Visit The Woodlands releases statement on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

On March 2, 2020, Visit The Woodlands released the following statement on their website:

Visit The Woodlands, the official destination marketing organization for The Woodlands, is monitoring the potential impact of COVID-19, more commonly known as Coronavirus, on The Woodlands.

“With the help of industry partners like U.S. Travel Association, our organization is able to monitor the situation and its impact on the travel industry,” said Visit The Woodlands President Nick Wolda. “We will continue to share updates and resources with our local partners as they become available.”

The Coronavirus and its potential spread to the United States has been covered extensively in the media over the past several days,” Wolda said. “Clearly, the topic is of major interest to Visit The Woodlands and to our hospitality community because of the impact on convention, business and transient travel to The Woodlands for the millions of square feet of shopping, dining, hospitality and entertainment.”

The challenge in moments of public health concern is to react properly to the situation, but not to overreact. The travel industry’s guiding principle is to seek and heed the most up-to-date expert guidance, from all safety aspects, and we urge the traveling public to do the same.

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Visit The Woodlands is continuing to monitor the situation carefully with U.S. Travel in Washington D.C., the State of Texas and Montgomery County (Texas) Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. With the situation evolving rapidly, we encourage the traveling public to follow any guidance offered by the United States Center for Disease Control (CDC) and local and state public health authorities.

U.S. health officials are urging the same personal best practices that are standard for a typical flu season—frequent washing of hands, among other items listed below. It is premature to determine how this situation will play out as the Coronavirus and its spread are unpredictable at this point. The best way to prevent infection is to take precautions to avoid exposure to this virus.

Montgomery County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management always recommends these everyday actions to help prevent the spread of respiratory viruses, including:

• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
• Stay home when you are sick.
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.

We urge our visitors not to be alarmed at the situation, but just be vigilant about basic best practices and discuss a plan for business continuity to implement in the event that our region is exposed to the virus. While we are hopeful the virus will soon be contained in the U.S., it’s always wise to be prepared.

Please visit U.S. Travel’s website, for more resources and an emergency preparedness toolkit.

Source: Visit The Woodlands

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