Several insurance companies are experiencing increased traffic from people asking whether their travel insurance covers cancellations due to the heat waves in Europe. – Some of these have received advice from their doctor not to travel, but we do not cover such cases, explains communications manager at Gjensidige, Line Marcelius. Therese Hofstad-Nielsen in Fremtind Forsikring says they receive such inquiries daily. The travel insurance covers cancellation in the event of unforeseen events, such as acute illness, injury or death in the immediate family. Sigmund Clementz in If Forsikring, who has also received several inquiries in recent weeks, explains that they do not cover cancellations in “too nice” or “too bad” weather. Therefore, the European heat wave is not a good enough reason to get back on the travel insurance, even if the GP is sick from the trip. Temperatures up to and over 40 degrees do not trigger the right to use the travel insurance. Here, a thermometer in Spain shows 38 degrees Celsius on Wednesday 19 July. Photo: Jon Nazca / Reuters Take precautions, and everything will be fine But is it really necessary to stay at home even if the temperature in Europe exceeds 40 degrees? Not according to Kristian Løvås, section chief for hormonal disorders at Haukeland, and specialist in internal medicine and hormonal disorders. Section chief Kristian Løvås Photo: Private – If you are healthy, we as a species are designed so that we can tolerate very large variations in stress; also temperature. He rightly explains that the risk of several potential dangers increases the warmer it gets. Certain groups are more exposed to heat stroke than others. – Elderly and sick people live in those areas as well, says Løvås. The section chief primarily points to the elderly, people who take a lot of medication, and kidney and heart patients as the most vulnerable groups. If you are in one of these groups, according to Løvås, you should still get far if you take certain precautions. Løvå’s precautions for tolerating the heatwave Be careful to drink plenty of water: To keep the body temperature down, you have to get rid of a lot of sweat. It is then important to replace the loss of water. If you don’t top up with water, you can get heatstroke and increase body temperatures. This can be life-threatening. Get enough salt: You don’t just lose water. Loss of salt can also be very large in strong heat. If you eat normal food, you usually get enough salt, so you have to have a certain appetite and make sure you eat well. If you don’t get enough salt, you can at worst experience water poisoning, especially if you are very physically active in the heat. Protect yourself against overheating: Avoid being outside in the worst heat when the sun is high in the sky in the middle of the day. Find shade or stay indoors. Avoid alcohol in large quantities: Alcohol is a major risk factor for several reasons. By taking in too much alcohol, all the senses are weakened, including the sense of thirst, and one becomes dehydrated more easily. In addition, alcohol contains little salt. Consider changes in medication use: If you use a lot of medication, especially diuretics, you may find in warmer areas that these have a stronger effect. One should therefore, in collaboration with a GP, make an assessment as to whether there is a need for changes in use if one is going to visit countries with extreme temperatures. The travel company experiences an increase The travel company news has been in contact with does not experience that people are canceling their trips to a greater extent. On the other hand, they see that most Norwegians would rather have a southern European heat wave than drizzle and autumn weather in July. Norwegian is particularly noticing an increase in bookings with departure shortly after booking. Tui reports an increase of 10.9 per cent this year for the period 25 June to 17 July, something Tui’s head of communications, Adam Györki, refers to as a rather strong increase. Tourism expert Odd Roar Lange thinks the explanation may be a short travel window in the summer, and that Norwegians underestimate how hot it actually is: – Many probably think that “it can’t be that hot”, and so they travel anyway. Then there are probably many people who get a shock when they get there and find that 35 to 45 degrees is quite uncomfortable. Temperature in the world since 1880 compared to the average in the period 1991-2020 +0.5°C compared to normal? Click for explanation normal temperature 18801900192019401960198020002020Go to news’s Climate Status Why are most years blue and colder than normal? This is because all years are now compared to a new normal, that is the average of weather in 30 – the annual period 1991-2020. These 30 years have been unusually warm. Most other years are therefore colder than normal. Until recently, researchers used a normal period that ran from 1961-1990. In these years it was relatively cold. It’s been quite a while since the 1960s and the new normal allows us to compare the weather with the climate (normal) that people actually experience today. The normal period is determined by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and is used in all countries. In this way, we can compare the weather in Norway with other countries and we can measure changes across the globe. How can you calculate one temperature for the whole world? This number is the result of a complicated calculation. Measurements are made with thermometers both on land and on the sea surface (at sea the thermometers are attached to buoys). In some places the thermometers are close together, in other places they are far apart. Using a statistical method, the researchers are able to give the measurements different weights, so that all areas are equally important: The data used in this graph comes from the American NOAA. They have divided the globe into squares of 5° x 5° and calculate one temperature for each square. Then they can again work their way up to a global figure, for each month or for each year. They can also make figures for the temperature only over the ocean or only over land, or for the northern and southern hemispheres. The lines at the poles are smaller than along the equator due to the curvature of the globe. The researchers also take this into account in their calculations. Others, such as NASA or the Hadley Centre, calculate in slightly different ways than NOAA. Therefore, there are often small differences between the various data sets. In any case, the trend they show is the same: since 1880, the world has become warmer. Apollo tells about the demand for special remaining places in Greece. She thinks Norwegians are used to travelling, and handle the heat well. Sigmund Clementz in If Forsikring says they have experienced an increase in the number of people who want to use their travel insurance to escape the southern heat. Photo: If This is supported by Clementz in If Forsikring, which reports on few medical insurance cases as a result of the heat. He believes that Norwegians are good at taking care when they are already in place: – It seems that Norwegians cope well with the heat in the South. They are quite well prepared before they travel, and take precautions when they are in place. NB! As late as Tuesday 18 July, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will send a message to all Norwegian tourists registered in Greece about the high risk of forest fire due to high temperatures and strong winds.
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More people will use travel insurance to escape the European heat wave – news Vestland
