Imagine this - a wine tour led by a guide with a great, friendly and outgoing personality. Lots of wonderful wine, and great commentary / history to go with it.
Sounds great right?
I would rate this tour 5 stars except for one major thing - lack of any meaningful COVID precautions. Surely the precautions can't be that bad can they? Read on...
First off, transportation is provided - you might get a bit tipsy after 15 or so samples of wine + any extra glasses you may order. So having a dedicated driver is advised.
This is where the trouble begins - imagine you're cramming into a small van / SUV. Every seat is full. You're going to be driving a full hour one way like this, and a series of shorter drives on the way back.
First thing the guide says as we get in the van "Masks are required at the wineries but not on the van." He proceeds to serve us our first sample of wine as we're preparing to drive.
So here you have several groups of people who throughout the trip get progressively more intoxicated, loud, and obnoxious, sitting in close proximity to each other, no mask, windows up, for hours. No hand sanitizer was offered on the van.
How does this make any sense???
When you arrive at the wineries, little is done to allow for the group to distance from each other. One table is laid out, and everyone gets to sit right next to everyone else.
To be fair, not all wineries were this way, and at least one had extra tables and hand sanitizer available.
If any person on that trip was contagious (and remember, you are most contagious just prior to having symptoms) - everyone is getting sick. I have little doubt about that.
I sincerely feel that we should be able to keep our country open and take pragmatic precautions so that we can continue to do fun things while minimizing our risk of severe disease as we await a vaccine. Wearing a mask while in close proximity to strangers in an enclosed space is not much to ask. Nor is cracking the windows in 75 degree October weather.
This tour dropped the ball in that regard.