Slipping the noose

An international trip should be an opportunity for learning, growing and excitement, but an advancing virus completely alters the outlook

- BRUCE DENNILL

When I agreed some months ago to go on a content-generating trip to Thailand with a few other journalists, COVID-19 didn’t exist. Or if it did, nobody outside of specialist epidemiology circles knew anything about it. As the departure date crept closer, events started taking place in Wuhan and other far-flung places, and murmurs of an impact on travel, and established lifestyles in general, began to circulate. As matters developed, questions were asked about the wisdom of travelling in such a climate. And, based on the best information available at the time, it was decided to go ahead: as things stood then, while there was a threat, it was well contained… elsewhere. Shortly after we’d arrived, however, the World Health Organisation declared the coronavirus situation a pandemic, meaning that, along with a number of more specific definitions, whichever preventative measures needed to be taken were now the responsibility of every country.

* Decisions deferred