postpone my lift-out?

[Daydream believer]

Perhaps knowing the meaning of Q+first alternate should feature a little more highly for those taking their yachtmaster in the coming weeks.

I thought that it was first "substitute" & anyway code flag "Lima" is for the plague. If that is what I think you mean. But I may well be wrong!!!

 

[laika]

I thought that it was first "substitute" & anyway code flag "Lima" is for the plague. If that is what I think you mean. But I may well be wrong!!!

"Substitute" (not "alternate") yes (sorry...early evening zinfandel mistake with fast typing for a quick gag). The QQ was to contrast with Q, ie "I require health clearance" as opposed to "My vessel is healthy and I request free pratique" which I believe (others may correct me) is the appropriate signal when entering a harbour with questionable health status.

 

[Resolution]

Am I being sensibly prudent to even consider this, or neurotically alarmist?

Sorry to be the alarmist, but to my simple mind we have a very big problem looming.

• The virus is a significant killer. "In his opening remarks at the March 3 media briefing on Covid-19, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated:“Globally, about 3.4% of reported COVID-19 cases have died. By comparison, seasonal flu generally kills far fewer than 1% of those infected."
• Creating a vaccine usually takes many months, even a year or more.
• The incubation period seems to be unusually long compared to most flu types.
• There seems to be a higher than usual reproduction factor (ie how many contacts get infected by each sufferer).
• 3.4% of the 30 million figure in my post above would come to a scary 1 million deaths in this country alone.

All this boils down in my reading to a slow start but difficult to stop epidemic, with a nasty effect on our lives.
I am not a medic and much of the numbers being reported are unreliable, so I very much hope that I am being neurotically alarmist.

 

[zoidberg]

Would I be right in thinking there is some potential for multiple 'waves' or 'reinfection pulses', as per the 1918 Spanish Flu...?

 

[Daydream believer]

I had plans for 12-15 weeks of SH cruising visiting Dutch, Belgian, French, CIs & Uk waters this year
Seems to me, that I will be traveling a wide area & mixing with a lot of people, rather than the limited locale & very limited contact, with others that I would otherwise have at home.
Just hope my season will not have to be cancelled. Catching the virus at 73 years old & being confined to a boat with limited medical assistance in a foreign country could be difficult.
It may be that some with plans for cruising holidays may have to re consider their destinations

 

[James_Calvert]

The French authorities believe that declaration of a stage 3 epidemic will be inevitable within the next few days.

More restrictions can then follow as required...