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Diabetes / Coronavirus / Going abroad.

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Gary.R

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Can I please ask for some advice. I am due to go on holiday to Greece late July and I am worried because of the coronavirus is it advisable to travel with diabetes ?.
 
Personally I think you’ll be safer in Greece if you are going to a very small island. I would be more bothered about being on a plane with your fellow Brits! Your travel insurance may possibly be higher and you will maybe have to self isolate when you arrive back home. Greece has very low Covid 19 cases and it’s my favourite country in the whole world but I won’t be going this year. Being diabetic doesn’t make you more susceptible to catching it but if you do, your recovery may not be as straight forward as a non diabetic. This may be an academic question anyways as the foreign office is still advising against all but essential travel at the moment. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
 
you will not get travel insurance to cover for medical evacuation whilst there is a FCO advisory and it looks like local hospitals will be "full" and reserved for their own citizens so your EHIC card will be of little use,(follow link to get to greek advisory page)

www.gov.uk

Entry requirements - Spain travel advice

FCDO travel advice for Spain. Includes safety and security, insurance, entry requirements and legal differences.
www.gov.uk www.gov.uk
 
Gary.R said:
Can I please ask for some advice. I am due to go on holiday to Greece late July and I am worried because of the coronavirus is it advisable to travel with diabetes ?.
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My wife and I should be going this Wednesday and if it hadn't been cancelled nothing would have stopped us from going as the Greek islands haven't been hard hit.
 
Cookie12 said:
My wife and I should be going this Wednesday and if it hadn't been cancelled nothing would have stopped us from going as the Greek islands haven't been hard hit.
Click to expand...

I think you miss the point made by eggyg. The problem is not in the Greek islands but in getting there. Personally I would not be travelling on an aeroplane until the infection rates in UK were way below the levels they are now and with the lockdown reductions it is going to be quite a while before that happens.

This is entirely a personal comment because as a 70+ male with diabetes, the probable consequences of catching it are sufficiently appalling to make me want to minimise wherever possible the risk of catching it. Being cooped up with strangers is high on my list of things to avoid. Might have a different opinion if I were under 30.
 
I had a couple of visits abroad planned for the lockdown period, one of which had a non-refundable hotel booking for around £1000 that I can only obtain credit for if I travel this year. The insurance people ( a company that many of us will use) have my claim for the booking in February, but one thing that concerns me for future visits is their present condition: "If you bought a new policy after 23:59 on 12 March 2020 the policy will not cover any claims caused by or relating to Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) or severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-COV-2) or any mutation or variation of these. We also can not cover any claims relating to any fear or threat concerning these viruses. This general exclusion applies to all sections of cover." If one has symptoms when abroad, I imagine one will not be allowed to travel home for treatment.
 
Considering the potential costs of hospitalisation if you were to go down with it abroad with no insurance cover and the potential risks of being aboard a plane with 200+ other Brits, bearing in mind we have the highest figures in Europe for the virus and the way people are carrying on at the moment like it had never happened.... I personally would take the £1000 loss.
 
I had a golf trip booked to go to Turkey in may which was cancelled
my annual travel renewal has this clause added ‘the policy will not cover any claims caused by or relating to Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) or severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-COV-2) or any mutation or variation of these’ I won’t be renewing as I don’t intend flying off until it’s safe to do so
 
Simon Calder (the travel guy they often have on BBC Breakfast) was on TV this morning because of Spain allowing UK visitors, and re-stated the current no non-essential travel’ FCO rule.

I think you will have to watch and wait to see if that is lifted in the next week or so, but I’m not sure that’s all that likely unfortunately :(
 
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