New need to quarantine after trip to France

[Crimescenenow]

Now that rules have changed regarding return to England from France, I’m wondering about the isolation rules. This post is hypothetical before anyone goes bonkers.

DH and I both fully vaccinated. Would be staying in a gite belonging to a relative, unoccupied before and after us. We’d travel by car, and would only be in contact with others during trips to the supermarket.

Why the jeff would we need to isolate on return? Coming from a rural area in France with very low numbers to an urban area in the UK with numbers 10 times higher? And… would anyone check?!

Yes, someone would check.
It's crazy but then so are the people making the rules.

@Crimescenenow

Because the UK government are stupid.

Yes they would check. Quite often, according to friend who've come back from a holiday recently.

It's apparently because France have more of a different variant.

Of course you need to quarantine. That’s the rules for everyone returning from France - unfortunately they forgot to add the “unless you’re staying in a gite owned by a relative” clause

It is about the Beta variant. It is at a very low level (3%?) in mainland France and shows no signs of increasing, quite the contrary.
It is high in the overseas territory of Réunion, which is an island near South Africa.
I think perhaps the UK government has a shaky grasp off geography.
Or maybe just spite.

@whatswithtodaytoday

Yes they would check. Quite often, according to friend who've come back from a holiday recently.

It's apparently because France have more of a different variant.

Yes its the South Africa Variant which is showing signs of being more resisitant to the vaccines, we really want to keep that one out if we can

Because the rules can't say if you stay in a rural gite, and drive there then no need to quarantine, but if you stay on a busy campsite and fly then you must. The rules just say France because otherwise everyone would argue their own specific combination of circumstances. And how the heck do they monitor hundreds and thousand variations of a theme.

As much as I hate the travel rules, I can see why they have to have blanket decisions.

That’s the risk you take with holidaying abroad this summer. They’re trying to keep out the beta variant and people can’t pick and choose whether to follow the travel rules. You’ve just said you’ll be going in shops, that could be all it takes to pick it up.

We've just cancelled our French holiday in very splendid rural isolation....I'm gutted, but yes, they do check you are quarantining and the fines are hefty. We were supposed to be going next Friday.

I think the UK will be on most countries red lists shortly anyway.

Obviously people have to obey the rules, but it is such nonsense. The data shows that the rise in cases is in Réunion which is in the Indian ocean. The overseas territories are included in the French statistics.
I am at a loss to understand this decision.

Just read a news article about the situation regarding France and it said:

"A senior government source said: “They are worried about the South African variant because they think it escapes the vaccine, although they don’t have evidence of that yet"

Weren't we all worried to death about this variant months ago and then it just turned out to be nothing to really worry about with the vaccine working fine against it? So why are they now saying that there is no evidence? This has got to be a political move surely?

From a news article 13th April:

"On 1 April 2021, Pfizer/BioNTech published data looking specifically at 800 people in the trial who were living in South Africa. Their analysis suggeststhe vaccine is 100% effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19 caused by the Beta variant"

So either they lied the first time or are lying now.

@Crimescenenow

Now that rules have changed regarding return to England from France, I’m wondering about the isolation rules. This post is hypothetical before anyone goes bonkers.

DH and I both fully vaccinated. Would be staying in a gite belonging to a relative, unoccupied before and after us. We’d travel by car, and would only be in contact with others during trips to the supermarket.

Why the jeff would we need to isolate on return? Coming from a rural area in France with very low numbers to an urban area in the UK with numbers 10 times higher? And… would anyone check?!

This was us last summer. Utterly bonkers. We had driven out in our own car, stayed in our own gite and only one of us ventured out to the supermarket (which was much quieter than the UK ones) but we still self-isolated when we got back.

The decision is momentously moronic OP and the modelers I follow on Twitter have said they can't make their models agree with many of the decisions made by the govt regarding the movement of countries on/off the various travel lists. Bottom line though, if you go to France you will have to quarantine at home for 10 days when you return and yes, apparently the DO check and the fines for non-compliance are hefty - I think around £5k.

We don't want you bringing the potentially vaccine resistant Beta Variant back here, thank you very much.

Anyone taking a holiday right now needs to take a long look at themself.

Anyone taking a holiday right now needs to take a long look at themself.

Oh please!

They do check and there are fines.

It makes absolutely no sense, like you’ve said. 3% of Beta variant in France calls for a border closure, but Delta spreading alarmingly fast in India back in April didn’t.

@LivinLaVidaLoki

Just read a news article about the situation regarding France and it said:

"A senior government source said: “They are worried about the South African variant because they think it escapes the vaccine, although they don’t have evidence of that yet"

Weren't we all worried to death about this variant months ago and then it just turned out to be nothing to really worry about with the vaccine working fine against it? So why are they now saying that there is no evidence? This has got to be a political move surely?

From a news article 13th April:

"On 1 April 2021, Pfizer/BioNTech published data looking specifically at 800 people in the trial who were living in South Africa. Their analysis suggeststhe vaccine is 100% effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19 caused by the Beta variant"

So either they lied the first time or are lying now.

It’s the AZ vaccine they’re worried about, not Pfizer

@NannyAndJohn

We don't want you bringing the potentially vaccine resistant Beta Variant back here, thank you very much.

Anyone taking a holiday right now needs to take a long look at themself.

Ffs. Did you know that the uk is literally the corona capital of the World atm. No other place has higher covid rates adjusted to population. Far far more likely that a vaccine evading variant will therefore develop here. We’re just not aware of it yet. Quite possibly the government is, and can’t face telling us.

I cannot fathom how forcing people to holiday in this country- given how heaving the resorts will be- is safer than letting them go to a rural gite in France

@NannyAndJohn

We don't want you bringing the potentially vaccine resistant Beta Variant back here, thank you very much.

Anyone taking a holiday right now needs to take a long look at themself.

Anyone unquestioningly buying into operation fear and willingly forgoing their liberties needs to take a long hard look at themselves.

Enough is enough- I've followed the 'rules' no matter how illogical thus far, but this has to end. COVID is going nowhere. We need to live with it.

"coz we are English and we like to stick it to the French"

Joking, but this is basically the reason. The rationale is political, not scientific.

@Frazzled2207 By "a holiday" I mean any holiday, UK included.

It makes absolutely no sense, like you’ve said. 3% of Beta variant in France calls for a border closure, but Delta spreading alarmingly fast in India back in April didn’t.

Absolutely.

they dragged their feet for weeks and then gave a weeks notice so everybody rushed to the UK and now this. Double standards much?

"coz we are English and we like to stick it to the French"

But we're not sticking it to the French. They don't come to the UK for their holidays. We are sticking it to ourselves.

Anyone taking a holiday right now needs to take a long look at themself.

I do, and I like what I see.

I did the full isolation period with a toddler after coming back from the US late last year. Then I felt like a mug because since then every single person I have spoken to who has travelled abroad recently has admitted to not properly isolating. The confessions have ranged from I go out running first thing when it’s quiet, the restaurant is in the same building as my flat and I’m allowed to get food, I went to the supermarket but also stopped off at TK Max for a browse. I know people who have had phone calls, I haven’t personally heard of anyone being checked up on in person but I’m sure it can happen. I think total 70ish people have been fined but that includes people skipping out on hotel quarantine. However the fines are huge so it’s still probably not a risk I’d be willing to take. I’m assuming you can still do the early release day 5 testing for France? We have a trip booked next week (to see family, not really a holiday) and if that’s an option then we’ll probably still go, unless France returns the favour on the U.K. and we’ll also have to isolate on arrival. Also looking into booking a hotel just over the border on the Italy side and seeing everyone there instead. Because it’s only a few miles away with no hard border but apparently that’s fine. Makes no sense really!