PLANETSKI LEAVES THE ALPS AND HEADS HOME

16th March 2020

Last modified on May 15th, 2021

He has been following the coronavirus story as it unfolded over the past few weeks from Italy, France and Switzerland.

He was living in Aosta in Italy for the winter as PlanetSKI based itself in the Alps.

He is now in self-isolation.

Here’s the official advice:

The UK government is asking anyone who has returned to the UK from anywhere in Italy to “stay indoors and avoid contact with other people” even if they do not have symptoms.

He is happy to oblige.

James Cove in self-isolation. Image © PlanetSKI.

“I’m pleased to say I feel fine after one of the most surreal few weeks of my life, both as a skier and more importantly as a journalist,” said James.

“I left my home in Italy moments before the country went into lockdown and headed to the border”.

“I holed up in Chamonix for a few days and, despite everyone saying the coronavirus outbreak was all a storm in a teacup, I felt differently.”

“I left the Alps and headed to Basel in Switzerland as I felt the situation in Austria was about to get much worse. That proved to be the case.”

“I stayed with friends to monitor the situation and cover the developing story.”

“It has been exhausting both covering the story with the rest of the PlanetSKI team and deciding on my travel movements in the Alps.”

“Then I judged my moment to return. I left ahead of the weekend chaos in the Alps as it was pretty obvious to me what was about to happen.”

“And now I am back in the London in self-isolation.”

“Watch out readers you are about to get bombarded with stories on PlanetSKI!”

“I’ve got nothing else to do.”

“I may even tell the full and personal story of my last 10-days as I left behind friends and confronted ignorance. I  tried to avoid any situations where I might be exposed to the virus.”

“And I washed my hands. Alot.”

“Plus I had to update the PlanetSKI website and our social media platforms 24/7 with all the breaking news.”

“I feel we have covered the impact of the coronavirus on skiing well on PlanetSKI as all the resorts closed.”

“I couldn’t have done it without the exemplary work of PlanetSKI’s Chief Reporter, Jane Peel.”

“Like me she is a BBC-trained journalist with more that 20-years of experience and we have covered many major news stories in our time in the UK and across the world.”

“Our social media pages have done particularly well and that has been co-ordinated by my wife, Kisia Cove, who runs that side of things.”

“For me it has been an unprecedented story to cover.”

“As I said it has been the most surreal and exhausting experience of my life.”