France transit/quarantine requirements are unfair

[Prochainesortie]

I know 5 families currently in relatively Covid safe European families (Eg Germany, Poland etc) visiting their own families who will now have to quarantine due to transiting France for a few hours and using the Eurotunnel. They won’t stay the night in France just refuel once due to driving distances, they won’t exit the car in the eurotunnel. 1 is my cleaner and she is panicking about no income on return. She doesn’t have online shopping and her children won’t be allowed out of her small flat to exercise for 14 days! The only reason she drove was to be safer and avoid airports! I think the U.K. government is unreasonable given France is such a transit country. More notice should have been given and they need to relax the transit requirements urgently. I agree that spending the night in France might increase the risk but 1-2 refuel/stop should be allowed as long as masks/sanitiser etc are used. My cleaner is driving in a big car with another family, I told her to look into driving through Germany for longer/carrying some fuel if possible. Hopefully she will find a way to avoid the quarantine legally by not having to stop.

[LucyTamedOgres]

I know someone who came back from Spain last wk and didn’t have to fill out anything on their return, no checks at the airport etc. She is isolating for 14 days but how many people will decide they’ll risk going out anyway! How does this work? Does the government rely on people snitching?

[thecatsthecats]

It may be an unpopular thing to say, but if I were on low wages, which I presume your cleaner is however well you pay her, AND my job relied on not being quarantined, I'd be considering it as my own risk to travel.

Of course it's doubly unfair because low wages are highly linked to working in person, but pandemics don't play fair, and governments can't make rules to contain viruses on the back of fairness.

(As for her leaving the UK - well that applies to anyone who chooses to live abroad. My husband and I are considering emigrating ourselves and had wobbly moments about what it really means to be that far from family during April, when we couldn't see them even though they lived close.)

[Hopeisnotastrategy]

My spouse has family in continental Europe.

The reason for travel, be it on business, holiday or visiting family has no bearing on whether you'll catch the virus or not. The virus doesn't care, and YABU. The rules are there purely to stop the spread of the virus, not to try and inconvenience people or catch them out. As others have said, it was well known this could happen, the government couldn't have been clearer that it was a possibility. Moaning about it and claiming some people are a special case helps no one, for now it is what it is.

As an earlier OP says, you can always keep paying your cleaner, as we did when we got stuck under lockdown in Spain for several months.

[AlwaysCheddar]

They choose to go on holiday and knew the risks, so tough shit.

[TW2013]

Germany is only about 200 miles away. Can she not refuel there?

[AlternativePerspective]

Even New Zealand which has been upheld as a fine example of how to combat this has gone back into lockdown this week and cases there are steadily rising again.

Fact is that we have to do everything in our power not to have to go back into lockdown, because if we do, then we are going to have far bigger issues to deal with.

Anyone who travels abroad for any reason does so at their own risk. Visiting family is more understandable than heading off on a jolly but the risks are no less...

[IceCreamAndCandyfloss]

It’s not unfair. It’s been known for a while that quarantine can be imposed at any point so people moaning about it knew the risks.

Holidays are a want not a need and most family visits are a want too.

Those that have sick relatives where they can’t delay a visit will surely just do the quarantine anyway without moaning as they got to go.

Quarantine is there to protect society, I’d have no hesitation in reporting someone breaking it to keep others safe.

[feelingfragile]

@Ellisandra

OP - you can always put your money where your mouth is and balance the unfairness by still paying your cleaner.

Great suggestion

[eurochick]

As someone with family members abroad I have little sympathy. It's hard not seeing them but if you do choose to then you have to quarantine. The new countries added to the list haven't come out of the blue - it has been foreshadowed for ages.

I normally live for my foreign holidays as relief from a stressful job but I don't think it's responsible to travel at the moment so I'm staying home this year.

[MaxNormal]

I see sympathy is short on the ground in this brave new world.

[Dominicgoings]

There are thousands of people who haven’t seen family members or been with family during bereavement. Travelling abroad for any reason during this pandemic is risky,
But the risks were clearly explained. If you can’t afford to quarantine then you don’t go.

‘The alternative is to have a test on return.’

How would that work? Someone is exposed to Covid at a petrol station 12 hours before arriving in the UK. When do you propose testing them? And how often?

[netflixismysidehustle]

It's not unfair.
The people travelling from France have had a lot more notice than the people who returned from Spain. It's been online constantly that quarantine from France was imminent.
Of course the kids can't go and exercise . This would be the case if Test and Trace called your friends too. Quarantine means staying inside. We had the exercise clause during lockdown but that's because people own dogs or might have legitimate reasons to go out like going to get food.

[CouldBeOuting]

@edwinbear

YABVU. Anyone who chooses to go on holiday in the middle of a global pandemic, going against Foreign Office travel advice, has to accept the rules could change very quickly.

I’m sorry your cleaner has been inconvenienced, but I’m more concerned about the whole of the UK having to go back into lockdown because of a few people who can’t possibly go without a foreign holiday for a year.

Less than a week ago FCO advice was that it was safe to travel. Holidays were booked long before anyone had ever heard of Covid.

I am having contact with less people here in France than if I was in the U.K. In the area I am masks must be worn EVERYWHERE (individual mayors get to decide this). People are following the rules VERY well in the supermarkets (only place I’ve been). Saw one man without a mask on.... refused entry until he wore one... in England the rules are not enforced and I feel safer here than at home.

[Nottherealslimshady]

Anyone who chooses to travel at the moment needs to be taking into account that things can change with a moments notice.

Now is the time we need to be being strict and rolling back restrictions when the trend isn't favourable. We cant risk another high peak

[Dominicgoings]

‘I see sympathy is short on the ground in this brave new world.’

I’ll save my sympathy for the families of those who have died, for those who are living with the long term effects of Covid, and for those who are yet to become infected and die because Susan from Surrey simply couldn’t survive without a booze cruise to Reims.

[WaffleCash]

I think the specific issue is transiting through a country and having to quarantine based on that. We recently drove through the Netherlands to catch a ferry from Rotterdam, we did not set foot on Dutch soil at all but presumably this week would be subject to quarantine.

We were fully prepared for rules to change and would have quarantined, but it would have been ridiculous and based on no logic at all. And the risk with making illogical rules is people stop following all rules, even the logical ones.

[Cloudtraffic]

Don’t book a test on return unless you have symptoms. If it comes back negative you still have to self-isolate for 14 days - makes no difference

[lunar1]

I think anyone choosing to go anywhere during a pandemic has to expect there may be consequences to their plans.

My we can't see my elderly FIL in India, he normally stay with us for the summer, my husband can't fly back.

My friend is Canadian, she went to Mexico at the end of February for 6 weeks and it still stuck there!

[Etinox]

@Prochainesortie are you able to pay her? It’s tough for so many.

[SwedishEdith]

Surely they can fill their tank before getting to France? The blanket rule is very harsh on anyone using Eurotunnel.

[MaxNormal]

I’ll save my sympathy for the families of those who have died, for those who are living with the long term effects of Covid, and for those who are yet to become infected and die because Susan from Surrey simply couldn’t survive without a booze cruise to Reims.

See, it's this attitude right here. Never mind that this was a woman travelling to see family after a bereavement, there needs to be some sneering strawwoman called Susan with a drinking habit invented instead, for maximum effect.

Apparently there is no sympathy available for anyone unless they are affected by covid.

[2bazookas]

are prejudicial towards Europeans visiting family

No, they are not. Its the same rule for any nationality, regardless of the reason for travel.

e U.K. government is unreasonable given France is such a transit country.

That's exactly why France has such an increase in covid. Perfectly reasonable to try to avoid their second wave transiting from there to here.

We all knew the risk of second waves, we all knew the risk of either getting stuck abroad if another country closed its border, we all knew that travel abroad risked quarantine on return.

Those people who chose to disregard warnings, thought their needs were worth the risk of putting the entire UK back into lockdown. I've no sympathy whatever for chancers having to spend a fortnight in quarantine.

Thousands of people have not seen their family, not said goodbye to loved ones who died, missed funerals. Your cleaner is not some special exception.

[IceCreamAndCandyfloss]

@Dominicgoings

‘I see sympathy is short on the ground in this brave new world.’

I’ll save my sympathy for the families of those who have died, for those who are living with the long term effects of Covid, and for those who are yet to become infected and die because Susan from Surrey simply couldn’t survive without a booze cruise to Reims.

She chose the go though and with another family so no SD there for the car journey.

I wouldn’t be paying her for quarantine. Many people are missing family but decided it was safer not to travel currently.

[scaevola]

The alternative is to have a test on return

No, a test does not release you from quarantine, because you could be incubating.

A negative test releases you from potential symptomatic isolation, because it determines that the symptoms which led to the test are not Covid.

But not from travel quarantine or that following close contact with a confirmed case, because the whole incubation period needs to be in isolation.

[Dominicgoings]

‘Apparently there is no sympathy available for anyone unless they are affected by covid’

There were 160,000 UK residents in France when the new restrictions were announced.
If people weren’t so damn selfish, then those with GENUINE reasons for travelling could possibly have avoided the quarantine.
A small number of people travelling through Europe to visit bereaved families presents a significantly lower risk than 160,000 on their jollys.