Travelling with Covid

[PatricksMother]

I am currently on holiday with friends. We have been away for nearly two weeks and we're due to go home on Friday.

I started feeling a bit unwell last night and this evening tested positive for covid. I wouldn't normally test, but one of my companions is still very nervous about catching covid and insisted I tested. I am now self-isolating in my room at her insistence.

On Friday we will be catching a ferry home and it's likely to be very busy due to the time of year. I will then leave my friends and catch a (pre-booked) train home.

My covid-nervous friend is appalled that I intend to travel and thinks I should find a hotel room somewhere and self-isolate until I get a negative result.

The house we are staying in is booked for someone else from Friday.

Even if I was able to find a hotel with a vacant room, I would struggle to afford it and may have to pay again for the ferry and train. I am also due to return to work on Saturday and my employer will expect me to work if I am well enough. They would not be impressed if I told them I was still away.

I haven't had covid since 2021 and I thought people weren't testing or self-isolating any more. I feel a bit under the weather, but not too ill to function normally.

So am I being unreasonable to travel on Friday, or is my friend right to be appalled?

Ask her if she'll be covering the cost of your extended stay and the lost income from not being back in work? If the answer is no she can keep her beak out.

FFS your friend is being ridiculous. I would not be self-isolating and screwing myself over for someone else’s neuroticism. If she wants to avoid Covid she can self-isolate herself , probably forever!

She's being ludicrous.

My husband is immune suppressed and we still test.
I would hope that you would wear a mask, sit in a quiet corner away from other people, try to keep your distance on your journey home and then stay home until you felt better.

Oh and just checking, you’re not Joe Biden, and your ‘friend’ is Kamala Harris???

Covid is rife again,your friend is being ridiculous.Get a mask and carry on as normal.If others are worried about Covid they can self isolate.

😉

I voted YABU just because you haven't talked about even trying to find a way to travel home without infecting the people around you (primarily your friends, so surely that matters to you). There are other options than just not travelling, like buying some FFP2/FFP3/N95 masks, staying up on deck on the ferry, opening windows in cars and so on. There not being a legal requirement to isolate doesn't really free you from a moral obligation to generally avoid spreading disease.

What Country are you travelling from ? Just because the UK has rules to carry on, other Countries don't. For example, Ireland has completely different rules for COVID.

Why not wear a proper mask and try not spread it. As you say every form of transport you're using will be busy. Maybe just give a little consideration for ill people and children, it's not fair on their little bodies when they struggle to fight it.

And no, we can't keep our sick kiddies locked up, we unfortunately have to put trust in strangers to not infect them.

This.

Im a nurse and the complacency is so frustrating.

And this !

Thank god some people out there care.

I think it's sensible and considerate to wear a mask when you travel and have anti bac wipes for your hands and cleaning wipes for surfaces around you.
Pre-covid I always put them in my carry-on and wiped the seat and tray. (And wiped bathroom prior to use) Seat mates always gratefully accepted them from me to wipe their seats etc, too.
Since you are sick I'd take some sort of cold/cough medicine and lozenges to minimize symptoms when near others and I'd also offer seat mates a mask and say I've come down with a cold.
I'm a bit overkill, I know. I wouldn't make a big deal, just wipe, say I've got a cold, wear and offer a mask. 🤷‍♀️
Honestly, if asked if it was covid, I'd say, I don't know. But, I couldn't, in good conscience, sit in close contact, knowingly ill and not protect others.

This.

I have Long Covid and it has totally ruined my health and my life.

Id go home as planned
I wouldnt be isolating either

I imagine where ever you have caught it from
They will all get it too

Go home as planned on Friday, wear a mask, use antibac gel.
Open a window, stay as far away from people as possible

I was admitted to hospital afew days ago
Both a nurse and the patient in the next bed to me both had Covid - Nether had a mask on
I have kidney failure = Fun times for me in afew days time i imagine

Why so bothered about covid ? Just travel home and ignore your friend if they are so worried let them take precautions

Just ignore her, I wouldn't have tested at her insistence either

It's not 2020 anymore.

I wouldn’t be isolating myself in my room! You can be outside without infecting anyone; enjoy the rest of your holiday.
i would travel home as normal.

I haven’t been in this situation.

the issue is that Covid is everywhere. Everywhere. We know everyone is now trying to live with it. So I am not sure if I would massively inconvenience myself knowing it was generally around anyway.

my elderly mum is like your friend by the way. She constantly tests and asks me to test the kids when sniffly. The thing is that she will happily sit in crowded restaurants so there isn’t much logic to it all now

I think mumhavoc is right too. If I knew I had Covid and was coughing etc, I would struggle happily to sit next to an elderly person or someone with a baby etc.

I would try to sit in a quiet place or outside or in my car for example.

I can't believe you're isolating in your room on holiday - tell your friend to bugger off!

just be a decent person and do this.

Unless she’s planning to foot the bill of you staying longer and needing to rebook travel, and loss of earnings, she doesn’t get a say. She can of course try to stay away from you during the travel though, and you should take reasonable precautions to try to limit the spread to others. But, covid is just a part of life now and going on holiday using crowded public transport means you accept the risk you may well catch it. Most people won’t even be testing for it now.