To think that either the fit to fly covid tests are inaccurate or the government is lying.

[Onlinedilema]

Hello. Just watching the news. Now the government have put the Balearic Islands on amber and said that the number of people infected with covid has suddenly doubled since holiday makers have been allowed to travel there.
Yet everyone from England has had to have expensive tests proving that they are covid free in order to fly to these islands.
This does not add up.
I know of 2 people who’s test results either did not arrive in time or were not classed as within the very specific time scale ( dispite paying a lot of money for these companies to guarantee the results within the said time scale blah blah blah). Both had to travel to airports and pay an extra £129 to have an additional test. The tests came back negative. Nobody on the flights could have got on without having negative test results.
So my question is this.
How has covid suddenly spread when all the holiday makers are negative.
Am I being cynical in thinking that either;

1. covid rates are not increasing that rapidly Or
2. these expensive tests which incidentally have to be carried out by government approved companies ie their mates, are a load of bollocks and just a money making scam?

Is there any other feasible explanation?

Er yes, it's that holiday destinations have suddenly opened up borders to foreign travellers- not just UK, thus introducing a much more infectious strain.
And/or much less testing was being done before- introduction of testing visitors has uncovered a lot more positive cases .

Yes, it's obviously not just British people who are travelling there!

It is not only Brits visiting. The preflight checks are not infallible and you can be contagious on the plane

Also any issues with the testing are much more likely to be down to inability to scale up to meet demand for tight timescales, rather than some conspiracy theory.

Or is it that people are testing negative on the way out and positive on the way home, meaning that they have (probably) picked it up on holiday?

It isn't only people from England who are going there. There will be people from many other countries. Are the rules the same for all countries flying in?

Also cases can increase domestically without an influx of new people.

You can test negative while incubating the virus, so even if you test negative you could be positive and spreading the virus by the time you get on the plane 2 days later. Or catch it in resort.

these expensive tests which incidentally have to be carried out by government approved companies ie their mates, are a load of bollocks and just a money making scam?

I agree with you here.

But holidaymakers in the Balearics come from other countries too. So the increased rate might be driven by tourists from elsewhere.

Er, people are going to the Balearics from other countries and from mainland Spain.

A negative on a pcr doest mean you might not test positive the next day. Its a bit like a pregnancy test, people can test negative one day, and positive the next when they were pregnant all along just the levels weren't high enough to register yet

Vaccinated people from uk and rest of the eu are not having tests to fly out as not required

In balaerica they reckon most cases were the Spanish teens going there for parties when they finished college etc

The Brits aren't taking the Covid with them to the Balearics, they are bringing it back OP. They are catching it there, where it is now rife, thanks (apparently) to the large groups of Spanish students partying there after their exams and starting a localised epidemic. Spain currently has very high levels of Covid - comparable with the UK - and who knows what restrictions there are for Spaniards taking what is, for them, an internal flight?

I see so it’s basically mainly other countries who are infectious.
Also the testing is pretty useless then.
Hence why I personally refuse all testing. Without going into details, I’m not putting myself our for something which is totally pointless.
Btw I have no intention of leaving my country for a very long time and have worked throughout this pandemic.
Yes it is a money making scam then and I feel people have been mislead over this . I also think the uk government should have been honest with the Spanish government and told them unless x and y are in place, you will stay on the red list.
Again I have no skin in this game. I have cancelled endless travel plans and am staying put.

I think the costly testing is mainly to put people off traveling.

Government cannot continue to outright ban it as travel industry would complain too much, but they do want to restrict numbers- genuinely I hope to stop more variants.

I wish they'd alert people to the risks of testing positive abroad and being stuck there for a long time. I just know that ultimately British taxpayers will fund the costs of getting these people back.

I think the Spanish Government said it was due to the young Spanish adults travelling there and spreading the infection - not UK holiday makers...

I just know that ultimately British taxpayers will fund the costs of getting these people back.

How do you figure that out??? If you/your family is stranded overseas as a result of travelling for leisure, the British taxpayer is not coming to your aid! You need to factor in the cost of further accommodation/tests or make sure you have insurance that will.

I manage a team in the NHS and we test twice a week. It has picked up asymptomatic Covid in several of my staff which was then confirmed with PCR test. Why do you think testing is pointless? Yes... there are some errors but probably better than nothing.

Spain's overall cases have doubled in the last fortnight so I doubt that (in this one example) it has much more to do with UK holidaymakers.

I am in Mallorca.

The Covid figures increase the Spanish themselves are admitting started from end of term Spanish students travelling from the mainland to the islands for a big holiday which turned into lots of partying. They ended up quarantining a couple of hundred students I believe to try and stop the spread once the first cases in these groups were discovered.

They are not blaming British tourists for this. Also to point out the Germans were here from Easter when their rates were high and increasing and were tested before arrival and rates here still came down. So pre arrival testing does seem to work

Personally I don’t think the risks have been explained enough to uk travellers. I know everyone is supposed to be responsible for their own risk taking but I think a lot has been brushed under the carpet. The government knows it will be lots of younger people holidaying abroad and those younger people, through no fault of their own , in the main have not been double vaccinated. It’s just another flaming cock up to me. Same as all this you can do what the hell you like from July 19th oh oh oh hang on, yeah you probably should wear a mask to protect others but it’s not compulsory so you don’t have to but rates of infection are predicted to soar. Oh no go and do as you like. Oh you should think of others and do the ‘right thing’ blah blah blah.
You cannot expect staff to stand firm telling people to wear a mask and stay away from them when it isn’t compulsory.
No wonder people are upset.

It’s like having a advisory speed limit. We advise you to drive at no more than 30 but if you want to drive past the school at 70, go right ahead.

@RestingPandaFace

Or is it that people are testing negative on the way out and positive on the way home, meaning that they have (probably) picked it up on holiday?

That's what I took it to mean!

The risks of travel are self evident. Some people value their holiday over their own or public health. However if you expect to have these companies and travel opportunities available in the future or need to travel for business and family reasons, then it is important the travel industry is supported.