People will of course want to gather still... I've always wanted to hit SXSW so I'd be pretty heartbroken, myself.

Even still, my partner and I are keeping an eye open on flights to Europe (we've always wanted to go) and seriously considering taking the risk of buying a flight for in a couple of months time because they are quite literally at half price right now. And I'm not even talking about Italy.

edit: Haha—to clarify, the risk being flight cancellation or border closures not catching or spreading disease.

2nd edit: Wow. I'm drawing a little ire here. I'll reiterate: the risk is in not being able to go because the problem continues. Please take the charitable view (and of my whole comment, not snippets)—not the one that I'm some kind of monster :)

> Even still, my partner and I are keeping an eye open on flights to Europe (we've always wanted to go) and seriously considering taking the risk of buying a flight for in a couple of months time because they are quite literally at half price right now. And I'm not even talking about Italy.

If you do this in the midst of a pandemic, it's an unethical and selfish act.

Please read the entirety of my comment before painting me so negatively...

I'm certain that just purchasing some discounted airline tickets for sometime later in the year will not in itself cause any negative global health effects. The decision to actually travel can be made entirely separately from that gamble.

Yeah, patient zero in Italy was probably just one dude who traveled. You have no effin' clue what consequences of your acts may be. Europe will be still here later.

If we're still in the height of epidemics during your travel, you will be basically locked in someplace and very hard to see anything.

To sum it up, tremendously stupid idea with utterly selfish tones.

Selfish?

To travel after the trouble with the virus has subsided on tickets purchased during a period of discounted rates?

Or do you mean not traveling because the virus hasn't subsided and tossing the hundreds of dollars down the drain in a gamble?

If neither of these were your conclusions, then respectfully—I think you misunderstood my comments.

After reading your comment including edits it's still not clear when you plan to travel so I understand the negative reactions you're getting.

Buying flight tickets might be cheap right now but the point is if when your trip starts X weeks from now and the situation is still bad and you don't cancel it, then you are indeed selfish and deserving of the negative comments and down votes.

Further, since nobody knows when this will end (it could continue into 2021 for all we know) and you didn't say you'd cancel your plans if it did (instead you expressed concerns you'd lose money if travel was banned), I feel like you're drastically misunderstanding the 2nd order dangers your actions would have and likely deserve the ire and down votes you're getting.

> and you didn't say you'd cancel

That is the risk I referred to, as I clarified—not being able to take the trip because the situation didn't improve. I've explained this many times over by now.

> I've always wanted to hit SXSW so I'd be pretty heartbroken, myself.

Save your heartache. SXSW lost its "soul" many years ago.

For the modern SXSW experience, just go to the local supermarket when it's ultra busy and the parking lot is full. Park your car among the rest and just sit in it.

Well that's a shame. Guess I'll visit Austin on some other day.

You'd honestly probably have a better time, unless there was something you specifically wanted to see at SXSW. So many people come into town for it that getting anywhere in the city becomes a nightmare.

Taking this thread way off the original topic now, but yeah. Would love to visit for the music scene—SWSX probably would crowd out what I actually want to get out of the place when I think about it longer than 30 seconds.

I used to live in Austin and have experienced SXSW many times. It's still an amazing time and experience. Take all of the comments with a grain of salt (including mine).

How about a cruise to Europe? If you like deals.

Hahaha. Even before all this nonsense—if I proposed, in earnest, a cruise I think she'd leave me because then I never truly knew her.

Too many pints in Dublin and then wine in her ancestral village in Portugal and then we're talking.

Sounds romantic. I wonder how romantic that ancestral village will feel when local health officials have declared a mandatory quarantine and you can’t leave your hotel room.

Thankfully, the tickets are on sale now for dates throughout the year, and the village is so small and old I'd be shocked if anyone really comes or goes from there as it is. :)

I can imagine worse things

Have you even once stopped to consider how your actions might affect people other than yourself?

Even if you're not in the groups with high mortality rates, you can still be a carrier.

Of course. The risk in purchasing tickets for later in the year while they are still cheap is that we may not be able to use them if this situation continues and doesn't improve. I thought that was pretty clear in my original comment.

Either I missed that wording or it wasn't clear to me. I also may be projecting the mentality of other people I've heard planning to get cheaper travel even if it does result in other people getting sick.

I cannot know your intentions, so if they truly are with other people in mind, I apologize.

Do also keep in mind, though, that by purchasing them now you are inevitably biasing yourself towards going.

Surreal comment.

That even in the face of a particular health problem, people have a hard time giving up their desire to socialize or live?

I think it's pretty normal. Surreal would be adapting more easily and unconsciously to the new constraints.

Thankfully, continuing to dream doesn't cost us anything, and it doesn't hurt anyone.

If my facebook feed is indicative of the general US population, there are still a lot of people who think the media is just trying to scare us. Some of them are your typical nutjobs for Trump, but even my 60-something year old hippie liberal jazz musician friend is on that train. There were women replying to her that the media focuses on Covid-19 because "it's killing old men" who run the world, and the media should instead be focusing on women's issues... I think I'm finally ready to give up facebook after seeing my the thoughts of most of my 'friends'.

If they wanna support the economy just send money to the entities that they can't go to. That restaurant you were going to dine out at, instead you're not microwaving a Lean Cuisine? Send them $10. Otherwise they are doing it for the shills.