tourist traffic
 

Working on the other side of the road today, sunny cool Saturday 6 of June, and traffic to and from the beach seems about equivalent to any other year.

PT plates; many rental cars, some city cars [late model premium cars not from this village, likely Lisbonites].

I hope this does someone some good, and we don't get a surge of infections.

Re: tourist traffic
 

This week is going to be dreadful , holidays on consecutive days, many people will have a very long weekend - a flood of Lisbonite to hit the Algarve, best to stay indoors until they have gone - Stay Safe

Re: tourist traffic
 

Don't panic

As long as social distancing is maintained there's no possibility of infection or are all the governments wrong.? 🤔 😳

The pandemic will die out at some stage, they all do, everyone has a different take on their own personal safety and preferences to avoid cv19.

Personally I'm quite comfortable to get back to Normal ASAP.

If I was over 70 with underlying health issues I may have a different viewpoint.

Good luck and stay calm and safe 😎

Re: tourist traffic
 

Why do you think "The pandemic will die out at some stage"? If you are thinking of the situation with SARS and/or MERS, the lifecycle of this virus is very different. It will only "die out" when there are no available hosts - through total immunity whether by vaccination or antibodies - and if it does not mutate to circumvent immunity. Even then, it will remain a threat as long as there are reservoirs somewhere in the world. At present, there are areas in each country where the virus has had little if any effect, due to the actions taken, but this is just infection deferred.

COVID-19 may go into abeyance and we will certainly develop better treatments, but there is no reason to believe it will just "die out". The likelihood is that this coronavirus will become endemic, like flu, and remain deadly to some, like flu ........ but what the numbers affected will be is unknown. There is also a slim chance that it will mutate into a less deadly form - as killing the host is not ideal behaviour - but I don't think we can count on miracles.

I agree that much can be done to prevent infection, short of total lockdown, but that's a bit like walking across a busy highway - you are reliant on the care and attention of others as much or more than your own protection. Every time you go into a crowded situation you will be running a risk - and that risk may not only be for yourself. There are some who will calculate the risk and others who just take their chances.... like drink driving. Like drink driving, they may get away with it for a long time, but would you suggest that such behaviour does not create unnecessary risk?

I'm not over 70, but I have friends and neighbours who are.... that's why I'm still in the UK, I don't want to be a vector for my community in Portugal.

Re: tourist traffic
 

It will die out according to the government scientist (professor John Edmunds) on Andrew Marr show this morning.

It may become weaker, Italian doctors appear to think this is happening already.

It may return annually like the flu.

Who knows for certain?

But it's not good to hide forever, and it does appear on the whole to affect the aged with underlying health issues more badly than any other.

Natural selection?

Re: tourist traffic
 

GAIA fights back ?

Re: tourist traffic
 

Natural; that's all right then.

Personally, even if it's natural,I'd rather not be culled just yet.

I will stay in, or as you put it "Hide" for as long as necessary. Yes, I will keep behind my locked gates in fear, but unashamed.

I'll see my friends again after this "natural" selection thing has passed.
Nature is ok with me, as long as that doesn't include personal illness or death.

Re: tourist traffic
 

That's a rather selective summation of what he said. He said the Covid-19 epidemic “is definitely not all over” and has previously spoken of herd immunity as a way to end the spread of the virus, but told Andrew Marr this could be done via vaccination.“What I said about herd immunity was that that’s how the epidemic eventually will end – and it will end via herd immunity." "Via vaccination is how we want it to be achieved but that’s how all epidemics come to an end, and so we will be under these restrictions in some way until levels of immunity are such in the population that we don’t have to take extra precautions to stop chains of transmission.”

Many will disagree with his stance on immunity - IF he is talking about total immunity, because ​there are plenty of infections for which there is no herd immunity, like the common cold, and others where the virus mutates easily, meaning constant vaccinations are required - like "seasonal" flu. We may develop antibodies that reduce the impact of the virus.... or that temporarily provide limited immunity, but that's not the common undrstanding of immunity and it WILL NOT mean the pandemic will "die out".​​​​​

Quoting individual scientists is like clutching at straws - note the stop/go on Ibuprofen as a treatment and the claims about miracle off-the-shelf medications and vitamin supplements. We are learning about the virus all the time, but there's much we still don't know - however it does seem to hit in clusters and it is the study of that which may hold the clue to better management. PS, Flu does not return annually - it is endemic, but less prevalent in Summer months.

However, if your last statement is indicative of your thinking, you will look for the data that supports you.

Re: tourist traffic
 

Yes I'm over 70 but that is less of a concern than the fact we are fortunate to live in a relatively small town with minimal infection levels. What will happen this week is that tourists from Lisbon , an area with the highest infection rates will arrive to "enjoy" themselves and that means crowded supermarkets, busy restaurants and terraces when over the last week it has been a pleasure to be out and about with a feeling of relative security.

Re: tourist traffic
 

I don't like many people so am quite happy to stay away from them.

Let's hope 6 foot stays in forever so you don't end up with people right up your rear in the supermarket queue.

Re: tourist traffic
 

if only it worked that way when driving.........

Re: tourist traffic
 

Huge traffic flow this weekend, and Friday the supermarket was packed.
Almost normal for this time of year I think.
But with a difference; almost all Portuguese. Very few rental cars or foreign plates.
Even the German owned holiday houses behind me had Portuguese guests, and I think he only advertises in German.

It looks like the travel ban cuts both ways, with lots of Portuguese people checking out heir own beaches instead of traveling abroad.

So instead of potentially infected foreigners, our village was inundated with potentially infected Lisbonites.

Re: tourist traffic
 

Natural selection would hardly work by knocking out the aged who have passed their breeding age!
But your casual remark consigning the elderly to an unpleasant death is not very kind.

Re: tourist traffic
 

Of course natural selection takes out the weak and infirm.

I have not consigned anyone at all to an unpleasant death.

Whichever way you want to dress things up cv19 is more harmful in general to the elderly with underlying health issues, that is a fact.

If there is no affective vaccine development then this may become the new norm.

People will need to realise that could happen and the world will not stay in lock down forever, as long as the health services do not become overwhelmed this most likely will be the way things end up imo.

​​​​​​I'm not being unkind to anyone btw, just stating the way I see things heading.



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Re: tourist traffic
 

You may not be unkind but you seriously missed the point of my post and have a serious sense of humour failure 😂