To be super upset. Travelled from a safe list country

[starrain]

Iv just come back from a country yesterday which is on the safe list and has less cases than the uk. My pregnant sister lives with my mum and I wanted to go and see them today as my daughter is itching to see them and my niece.
Iv kind of been warned off and told dont come because iv been travelling and be cautious. But there is no where on the govt rules to quarantine or isolate after travelling from this country. My mum said she doesnt mind but my sister most likely does mind but won't just come out and say it. I kinda get it but at the same time I'm actually so so upset. I had got them gifts and was going to give them and also my daughter got all ready to meet them now I have to tell her no:(

OP I’m sorry to tell you that you have missed the point here. What is legal and what is safe are 2 totally different things. You have been on a plane and through 2 airports. You want to see a pregnant person and an older person. This is totally unreasonable. It would probably be OK to see a 25yo who had no health issues, but not the people you want to see. Sorry.

I get you op. The rules are so irrational. My sister and bil can bubble with single stepdaughter every day, who is a new mum with a 5 yr old dd too. And I’m not allowed to see my adult dd and her partner in a home setting. I get the rules say she’s allowed, but to me it poses the same risk for both situations. My dsis froths at the mouth if she thinks I’ve seen my dd. None of it makes sense.

@starrain

Wer in tier 3 but they are in my bubble. We are very quick to believe and trust what the government tells us regarding covid cases and tiers etcetc which we should. But the govt has also put certain countries on safe list AND allowed travel without quarantine for a reason. So how come we only believe the parts we want to believe. My point is, if there was danger in any kind of travelling then there would be quarantine from every form of travel.

I completely understand

I had friends who wouldn’t meet in the summer because I use public transport

I really hope these people don’t go back to taking their colds everywhere when this is over.

Sorry OP. YABVU though. A pregnant woman does not need to take any risks or give themselves any extra anxiety, covid or not.

Oh FFS get a grip. You have travelled, therefore mixed with loads of people. You have presumably been through an airport or port of some kind, so who knows who you've mixed with. Have you been living under a rock for the whole of this year?!
It is your fault if your child is upset, you should have been grown up enough to accept what is happening at the moment and manage your child's expectations accordingly. You do know so so many people are facing this Christmas still in mourning having lost people to covid?! that's real upset.

We are living in a different country to all our relatives and have had to handle my 5yos disappointment at not seeing family.

These kinda posts piss me off SO much.

thank goodness for zoom
We have met up with our close family a few times a day including present opening - it isn't the same but I remember someone in my family who migrated & the only contact was those blue email forms (aerogrammes) & posted parcels - even phone calls weren't available
than or very expensive.
Its not the same but we have to put up with it. I wonder if this is a reverse actually?

You can't make up your own rules, so you should stay away from those you wanted to visit. It matters not about you being upset.

Most countries have less cases than the U.K. we are what 5 or 6 on the list??

I wouldn’t want to see you.

Plenty of folk have cancelled seeing relatives within the U.K. to avoid travel.

And actually your title of this thread is wrong and demonstrates your fucked up perspective on this. No such thing as a safe country. Certainly no such thing as safe travelling.

The countries where no quarantine is required are just less risky than the countries where it is required. Less risky, not safe. And more riskier than Tesco.

Plus you have no idea if the person on the plane next to you coming back from the “safe” country has just come back from an “unsafe” country.

@AcornAutumn cold don't usually kill you or make you very sick for along time & there is no known risk to expectant mums or their hoped for babies
I will say this again to those who concentrate on death rates - far more people are really ill & hospitalized than die & far more have serious long term side effects. Many have shorter but unpleasant & lingering side effects - we don't know yet what the stats are for this & we won't know if there are any other creeping issues (yes I know its not flu but reading about some issues that occurred after the 1918 epidemic makes for sombre reading)
If too many people contract this there will be more mutations & this could lead to severe consequences worldwide - we ALL need to take this seriously & act accordingly - we are very close to multiple treatments & vax which will treat this disease & possibly some of them may help with other future epidemics.
Frankly I think we have been lucky (pandemic wise - in some countries they have been affected by other horrendous diseases) that we haven't had such a serious pandemic for along time

I wouldn’t meet anyone who traveled. You should want to keep your family safe and that means taking precautions before visiting with them.

All the people saying they won’t meet indoors with someone who’s been on a plane etc I’m guessing a lot of our kids will be back in school/nursery etc with kids that have just got of a plane from holidaying over Xmas or visiting family.

Two parts to my post.

1. I think the OP is trying to visit her sister and mum outside of Covid rules, however, without know which Tier her mum and sister are in, it is difficult to tell. If she is trying to visit outside of Covid rules, it is irrelevant where she has been recently, she is not allowed to do it and shouldn’t do it.

1. The majority of posters on this thread are getting themselves completely worked up about air travel, using terms like ‘filthy,’ ‘germ-box,’ etc. The fact is that the majority of posters have not been near an airport or aircraft all year, and have nothing more than assumptions and misinformation to base their opinions on. It’s not possible to say air travel is safe, but it is not the risk-laden Covid party many think it is. In order to permit as safe as possible travel, most airports and airlines are putting multiple safeguards into place: no one but passengers with valid tickets are allowed into airports. Many of these will have taken Covid tests p, which must be negative, in the preceding days. Staffed thermal scanners at the airport doors check core body temperatures of everyone on entry. Every government requires passenger tracing forms to be filled in. Extra cleaning routines are in place.

Once on the aircraft, it’s worth noting that aircraft air is far from recycled - the entire aircraft’s air is replaced every 2-3 minutes. Powerful recirculation fans keep the air moving, and HEPA filters filter out any droplets that could contain viruses. Passengers and crew are obliged to wear masks unless they are eating. Numbers of passengers are significantly down and most aircraft are not full (although when countries have closed flights do become busy.)

IATA - the International Air Transport Association - have published various well-supported articles looking into the numbers of cases that can be pinpointed down to being caught on an aircraft, and numbers have been found to be surprisingly low. If anyone is interested, this article looks at a range of flights where Covid-positive passengers travelled and how other passengers were affected.

I am all for abiding by the Covid rules, and if restrictions have been placed on visiting other households, you would need a very good reason for breaking those restrictions. But one thing I can’t bear is uninformed speculation and the passing on of misinformation, and that is going on here regarding air travel.

@backinthebox OP said tier 3

YABU. You may not be forever to quarantine, but that doesn’t mean it’s ‘safe’.

@GlowingOrb

I wouldn’t meet anyone who traveled. You should want to keep your family safe and that means taking precautions before visiting with them.

It's about reducing risk. Education is essential. Socialising isn't.

What backinthebox said is true about how air gets filtered on planes (although I thought it was a complete filter every 6 minutes not every 3 minutes) as long as the filters are maintained well. I have heard that most flights are rather underfull at moment, so the filters don't have as much 'work' to do.

@ragged the air exchange rate on a commercial airliner is once every 2-3 minutes. This is from the aircraft manufacturers’ guidance to flight crew. If it helps I am an airline pilot currently flying, so am familiar with all current Covid precautions and guidelines.

Can you give us a link, backinthebox?
Also I think technically it's a %, like 99.7% of air every 3 minutes.
I'm not quibbling about whether that's good enough, just thinking to be specific.

And how do you know the HEPA filters are high spec enough to catch virons; aren't virons fantastically tiny, way way smaller than pm 2.5s for instance.

Its from my technical manual at work, not allowed to reproduce it here. Regarding virons and HEPA filters - no idea. I just fly the planes in accordance with the procedures set out in our manuals, and those manuals tell me what I’ve said above. They are downstairs now and I’m in bed so will have to read them in the morning. The IATA document I linked to earlier has referenced some very specific facts and figures, you could have a read there if that 0.03% difference is very important to you.

Do you follow the news, OP? Unless you are in the Scilly Islands mixing inside is banned. Stop being so selfish.