Resort towns filling up during Coronavirus with Second HomeOwners?

[Colleen27]

I thought it was odd that our governor specifically mentioned that people were allowed to travel between their residences if they have more than one when she officially announced the lockdown here.

I know a friend and her husband left town last week for their cottage up north when both of them were no longer able to report to work. My inlaws have been tossing around the idea of heading up north to their cottage, despite MIL having a serious medical episode up there earlier this month that the hospital there told her they could not provide continuing assessment or treatment for -- along with my FIL's increasing string of medical issues that have caused him to be hospitalized several times over the past several months. She cannot drive. He really should not be driving any longer. What could go wrong with a four and a half hour drive?

We're at home trying to contend with work and college coursework and hoping this is all a memory as soon as reasonably possible.

I thought it was strange too. But to be honest, we thought about it and if our place up north had reliable internet, we'd be there right now. We'd have self-quarantined a lot longer than 14 days - we usually pack in everything we need for the length of our stay because it isn't in a tourist area, it is miles to the nearest grocery and that's just a tiny IGA - so there wouldn't be a concern about introducing the virus to anyone else up there. And since DH and, at the time, DS were still working, the girls and I would be more isolated there than we are at home. But since they're both attending school online, the internet issue was a deal-breaker.

Since they're shipping COVID19 patients further and further out state as the metro area hospitals are overwhelmed, I wouldn't feel like us going up is an outsize infection risk. It is far more likely to end up spread via heathcare professionals treating those transferred patients than by people following the stay-at-home guidelines in their vacation home rather than their primary residence.

 

[a1tinkfans]

I wish people would stay put. I wish they would have gone to their vacation home sooner, if that’s what they wanted. It just seems less safe to have people moving around at this point. Of course they re entitled, but thinking of others safety should also be a consideration.
Rhode Island’s latest response to ...NY’ers sounds like a crazy movie to me. National guard stopping NY plate vehicles, knocking on doors? Sending them back. Never imagined I’d hear something like this. Scary indeed!
Stay In, Stay Safe, and Stay Healthy!

Shout out to All the people on the front line. THANK YOU!!

 

[pryncess527]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/29/us/dare-county-north-carolina-state-of-emergency-trnd/index.html

 

[Hikergirl]

I wish people would stay put. I wish they would have gone to their vacation home sooner, if that’s what they wanted. It just seems less safe to have people moving around at this point. Of course they re entitled, but thinking of others safety should also be a consideration.
Rhode Island’s latest response to ...NY’ers sounds like a crazy movie to me. National guard stopping NY plate vehicles, knocking on doors? Sending them back. Never imagined I’d hear something like this. Scary indeed!
Stay In, Stay Safe, and Stay Healthy!

Shout out to All the people on the front line. THANK YOU!!

I don't believe they are sending them back, I believe they are requiring them to be in quarantine for 14 days if they are from NY. That seems reasonable to me, and I'm from NY.
I don't know about having the National Guard knocking on doors searching for Nyers, but I don't see an issue with requiring them to stay in their home and not mingle about the area until they are 100% sure they aren't infected.
There is a responsible way to travel to a 2nd home, and quarantining, self isolating, whatever you want to call it is it. I guess some places just want to make sure you are doing it.

 

[Hikergirl]

Because there is a world-wide pandemic and peoples' lives are legitimately and immediately at risk.

It's obvious from all of your many, many...many, many posts that this either hasn't occurred to you or doesn't concern you. (I'm guessing the latter.)

It's painfully obvious that you don't understand what is being said.

 

[tcufrog]

We have a second home at a ski resort about 2 hours from our house. We've been staying at our regular house during the week and at our vacation home on the weekend, for a change of pace and scenery for both us and the kids. We are "sheltered in place" at both locations and don't see anyone outside of our immediate family - we bring all of our own food and don't visit stores or any public places while we're there. I don't see any issue with this.

What if you're at your second home and you or a family member gets sick? What if you have car trouble on the way there?

 

[barkley]

That's not how it works. These are not time shares - these are homes. These people are entitled to their use 24/7/365.

You have no more right to stay in your home than they do to stay in theirs.

that's an argument that's currently being waged regarding those who own in one state but chose to declare their permanent residency in another. it could prove interesting to see if states (like mine) where voting rights are restricted to permanent residents see some initiatives come up that address access restrictions on non resident property owners under these types of circumstances.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/29/us/dare-county-north-carolina-state-of-emergency-trnd/index.html

Yeah, places like this should be remembered. I will never vacation there again.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

that's an argument that's currently being waged regarding those who own in one state but chose to declare their permanent residency in another. it could prove interesting to see if states (like mine) where voting rights are restricted to permanent residents see some initiatives come up that address access restrictions on non resident property owners under these types of circumstances.

I agree. I am just not sure why we are treating one another like this. I am talking about both sides - why are people not acting in a kind and loving way rather than like selfish idiots?

 

[choirfarm]

I agree. I am just not sure why we are treating one another like this. I am talking about both sides - why are people not acting in a kind and loving way rather than like selfish idiots?

Welcome to humanity. We are doomed. People are planning Disney vacations while people are dying... Horrible virus. We are doomed. We are doomed. We are doomed.

 

[Turn the Page]

I live in Michigan. There is a love/hate relationship between those who live in the upper half of the lower peninsula against the lower half under the best of circumstances. Under current circumstances, the tensions are higher. Permanent residents of the north do not want those from the south to come to their vacation homes because they don't want to be competing for resources, hospital beds and having the virus spread. Those who own these vacation homes and are coming north say feel they are entitled to do so because they pay taxes.

From my perspective, it is best practice just to stay put where you are. Additionally, I do know that hospital services in Michigan are governed under our certificate of need laws. Basically the number of hospital beds, the specific types of hospital beds, the equipment used, and services provided are dictated by the state and their guidelines come from population statistics which do not include tourist numbers.

At any rate, I live in the Upper Peninsula and as long as all the trolls stay under the bridge I'm good!

This. And let's not forget there are exactly three full scale hospitals servicing everything north of Traverse City on the west and Alpena on the east including the entire eastern half of the UP. The largest of those hospitals is currently working on an expansion but that obviously won't be up and running in time to help with this.

 

[barkley]

I agree. I am just not sure why we are treating one another like this. I am talking about both sides - why are people not acting in a kind and loving way rather than like selfish idiots?

i can see both sides of it as well. that said-while not a resort or vacation destination the little town nearest me houses a university so our population plummets during the summer and breaks. during those periods there's noticeably lower staffing for some services ('seasonal' jobs here are when the university is in session), some businesses cutback days and hours of operation and the stores have lower stock so i can imagine what it might be like if all of a sudden all the university students showed up during one of those periods of time AND were all trying to stock up on a couple weeks worth of food/toiletries. i think we've actually been fortunate given the current state of affairs-the stores were stocked for the university crowd so when they were let go early and told not to come back for spring quarter it created a lower demand/greater resources for the community (which may have helped the more populous neighboring areas from us flooding into them for supplies).

 

[HeatherC]

I wish people would stay put. I wish they would have gone to their vacation home sooner, if that’s what they wanted. It just seems less safe to have people moving around at this point. Of course they re entitled, but thinking of others safety should also be a consideration.
Rhode Island’s latest response to ...NY’ers sounds like a crazy movie to me. National guard stopping NY plate vehicles, knocking on doors? Sending them back. Never imagined I’d hear something like this. Scary indeed!
Stay In, Stay Safe, and Stay Healthy!

Shout out to All the people on the front line. THANK YOU!!

Rhode Island is a mess. This is a HUGE waste of resources. They should be using the National Guard to help set up hospitals and getting supplies because they will be overwhelmed and are already even though the Governor keeps saying they only have a couple hundred cases.

Of course you do when you are only doing 200 tests a day.

How about they concentrate on getting more people tested and isolated and supplies for their health care workers.

 

[Turn the Page]

We live on a lake in a tourist area. While most of the residents on our street are full-time, out neighbor is not. They arrived here late last week. They called to let us know that they were there and were not being rude, but were self-quarantining for 14 days to be sure that they were virus free. They had just come from Hawaii and with the planes and airports they went through they want to make absolutely sure they aren't passing anything along. I have no problem with people who do that. They live in a major metro area and the chances of them getting the virus are higher there.

Now see if people would do that I would be more ok with it. I saw on Facebook a bit ago someone was relaying a story that a woman from downstate came up to her cottage up here and, while at the store, commented that she had never been here this time of year and her pipes were frozen. No kidding lady.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2020/03/28/vinalhaven-maine-quarantine-incident

 

[rigs32]

I know several people from NYC who are now wanting to go "home". If they haven't gotten tested to show that they do not have the virus, I really hope then plan to quarantine for 14 days.

 

[skyblue17]

Now see if people would do that I would be more ok with it. I saw on Facebook a bit ago someone was relaying a story that a woman from downstate came up to her cottage up here and, while at the store, commented that she had never been here this time of year and her pipes were frozen. No kidding lady.

This is another thing, and something someone mentioned earlier in the thread. If you're going to a place out of season and you need assistance in opening up your home for the season you are now there, you're bringing other people into your decision. If plumbers, electricians, etc. are needed, it's not longer just you being affected by your choice to change venues. And you can't really self-isolate for 14 days if your home needs these services to be lived in.

 

[elaine amj]

Meanwhile, in Norway, the government felt strongly enough about this to ban their citizens from travelling to their cabins. It is not so much about the right of second property owners who also pay taxes. It's about protecting everyone as a whole.

I have to admit - at the beginning of all this, I was thoroughly tempted to rent a cottage and spend this self-isolation time there. I was even tempted to spend a week in Florida. I even booked a place. But the more I researched, the more I realized that it was much more responsible to stay home. So I cancelled my booking the next day.

Traveling increases the risk of spreading the virus to areas not currently affected. On the flip side, travelling (especially to vacation hotspots) increases the risk of my contracting the virus.

I could add to the problem of overwhelming small rural health systems. On the flip side, I would not want to be sick and reliant on overwhelmed rural health systems. Or get sick and have to travel back home. It is not fun taking a lengthy journey when sick. And can worsen your body's ability to fight the illness. Plus, I am reading too many accounts of symptoms worsening much faster than I initially thought.

Then imagine being sick in a different community without the supports you have at home? If I got sick and landed in a rural hospital, what happens to my family? What if all the adults got sick and my teens had to fend for themselves in full isolation far away from our support network?

Then I considered the worst-case scenario - that somehow I could be a vector for bringing the virus to a community, it horrified me. It would be horrible enough to get sick. Getting someone else sick would be far worse. This is a time for us to care about everyone around us as well. And to do our part.

Perhaps if second-homers could be counted on to be responsible - no stops for gas, bring all the supplies and fully quarantine yourself for 2 weeks, then perhaps this is safe enough. But that's not always practical and irresponsible people hurt things for the responsible ones.

 

[HeatherC]

Rhode Island is a mess. This is a HUGE waste of resources. They should be using the National Guard to help set up hospitals and getting supplies because they will be overwhelmed and are already even though the Governor keeps saying they only have a couple hundred cases.

Of course you do when you are only doing 200 tests a day.

How about they concentrate on getting more people tested and isolated and supplies for their health care workers.

Looks like Raimondo is now backtracking and will NOT be stopping New Yorkers. Good for Cuomo. Now maybe she will put the National Guard doing something that will actually make a difference there.

 

[kirstenb1]

Yeah, places like this should be remembered. I will never vacation there again.

I've been following this story for the last week or so, since it happened. At first I thought it was pretty much overreacting. But the more I thought about it, they have 20 hospital beds, some of which are probably taken by labor and delivery. Once they're out of beds, they airlift patients to Norfolk. This situation has created decisions that I would normally never agree with. But I actually agree with Dare County's response.

Having said that, the restrictions should go both ways. If they're locking down the Outer Banks, if a year round resident goes to the mainland, they shouldn't be able to return until the crisis is over.

We do have a vacation scheduled at Nags Head in July. Hoping this will be over by then.