Tests on Arrival as part of your Ski Holiday

A snowHead

I note that some countries are accepting and administrating Covid tests at the arrival airport and it will be a big disappointment to be quarantined at the airport if you test positive, not much fun at all. Rules also differ from airport to airport and country to country.

It seems like such a lottery going on holiday and unfortunately just happening to be on the same flight as some one tested positive on arrival.

What happens if one of your group or a stranger on the plane (it is brought to your attention) tests positive ?

Should everyone on the plane be required to quarantine for 14 days or what ever the time period is in country ?

Will you nevertheless feel obliged to quarantine knowing that one of your group or some one on the plane has tested positive ?

If you are legally required to quarantine on your holiday through some local test & trace process then you are banged to rights, but will you do the correct thing morally (?) and quarantine yourself even if you are not identified and contacted locally ? or quarantine until you get a test in resort ? or just hope you are not infected and enjoy your holiday even though you may be asymptomatic ?

In U.K., knowing you have been in close contact with someone that has tested positive, most would change how they interact and hopefully quarantine, but will you act differently just arriving on holiday ?

A snowHead

Just not worth it in my opinion

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Should test before departure.

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Do we really need another thread about this? rolling eyes

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Already being discussed here: https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=153571

I'm not sure exactly what the policy for quarantine due to vicinity of a passenger on the plane to the positive test is. I guess we will find out in the coming days/months and even then it may get tweaked.

I doubt there will be a moral decision to be made though. If you test positive, or are perhaps deemed to have sat close enough to a positive test then you will be instructed to quarantine. If not, then I can't see how you would even be aware of any positive test from your flight at all.

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@rayscoops, it's not a new development. Airport testing and quarantine hotels have been in use for months. And this is entirely relevant to the existing thread about whether Brits want to risk foreign travel.

After all it is free

@dode, the thing is, you may have already left the airport and find out about the positive case through the grape vine (Brits tested positive on Bristol flight etc on the news) rather than formally being contacted (phone off, not accepting calls from ‘unknown my number, no roaming signal etc.)

Will the airports be holding back everyone whilst tests are being administered ?

@rayscoops, clearly you are very nervous about living a relatively normal life during this pandemic, using public transport, interacting with others. That's fine, your prerogative. Meanwhile some people just need to get on with their lives, including going to work, using trains, shops, buses, etc. Routine testing is pretty standard in many walks of life, not just air travel. If you test positive, then you isolate. If you have had close prolonged contact with someone who tests positive, then you isolate. If you become ill, then you seek medical treatment, and isolate. It's the new normal.

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Tests on arrival have generally been used to reduce a blanket mandatory quarantine (Iceland for example) that everyone on the flight is subject to, if supported by a second test 4 days later. Prove yourself Covid free or quarantine for 14 days.

What is happening now is a bit different because some may have had a test before flying, but still may need to quarantine if some one is tested positive on the flight.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8695897/amp/How-THIRTY-countries-offer-airport-coronavirus-testing-travellers-cut-length-quarantine.html

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@rayscoops, yes airport or border testing is used for that purpose here so that people can reduce the length of quarantine if entering from high-risk countries/areas with two negative tests, one before travel and one after arrival.

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@queenie pretty please, that is different to what I explained above. Iceland has a test on arrival, quarantine and second test after 4 days ‘or’ quarantine for 14 days.

What you describe is different and doesn’t deal with the situation where you happily head off to the resort (having tested negative) and then get a call because someone else on your flight tested positive on arrival.

It would be good to know if the entire flight will be required to isolate (even if until a second test) if one person on it has tested positive on arrival.

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

best get a test before and after going to Tesco's

pretty sure the average traveller will pass thru such potential vectors many more times than an airbus, with a handful of important workers coming in to contact with many people daily.

Oh and at the moment, quarantine in Europe (incl. UK) isn't really quarantine but an instruction to self isolate, with some financial threats. There's vids on youtube showing exactly what quarantine is like in places like South Korea. That's more like house arrest with a security guard on each floor ushering you to shut your hotel room door immediately if you had the misfortune to open it to collect your daily food parcel at the same time as someone from a neighbouring room does the same.

And it should really be called "quatorzine" Wink

And there should be more threads than the total number of infected, before it will go away Wink

A snowHead

@rayscoops, it isn't different at all. Currently Germany (for example) requires that people entering from Vienna provide a negative test on arrival that is less than 72 hours old, then follow that up with a second negative test in order to bypass quarantine requirements. Airport testing from high risk areas works in exactly the same way. At the moment different countries have different criteria for what constitutes a 'high risk' area, the EU is endeavouring to standardise this. At present, the UK is not on Austria's list of high-risk areas (although it clearly should be) but Austria is on the UK's list. The new EU-wide labelling system has both Austria and UK as high risk. Whether the UK will want to be included in EU-wide measures remains to be seen, but it is expected that this system will be in place by the time the full ski season starts.

A snowHead

@queenie pretty please, no, that is different to Iceland (the example I gave and many other countries) for example where a quarantine can not be bypassed by a second test, just reduced - first test on arrival, 4 day quarantine at home, second test 4 days after arrival, quarantine lifted.

There was a discussion in the Scottish Parliament (in August I think) about overseas students having a test on arrival in lieu of quarantine but it was explained by NS that a shorter period of quarantine would still anyway be required with a negative test on arrival; it seems that a newly infected asymptomatic may not show up on the swab tests (or that was the advice at the time).

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@rayscoops, yes it is the same as in Iceland, you quarantine until you have two negative tests, one before and one after arrival. The quarantine is not bypassed until both negative tests have been concluded.

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@queenie pretty please, nope, the timing of the tests are completely different and in the example you give the second negative test result may be available at the airport and negate any quarantine.

Passengers arriving in Iceland on and after 19 August 2020 may choose either to submit to two screening tests for COVID-19, separated by five days’ quarantine until the results of the second test are known, or else not to undergo border screening but instead to spend 14 days in quarantine after arrival.

https://www.government.is/news/article/2020/08/18/New-rules-on-quarantine-isolation-and-screening-at-the-border/

Italy is starting something different in that you can have a test before departure or a test on arrival but you need to quarantine until the test is proven to be negative, some airports may not have the test facility at all, some may be able to test and give a result at the airport, some may test and not be able to give a result for 48 hours and you are required to self isolate until receiving the result.

U.K. is exploring something different to the all the above.

It differs from airport to airport, country to county ... and obviously worthy of discussion in a dedicated thread

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@rayscoops, whatever. You clearly have more time on your hands than me. If people need two tests, before travel, during travel, up to 4 days after travel, then clearly the practice is similar in all instances and requires quarantine until the tests are deemed negative. Such measures have been in place for some time, and the determination of an area as 'high risk' is of course subject to short-notice change. It's not worthy of discussion, it's been done many times, and the categories of 'high risk' are likely to change before the ski season gets going. Crack on.

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@queenie pretty please, thanks for agreeing and contributing Smile

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Sod it, Im driving Very Happy

No dodgy passengers, bar my husband, to avoid. Id be happy to test before I left, or at a ferry port whichever, to avoid a quarentine/self isolation on arrival.

Personally I don't fancy flying right now

After all it is free

When the British thread was started the first page or so was the poster being told off that it overlapped with existing threads Laughing

For me, a test on arrival is a killer for the reasons set out above. The chance of an asymptomatic positive (or having sat close by to one as noted above) isn’t a risk I’d be happy to take. On other threads the examples of the Brits stuck in Italy for weeks/months have been quoted.
To be honest a requirement for a negative test before travel would also make me question if worth it depending on the price - at £150 or so per test for a large family, it’s prohibitive.

@rayscoops, you've obviously been doing s lot of research; Have you seen any suggestion in all that to suggest entire flight will have to isolate should one other passenger test positive?

PS. what's tomorrow's scare subject so we can swat up in advance. I know it'll be difficult but it might be fun to try and predict what horrors your imagination constructs wink

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@adithorp, @red_dragon,

Depends upon the size of the plane and where the person was sitting, but no specific rules for all passengers.

Official documentation (for England anyway) defines a Contact as a person who has travelled in a small vehicle with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 or in a large vehicle or plane near someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. I suppose the bus from the terminal to the plane (if you took one) would also contribute to this, both before and after the flight.

There are examples whereby all passengers have been requested to quarantine in follow ups to people being tested positive after a flight. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/uk-wales-53966897

The reality is that if one person is tested positive that some of the people sitting nearby for multiple hours also may have been infected with Covid. I suspect two rows in front or behind of some one that has been tested positive for Covid would be contacted, and if one of those has symptoms or is tested positive who knows where it all stops.

I suppose it’s ultimately down to the individual to decide what to do if they find out that someone from their flight was tested positive on arrival. Not entirely sure what I would do to be honest, but what would you guys do or react ?

You know it makes sense.

Popcorn time.......what about winter tyres, do I need them to drive to the Alps in winter?

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

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Tests on Arrival as part of your Ski Holiday

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