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?

To be fair, some of your earlier comments were somewhat misleading.
When asked if you intended wearing a mask you said you'd bring one with you. You said whether you'd wear it or not depended on if you could avoid being in close proximity to others.

I said I would take a mask and wear it if I needed it (indoors and in close proximity with others, for example). How is that misleading? Did you think I was going to keep it in my pocket? Obviously that would be ineffective. There is no point in wearing a mask if there is no need, when I'm outside or no one else is around. I'm not going to apologise for that. Neither does it mean I'm not bothered about other people.

If I didn't intend to use a mask, I wouldn't take one.

I never said anything about masks not being effective.

That's one of my (I believe, perfectly reasonable) earlier comments. What were the other comments you thought were misleading?

You didn't quite say all that @PatricksMother.
I understand what you meant to say, but the way it was phrased was open to misinterpretation. One had to wonder exactly how close you considered 'close proximity' to be.
That's why so many people were urging you to wear a mask at all times indoors. Your intentions at that point weren't too clear.

I didn't say you said anything about masks not being effective. I said you argued they weren't compulsory...which they aren't now, but as I said, this type of argument could lead others to misinterpret your intentions.

I'd do lots of outside activities while on the holiday and keep away from people as much as possible
Then for the journey buy a KN95 respirator type mask, practice very good hand hygiene and keep away from people as much as you can.

Ireland doesn't have any COVID rules in place? They're long gone (thankfully).

Wear a mask

Our NHS trust expects you in at work with covid if you are well enough to work.

Would be a strange concept to
isolate on holiday yet be expected to work in a hospital with covid?

@GreatBigBeautifulTommorow

So does ours - but funnily enough people in clinical areas do the decent thing and go sick until they have a negative test .

In the past 12 months iv had 2 colleagues working in clinical areas who have cancer. and continue to work .
The idea of some arsehole coming to work knowingly with covid makes me fume .

Patients are asked to stay away if they have covid. So should staff .

That’s all well and good but I’m also a nurse and senior management question staff on why they’ve tested if they state they’ve come back positive! We’re also told we’re expected to be in as it goes on sickness now and is no longer exempt from sickness policy

I replied to this thread further up, I’m an elderly nurse, still seeing patients die of Covid and Covid pneumonitis but we still have to work, positive with Covid, just wearing a surgical mask

I think you should wear a mask when travelling home.

Thank you. I hadn't thought of that and you are the first to suggest it.

Proper mask wearing means not putting it on and taking it off constantly. Put it on at the start of your journey with clean hands. Don’t take it off again unless you can wash your hands and put a new clean mask on.

I think it's best not to let perfect be the enemy of good here. It will be much better for the OP to wear a mask in the enclosed spaces, take it off on the deck of the ferry (say) and put it on again later, than for her to think the only way to wear one is to keep it on for every second of the journey and therefore decide not to bother at all. The people around her will still benefit.

Even if she was purely trying to protect herself she would still benefit, even if she took the same mask off and put it on again after a break outdoors.

OP I'd recommend taking a plastic bag of some kind to put the mask in when you're having an outdoor break to at least keep it separate from your other stuff. Ideally have more than one so you can change it depending on the length of your journey, but anything will help.

Perhaps you should direct your ire at nhs England and senior management who set policies and guidelines and penalise staff via absence management policies.

😂😂