Going on holiday tomorrow and I have covid ...

[navyplaint]

Pretty much that
Going to Lanzarote tomorrow and woke up Sunday with sore throat.
Anyway yesterday I had a lots of phlegm and felt like I had a head cold.
Had a test lying around and it was a strong positive.
I've never had covid before but at the minute it feels like a cold.
No temperature and I haven't lost my appetite /don't feel sick or anything just feel like I have a head cold.
I feel guilty having to get on a plane with covid but if I don't go it's a £3000 holiday
I am okay now to go abroad with covid aren't I?

You go right ahead, get on a plane and potentially infect a whole flight full of people who don't deserve it.

Yeah that's absolutely fine🙄

I'm afraid anyone getting on a plane these days needs to accept they're laying themselves wide open to covid and every other virus in circulation.

I'd go, I travelled with a cold recently. Might have been COVID, might not, I don't know because I have no tests. My mild cold symptoms definitely didn't ruin my holiday, cleared up mostly after the first two days. I'm immunocompromised and understand the risks but I'm just not willing to let life grind to a halt every time I sneeze. I'd never go anywhere or do anything.

The virtue signalling holier than thou crowd on here will of course tell you you'd be the devil if you do, despite the fact that most of them have probably been cutting about with covid in public multiple times this year without realising. I tested full positive when completely asymptomatic once so. You never know.

Just go OP. Enjoy your holiday.

Planes are seriously unhygienic at the best of times.

If you're worried about being infected, probably best to never go anywhere 🙄

Personally I think anyone travelling while sick is a selfish bastard (and that's not just with covid)

I would go, but wear a proper filter mask on the plane and in busy enclosed spaces. Id also be open about the fact I was on the tail end of a covid infection. We just flew back from a lovely week at a very child friendly hotel and are all unwell now (maybe covid? haven’t tested) - it is just a hazard of being around lots of other people, especially at this time of year, especially with young children.

Buy some 3M FFP2 or 3 masks without an exhalation valve. FFP2 will be easier to take (easier to breathe through) for the whole flight but higher risk of transmission. Watch the donning/doffing clips on YouTube and learn to do it properly, so that there isn't a leak/air coming out of the sides, which makes them useless. Put one on properly before you board the plane and don't take it off until you get off.

This is what I would do. It is only worth doing if you do it properly with an NHS endorsed FFP2 or 3 mask, otherwise it is completely useless.

I agree @navyplaint but not sure why you started this thread as you were always going to go away and not lose your money (as I also would although I wouldn't have tested in the first place)

There is no chance there won't be several other people on the plane with covid.

You could check out your insurance but I doubt you're covered now.

It's not illegal so OP is doing nothing wrong. I think I'd go rather than lose 3k but would feel guilty.

I’d go.

Completely agree. It's so selfish!

It’s an airborne disease.

Hand gel was always just a performative measure when we didn’t know better.

You could bath in the stuff and it wouldn’t stop an airborne disease.

@navyplaint - if you feel well enough then go. You wouldn’t cancel for a cold. I’ve had covid twice and I’ve had worse colds.

This is what you need:

https://www.medisave.co.uk/products/3m-9320-disposable-aura-respirator-mask-unvalved-ffp2

Or FFP3 if you take take it. But better to stick with FFP2 for the whole flight rather than get FFP3, feel out of breath and give up.

@BooBooBaloo - so you would lose a £3000 holiday if you had cold symptoms?

Come on now haven't we moved past the blame game?

Wear a mask

This. Tbh I’d go wear a mask to minimise spread. Most people have been vaccinated now. And if you didn’t test for covid you’d have assumed a cold and gone anyway.

Don’t post if you don’t want people to disagree with you. Glad you don’t have major symptoms, lots of people are having it as a minor illness. But you might give it to someone not that lucky. If you’re happy doing that then go ahead. Wouldn’t want you to waste you three grand over infecting a stranger.

Does the holiday company have any kind of 'Covid guarantee' that allows you to change the dates even if your insurance won't pay out?

Who are you due to go with? Im assuming a family given it's half term week. Could they go without you/what would be the impact on them if you went and were unwell?

In your situation I would probably go with sensible precautions because otherwise you'd lose the holiday and the money. Many people wouldn't have tested and there's no doubt that others on the plane will have the same virus but haven't tested or are travelling regardless.

^^ This. If you want to go, go but definitely make a supreme effort to contain it as best you can since you're aware you have it. I think that's the best we can do nowadays. As many people have said up thread, unfortunately it seems very few test any more so it's likely other people on the plane have it without knowing.

No, your assumptions are wrong .
If I'm in an enclosed space for a length of time like a plane I wear a filter (ffp) mask. How is it 2023 and you still need the concept of risk reduction explaining to you?

You can call it dramatic all you like but when your partner has died and you have long covid with a toddler, yes it ruins your life. She can barely take him to childcare.

I'm all ears if you've got a suggestion for a cure but you seem to live in a fantasy world where people don't get life-changing illnesses.

I think the point at which people were told they had to go into work even if testing positive for Covid, that was the point at which many decided they would just get on with their lives with or without Covid.

When I worked in a school we were told to come in if feeling well enough, even if we tested positive. Sure, we could pass it in to vulnerable students or those who had medically vulnerable parents/grandparents. But the rules have changed.

I know you desperately want to go on holiday, but I've known three people who've suspected they've caught covid on the plane, two of them it wiped them out for eight days of their holiday. If you decide to go, double mask and accept you're not going to have a drink, snack.

Hopefully you'll be fine with it, but first time it totally knocked me out, second time I wasn't so bad but went back to work on day 8 (after testing, probably had had it 11 days) and I was really shaky - given the choice I'd have stayed at home. For me, it was worse days 4/5.

Your big mistake was testing.. would you go on holiday with a cold?