scilly

You might be stopped at the airport as they are testing passengers from certain countries and UK might be on that list by the time you come.

At the moment, it seems to me that you have a much greater chance of catching the virus in the UK than here.

Like most of the people on here, I think you'd be very silly to turn down this chance, especially with that job offer which almost no-one gets before arriving. Just take the precautions suggested .....

...... wash hands frequently and thoroughly in hot water and soap. One Provincial Medical Officer suggested washing your hands as thoroughly and for as long as you would if you had been chopping jalapeno peppers and needed to change your contacts.

........ wash hands before leaving the house, as soon as getting to school or job, before leaving and as soon as you get home, before and after meals, as well as as often as you can in between times.

..... use hand sanitizers or wipes only in an emergency as they are not really effective

...... don't touch your face, especially your mouth, nose (eg picking it) or your eyes.

....... sneeze or cough into your elbow not out into the air

...... wipe your phone, tablet etc frequently, possibly with anti-bacterial wipes.

...... teach your children all the above, and make sure they do it.

...... stay home (self-isolate) if any of you feel symptoms coming one, and phone the health line for help.

Canada learnt a lot about containment during the SARS epidemic in 2003 and the H1N1 in 2009, and no-one here has sggested that containment is not still possible.

Remember Canada is a much bigger place, and there are not as many crowds as in the UK. You can easily avoid going to the cinema, sports events, etc. Transit could be a problem, although buses, trains, etc are being cleaned regularly (at least they are here in BC, and I suppose Toronto is no different).

Shard

This is a good point that doesn't get said much. Commuting is mainly by car and offices, restaurants. etc are more spacious.

MillieF

Couldn’t agree more, often not mentioned...I look back on my days of commuting into Hyde Park Corner from Stratford East and I probably encountered 250,000 people daily and shared the same air. Fredericton is NOT Toronto, but I’ve never been jostled, not a chance of a jostle here...and right now that’s a good thing!

abner

The physical risk of contracting COVID-19 is, at this point in time, essentially the same in both Canada and the UK, i.e. currently minimal, but evolving. Like most others on this thread, I certainly wouldn't defer or knock back a solid job offer, that underpins an established migration plan, due to the virus.

But it is prudent to mitigate any economic risk involved, however minimal its likelihood. Check your insurance cover, both for travel to Canada, and for the waiting period before OHIP kicks in. If you've already bought cover, *make sure* it continues to apply to COVID-19, and expect to need to *press hard* on this before you get clear answers from your insurer(s). If you have yet to buy cover, expect a much-higher-than-typical price for it to include "all perils" cover.

But again, IMHO it would be better to migrate now rather than later, despite any higher interim cost you might incur for insurance cover. COVID-19 looks set to be a 18-24 month problem, before a vaccine becomes widely available. I certainly wouldn't put your migration plan on hold for that long, due to a disease you might never get.

dbd33

I don't think this is true. Canada is a large country but the inhabited part is a thin strip along the US border. I work in an office where I have a desk five feet wide in a row of, perhaps fifty, desks. Behind me and in front of me are more rows of "work stations". The occupants of the work stations are people recently arrived from all over the world. People shun those who look "Chinese" even if they were born in Canada, have never left and their parents were from Laos anyway. It's bonkers but there is a real risk; lots of people go to China and lots of others go to Italy. Many people, perhaps the majority, arrive at work by bus or by train or in car pools though there's a fashion now for single occupant vehicles. Restaurants may historically have been more spacious here; redneck Canadians do tend to be fat but I don't know that that holds since Trudeau the elder.

In short, while I personally take no note of this week's fashionable disease, for those who do southern Ontario is not safer than, and probably less safe than, Golders Green.

abner

i.e. You haven't had a clue about the physical state of "redneck Canadians" since 1984. ;-)

[Edit: I'll grant you the Ford brothers, but don't think most bong-huffing rednecks ahh, 'measure up' to their standard.]

dbd33

Rob Ford was very kind to me, I won't hear a bad word about him. I bet on him in a death pool. Otherwise, the two or three cradles I meet in the course of a week have the physique of a former ice hockey player; Don Cherry.. I'm sure there are fit cradle Canadians, in BC or wherever, but you don't see them around here.

What I was getting at though is that, people are generally not from Canada anymore so they're not so fat, so the tables are likely closer together now, same as everywhere else.

scilly

Other parts of Canada are very different from where you are!

dbd33

Fair enough, the only parts I know about are southern Ontario and Vancouver.

Engineer_abroad

It’s not corna virus I’m worried about

https://www.thebeaverton.com/2020/01...n-coronavirus/

scilly

......... and you don't know as much as you think you know about Vancouver!

I think my 50+ years of living here gives me the right to say I know more than you do.

Winterdiva

Thank a ton everyone! We are still waiting to hear from them! Fingers crossed and hopeful !

OrangeMango

IMHO the dangers of the virus are very low in Canada. The danger is bigger from the reaction of others, business decisions not taking place, no hiring, government offices closing up early. The real issue you will have is you might find that certain government offices would close without any warning. Ontario announced that they would close any public schools for some time after March break. The same could happen with OHIP, Service Ontario, Driver's License applications and all your other first steps in Canada, like getting a SIN number. So far there is no indication yet, that Services Ontario might close, however, I wouldn't completely rule it out.

dbd33

Why on earth would you think that? Country of immigrants, many frequent travellers to Italy, China, Korea, Iran,, open border to a country with an administration derelict in its duties to healthcare. Prime Minister's wife a victim of the virus. It's as dangerous as anywhere. More than that, workers here are very often in contract positions, if they choose to self-isolate or are subject to mandatory isolation, they don't get paid and are likely to lose their jobs. This is not a good place to be in an epidemic.

OrangeMango

Self employed, contracting or in the gig economy would be the ones hurt the most.

Honestly the scare about the virus scares me more, than the virus itself.

People and businesses will go bankrupt just because of the scare and the hype built around it.