Travelling after recently having COVID

[timetoboard]

Hi all

I'm currently isolating after a positive covid test last Sunday, I've been asymptomatic and not had any symptoms luckily so quite confident I will be able stop isolating after Wednesday.

I was due to fly to Italy on Tuesday for work which obviously can't happen but my employer still wants me to go as soon as possible. They have asked me to go for another PCR test on Thursday morning (NHS one booked online) and if that come back negative they will arrange for me to get a private one on Saturday with the aim to fly on Sunday. Obviously I shouldn't really be booking an NHS PCR test for this reason but surely there's a good chance this could still come back positive? And obviously any private tests I do after that?

I can't find anything online but what on earth are you supposed to do if you need to travel and you have recently had COVID? Reports suggest you can get a positive test for up to 90 days but I can't find any information on how you travel if you can't get a negative PCR test? I know with the test events in the UK people who have had COVID in the last 180 days could attend but I can't find any information on whether Italy accept a recent positive case instead of a negative PCR?

Just wondering if anyone has experienced this or can point me in the right direction of some information regarding travel after COVID? I've looked on the NHS website/gov.uk/Italian embassy and can't find anything!

@highlighterpink

We are in this position too so I am following with interest. It's a nightmare. I'm thinking of doing a PCR a week before holiday to get an idea of whether it's positive or negative before the stressful test before flight.

Does anyone know if a private PCR testing gets a positive do they inform public health/test&trace?

Yes they do. Eventually! They're obligated to.

When we tested positive shortly after covid, the NHS attitude was "tough....probably virus shedding but can't sure so must treat as new illness, self isolation you go." No amount of arguing would work, including the fact that they don't test doctors who have had covid for 90 days as they too would likely to be positive but quite happy for them to work in hospitals with vulnerable people.

So if a doctor or nurse has to fly abroad for work how do they manage that if they have had covid fairly recently? I suppose the bottom line is due to these complications many people simply cannot go abroad. I have not been abroad since summer 2019 (and I have never had a covid test).

@Xenia

So if a doctor or nurse has to fly abroad for work how do they manage that if they have had covid fairly recently? I suppose the bottom line is due to these complications many people simply cannot go abroad. I have not been abroad since summer 2019 (and I have never had a covid test).

I thought they had exemption like elite sportspeople?

I thought the elite sport person posting above though had found out even with the exemption you could not return without the test? Perhaps not. It might be like truck drivers to France you go there and back no tests or anything? Anyway I don't know as not studied those bits of the laws and now our summer holiday was cancelled (last Friday) just like last year it sounds like leaving the UK is not going to be easy for me for years.....

@Geamhradh the thing is elite sports people don't have an exemption from having to have a negative fit to fly test, that's the whole point of this thread. My exemptions are so that I don't have to quarantine for 5 days on arrival in Italy, and I don't have to quarantine on return to the uk.

Anyway for anyone still interested my fit to fly test came back negative and I'm now sat in the airport! We have to test a LOT whilst away as a condition of the exemption so I'm very worried one will come back positive but just going to have to wait and see.

Thanks to @Tatapie I have also emailed my MP as this issue needs to be addressed now travel is becoming easier.

@timetoboard That's great! Safe journey and have a good trip. What type of test was it?

My MP responded straight away and said understand concerns, will ask Shapps! 🤞

@Tatapie thanks, I'm looking forward to some Italian sun!

It was a PCR done by someone else, she was really going for it and did it for ages so I was surprised it was negative.

I don't have much hope for my MP as he's useless normally but will give it a go.

I've emailed my MP too.

I think come the middle of summer there will be lots of double jabbed people who have caught covid in this current delta wave who haven't needed testing to leave the country getting surprising post recovery positive tests when trying to get home again.

I'm glad OP's test was negative

I think there will be too, and if it's before 16th August, people on the flight will be getting pinged as contacts!

@highlighterpink to return to the UK you can use LFT which are less likely to show as positive after recovery...
it's the day 2 PCR which is going to be difficult.

Does the fit to fly test also apply i f people use Eurostar trains? If not is that a way for elite exempt people who otherwise would have to take the test to travel?

Just in case anyone is still interested I'm now home after getting 4 negative PCR's whilst away, obviously I was lucky and there really does need to be a solution to this though!

@Xenia you still need a negative test to travel on the Eurostar if not fully vaccinated (I think), I'm working in France in August and will probably be getting the Eurostar and they were the rules last time I checked.

So in essence we have set up a system where unless you are quite well off or your employer is paying you cannot easily travel abroad (due to costs of all the various tests for families of 4) but if you are rich and the cost of tests is nothing to you you can.

timetoboard
How long was it when you tested positive to COVID before doing the travel pcr?

@isitspringyet I think the OP flew 7 days after her 10 day isolation period. She had no symptoms though so maybe a low viral load helped reduce the number of fragments still floating about.

@isitspringyet

timetoboard How long was it when you tested positive to COVID before doing the travel pcr?

It was exactly 14 days later, I had to isolate until the Wednesday and then went for the fit to fly the following Monday and travelled on the Tuesday.

But @ArtandCoTwin is correct, I didn't suffer badly from COVID so I suspect I had a low viral load

Thanks 😊 he tested negative!! Very stressful and unfair as Spain does not accept a certificate of recovery from the U.K.

That's good news @isitspringyet

I had a reply from my MP who also enclosed the reply they'd had from Shapps - his top tip to avoid being unable to re enter Britain from abroad is to get an antigen test not a PCR as they're less sensitive!
He, rightly I guess, says he can't advise on outward travel but I agree it's very unfair of Spain to single out UK and not allow Covid recovery certificate.

I’m not sure why a covid recovery certificate isn’t accepted, just assumed it was something we would’ve benefited from of still on EU?
My mp replied to me .. said she’d raise my concerns with the department for health.

Following as in a similar situation. We only have to do rapid antigen/lateral flows apart from that day 2 return PCR which is likely to pick up the recent infection 🤷‍♀️

Bayleaf25
Are you showing negative on the government ones? My son was negative around day 7 of COVID.. on LFT.. if you get a positive result it’s then a ten day isolation from track and trace. The pcr on the outbound was the most stressful part & read loads of studies too.. the younger you are the quicker you’re red blood cells show a negative apparently..