SAR Teams in the Alps Are Begging People To Stay Out of the Mountains
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As COVID-19 has brought Continental Europe to a virtual standstill, Search and Rescue teams from Austria, Italy, and Germany have issued a public statement asking everyone to refrain from ski touring or any mountain excursions. For small nations like Austria, and nations hit as hard as Italy, adding more patients into an already completely overloaded healthcare system would prove catastrophic. Simply put, if you get hurt in the mountains, there are either no more resources available to help you out, or you would be taking a bed away from someone in critical need due to the current pandemic.
On social networks, locals have been reminding their friends about the importance of this request, sharing fun ways to pass the time inside.
Here in the States, this advice also rings extremely true. For many reasons, lots of us now have plenty of free time on our hands, but we should really be mindful about heading out into the backcountry. Backcountry skiing and snowboarding is ALWAYS dangerous, and this is simply not the time to be putting yourself at greater risk than necessary.
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Likewise, traveling to small isolated communities like Moab or Sedona to lay low in the desert is also probably not a good idea, simply due to the risk of transmission and overloading their fragile healthcare systems. Would you want outsiders bringing a problem like this to your small town? We think not.
The mountains, the desert, the river, and any of your favorite playgrounds will be there when this all blows over, so please follow guidelines issues by healthcare organizations.
