Travelling with Covid

Really sorry to hear others have been really unwell with Covid lately.

We have just flown home, a few days after our friends who were holidaying with us in the same apartment. They had mild symptoms and tested positive on their return (they only had access to test kit at home). We only found out their test results when we got home and, even though we were all asymptomatic, we tested out of curiosity the afternoon we landed... We were all strongly positive.

So we had been positive and asymptomatic and totally unaware of it on the flight home. Perhaps we didn't spread it as not sniffing, coughing or sneezing... but... we were definitely breathing/talking. I'm guessing many people must have caught it on the flight out and spread it on flight back without being in the slightest bit aware. It must be fairly endemic now on planes.

I think the best you can do is mask up, try to keep yourself to yourself or outside on deck.

Ireland has different guidelines to the UK. We have been informed not to just carry on. We never were, we have always been asked to isolate. Our ICU is filling up with the latest variant, there's currently 24 in there. There's 365 in hospital 60 which were admitted overnight, while those numbers seem low to others you have to remember we're a small Country with not many hospitals.

While we don't have travel restrictions like before, it sort of goes hand in hand with the isolation advice.

You are not allowed to work if you test positive, children can't go into school if they have symptoms or test positive so yes, totally different advice to the UK, according to here you all can carry on as normal and knowingly spread covid .

I do totally get when people don't want to isolate and want to carry on as normal, if I didn't have a seriously disabled dd with many health conditions or a DH who wasn't imunosupressed, I probably would feel angry too at having to isolate or not able to live my life, but unfortunately there are some very, very sick people in this world and we have to try not knowingly spread it to them, so I think I'd go down the route of a really good mask and not be near people. I couldn't sit with people knowing I was positive breathing over them .

This is not a cold for some, it might be for you but in my house like many others it means hospital admission. People say sure you're around people with colds and flu but colds we can manage but usually last a month, we're not usually around people with the flu because they're too ill to get out of bed but that's not to say they haven't had it, and 99% of the time ends up with vomiting from coughing resulting in dehydration and a hospital admission for IV saline and antibiotics, of course this all has a knock on affect with epilepsy meds as they're been vomited up.

I get this isn't your problem and me like many parents and carers spend our days trying to keep our families alive. We do worry and we do take extra precautions because we can't trust everyone to think of others besides themselves.

These are our current guidelines

Isolate as much as you can, at least please wear a mask if you really can't avoid travelling, but that should be a decent one like FFP3 and not a home made cotton one or a blue surgical one. The reason I say this is we've both caught it from a plane journey, both fit healthy adults, still in bed feeling very ill even one week later. We're self employed and have lost so much money as it's hit us both so badly. We tried to work but we're far to ill, but worse than that we've missed an important health appointment that DH has waited a year to get. This bout of Covid absolutely nothing like a cold or flu. It costs almost nothing to wear a mask and you might just save someone from feeling like this, or worse. 😷

I disagree. There are other viruses that are severe for otherwise healthy people.

For me - an immunocompromised person- Covid is on the same level as other illnesses. It’s as risky to me as anything else.

Wear a mask and don't sit with your friends.

She sounds more like an emotional drain than a friend! Don’t holiday with her again.

Will you wear a mask when you travel?

This!! There's no point testing if you're going to carry on as normal regardless!

@PatricksMother

Would your travel insurance not cover any additional costs?

Your friend is being ridiculous.
Stop isolating in your room, she can isolate if she's that's worried! You've been around each other for days anyway.
And travel home, I flew home from Spain with it last year, I likely got it on the flight out and needed to be home. There are no restrictions, if she's nervous that's on her to manage not you

It’s more severe for non immuno compromised people than other colds or flu so I can’t imagine it would be any better for immuno compromised people.

This is yet another myth. As all the people who had Covid and had it worse on the subsequent infections could probably tell you.

OP, get some FFP2 or 3 masks and mask on the way home. That’s a reasonable compromise.

Please, mask up and stay away from other people as much as possible. I'm immunosuppressed and getting Covid could make me really ill and I'm sure I'm not alone. Yes, I've had all the vaccinations offered. Please tell your manager you have Covid. Some people are treating Covid as a cold or flu. My good friend has never recovered her sense of smell since she caught it and others have faired far worse. All sympathy but please be considerate.

@TheSerenePinkOrca I wasn't very clear and did go off on a tangent. Vaccination in my case might have stopped me being so ill. That's why I would like them to be more widely available. I know it doesn't stop it spreading.

There are no restrictions now, I bet there’s loads of people travelling every day with covid. Fair enough your friend may be vulnerable; but she’s gone on holiday and that’s when most people tend to catch it. In my team at work anyway, nearly everyone who has covid has travelled somewhere recently prior to catching it. Most people don’t test; so she’s being ridiculous. I’d tell her you’re just following the rules and the world has moved on

Isn't that what you get travel insurance with covid cover for? And we need to lobby to make sure that all employers provide decent sick pay.

A casual attitude to infecting others is making life very hard for those on cancer treatment, those with immune issues, and everyone else who is at risk of the more serious disease. And the number out of work, or working in a reduced way because of long covid (risk 1:10 infections) is really harming the economy now.

Pendulum has gone to far.

It's not just a cold. It has some really nasty effects across the body (major impact on immune system, which leads to greater susceptibility to other infectious diseases, doubling of stroke rate, increased onset of diabetes, and earlier onset on dementia and other cognitive difficulties.

I note the emotive language "nervous" has quite a different ring to other terms that could be used to describe someone who doesn't want to see this disease, whose long-tern harm is only just beginning to be appreciated, circulating freely.

There are two to three variants in circulation at the moment - meaning that people who had it in May are getting it again already. And it seems to be a toss up how unwell it makes you.

You don't have to test (and I am somewhat aghast at how unsafe this has made hospitals) but if you do, then you should do the right thing, and avoid going out unless it is essential.

I'm not convinced that COVID is now any more severe for immuno compromised people than other colds and flu. I think if it's not too disruptive you should isolate but in your case you should travel as normal but stay outside as much as possible. If you are travelling by ferry you might be able to sit outside so it's better than being on a plane. COVID transmission is more through the air than by touching surfaces.

I give people wearing masks as much space as I can ( in case they've got COVID,,) so good idea to wear a mask if you can get hold of one

Hope you don't feel too ill with it and are better soon.

We've all probably had covid recently, feel like shit but have to carry on. DCs went to school, we went to work dosed up on paracetamol.

Can't shut down life for two weeks when work expects everyone in now.

Covid is a mutating virus so no vaccine can ever eradicate it or prevent you catching covid.

All any vaccine can do is give you antibodies to help you fight it and make your symptoms milder when you catch it. You can also still spread it to others.

I think it's worrying that people still believe a vaccine can prevent a mutating virus from spreading!

This