Coronavirus: How risky is a stay in hotels?
Current information on the risk of infection with COVID-19 in hotels
Since the outbreak of the Corona virus in January 2020, we have been increasingly asked whether a trip to hotels is still safe and secure. Basically, the risk of infection with the COVID-19 virus naturally varies by destination and intensity of possible local sources of infection. While travel currently appears particularly risky in Asia, the situation in Europe seems currently more relaxed. The reports of corona infections in northern Italy, Austria and Germany are currently omnipresent in the media. With daily updates, we try to summarize the information on the coronavirus as objectively and neutrally as possible. As hotel experts, we also compile individually researched information through direct, intensive communication with hoteliers.
Based on current scientific analysis, the coronavirus is particularly dangerous for humans based on the following attributes. According to the latest evaluations, the incubation period is around 14 days. In contrast to many other virus classes, the COVID-19 virus can already be transmitted with high intensity during the incubation period. This period is the duration of time in which people already carry the coronavirus without showing any symptoms of a disease. This means that although a person feels completely healthy, they can already be infected with the coronavirus and infect other people. In many cases, the coronavirus is diagnosed only after a patient has become ill and shows clear symptoms. Only then is a patient isolated and usually referred to a quarantine ward. In most cases, it will be then already too late, as during the apparently "healthy period" of the incubation many people can be already infected. The coronavirus mutation COVID-19 is particularly dangerous due to the long incubation period and the high infection intensity. After the onset of the symptoms of the disease, however, the mode of transmission is increased to a particularly large extent by common viral transmission routes such as coughing, sneezing, blowing nose and further "exchange of body fluids" in the broadest sense. However, the exact ways of transmitting the coronavirus have not yet been fully researched.
