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?!

@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.

And I’ll book another holiday as soon as I get back especially for you Nanny.

@NannyAndJohn

Speak for yourself love. No "we" here ta.
Tbf, given the bile you spout from morning to night, I doubt you speak for anyone other than yourself, well, ever.

It's ridiculous OP (I'm not in France or the UK, no horse in this race) but every time the govt pulls another seemingly random country out of its lottery-style bingo box and you look up the figures, it beggars belief. Malta? You can all go to Malta!! Anyone mentioned there are upwards of 500 Italian students in quarantine hospitals due to a hotspot breaking out? Etc etc.

I'm in Italy, in a region with 8 new cases yesterday. A region where we're onto vaxxing the 12+ age group. Been double vaxxed since May 3rd. I'd have to quarantine for 10 days if I came to the UK.

[quote Geamhradh]@NannyAndJohn

Speak for yourself love. No "we" here ta.
Tbf, given the bile you spout from morning to night, I doubt you speak for anyone other than yourself, well, ever.

It's ridiculous OP (I'm not in France or the UK, no horse in this race) but every time the govt pulls another seemingly random country out of its lottery-style bingo box and you look up the figures, it beggars belief. Malta? You can all go to Malta!! Anyone mentioned there are upwards of 500 Italian students in quarantine hospitals due to a hotspot breaking out? Etc etc.

I'm in Italy, in a region with 8 new cases yesterday. A region where we're onto vaxxing the 12+ age group. Been double vaxxed since May 3rd. I'd have to quarantine for 10 days if I came to the UK. [/quote]
If Italy were sensible then they wouldn't be allowing travel to the high-risk UK.

They do check, they checked on us last year. However checking relies on you answering the phone so you could make sure you only answer the phone when you were at home and confirm that yes you understand you have to stay at home. I never answer the phone if I don't know the number so when they phoned me I didn't answer and nothing happened, they did get DH on his phone though.

The whole border closure/traffic lights thing makes absolutely no sense and is just what suits the government. Boris wanted to go to India for trade deals so the border was left open, we like to remind the French we don't like them so closing that border is an easy choice. It's all just weird games.

That's the South Africs variant, the one that came to nothing in the UK because Kent (Alpha) was more transmissible.

It'll be the same in France. The Beta outbreak is in their overseas territories which are literally thousands of miles across the ocean from mainland Europe.

If Italy were sensible then they wouldn't be allowing travel to the high-risk UK.

Italy actually allows you to take your own informed decisions. Sure, there are restrictions on the way back, but there is not enough of a reason for them to ban travel to the UK. It may be discouraged, but as adults its citizens are allowed to make their own choices.

In terms of checking, we have just returned from Greece. We knew there would be daily calls so we both had our phones on us. Day 1, by the time we picked up our phones to answer they had rung off (3 seconds?) and just left a message to say they would ring back the next day.
Next day, rang, answered, rattled through an obvious script, most of which was impossible to understand. 'Are you isolating at the address you put on your PLF?' 'Yes' followed by telling us the symptoms of CV and not to contact our GP if we got them. End of call. Same day 3. Day 4 missed call - left message. Day 5 Test to Release (negative) then no more calls.

We did observe our quarantine totally according to the rules but honestly, the whole checking up thing is a tick box exercise!

I live in France, about as rural as it gets. British neighbour returned to the UK last week and had a doorstep check as well as a daily call.

Germany has more cases of this variant than France. Rumour is that France was thinking of banning UK visitors next week and Bozo wanted to get in first.

I was due to visit the UK next week to see my children for the first time in a year. Having to quarantine because my vaccination was administered in France is nonsensical and I think after this announcement the ferries might be cancelled anyway

The trouble with the fines system is that by the time a person is found not to be isolating, the damage is already done!

The government came under massive criticism for not acting sooner regarding travel. Travel brought this bastard virus into the country and it will continue to facilitate its movement from country to country while people insist on “having their well earned holiday”.
As a previous pp stated the UK has a high level of cases currently, so you are far more likely to take the virus with you than bring it home.
The vaccine is no guarantee particularly if you encounter a new variant. We are good at identifying new variants in the uk because we have the world leading facility that actually does 50% of the worlds, and I emphasise the worlds, testing and identification.

We've already cancelled our trip to france and Italy despite traveling by private transport, rules and rules, theres no "I don't go clubbing and am bbqing at home" exemption

I just want to see my mum 😭
Booked yet again as decided we would pay the tests for the whole family but now yet again to cancel as we can't afford to quarantine and pay for tests.
When when when will I see them again?
Heartbroken this morning

@NannyAndJohn you can untwist your knickers because we’re not going.

Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences. Very helpful.

The right decision.

If only everyone else could think twice before taking Delta around the world with them.

Angrymum22 a great deal of travel is not holiday related. DH has been travelling internationally for months now for work
Unless you shut down all movement of pepple and goods, the virus will spread. Not even Australia is managing to keep it out.

Basically they don't want Beta (high vaccine escape) partying with Delta (high transmission) in a partly vaccinated population which has sky high case rates.

There have been many warning bells rung across the international scientific community about how Britain's summer experiment sets the ideal conditions for a new vaccine-escaping variant to flourish. They don't want it to get a head start by letting in one which is already on the route towards vaccine escape.

But I doubt there's any change they can get that message across - and indeed they may not want to, as they want us to have the summer of fun. Whitty/Vallence sometimes mention the risk, but it's not been well explained and I expect many people have no idea.

This isnt about Delta (which has already travelled around the world) it is about an uptick in Beta cases - which is concerning here because the AZ vaccine isnt as effective

@NannyAndJohn I am going on a UK holiday and I look in the mirror and I see two double vaccinated adults who have had COVID and 2 children who have had COVID who feel that spending money in this summer and giving back to an industry which has been battered by COVID is a good thing. We are travelling by car and are planning on wearing masks etc in communal areas and social distancing where we can and spending time outdoors.

@HilaryThorpe

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.

^ this.

My thoughts are, what do epidemiologists and virologists do during a pandemic? Well they don’t travel overseas for holidays is one thing.
My husband is front line developing drugs to fight this bloody disease and has been working hours you wouldn’t believe. He needs a holiday, but no - we’ve cancelled them last year and this year, because it is the right thing to do.

Well they clearly haven’t thought this through. By effectively closing the Eurotunnel route for those needing to travel to a third country on the continent, they are now forcing people onto planes. We are much more likely to pick up the virus going by train to the airport, travelling through two crowded airports, sitting on a plane for 2 hours and then in a taxi than we are driving to the Eurotunnel from the Belgian border (a 20 minute drive). And then sitting in the car for the duration of the crossing.

Imposing quarantine on people who have only travelled THROUGH France is just bonkers.

No other country does this - transiting travellers are not a risk.

@NannyAndJohn

The right decision.

If only everyone else could think twice before taking Delta around the world with them.

Come again? You have to have a negative PCR test to enter France

Is this not a repeat of March 2020 when macron threatened to shut the borders forcing Johnson to lockdown country.

I suspect the French have applied pressure and this is BoJo response

its all so bloody stupid isnt it

It'll be to do with the Brexit bill and France's ongoing stance around post Brexit relations.

I suppose the idea is that their own working people will yell at Macron for us. Or burn some tyres on the Champs Elysses whilst tractor racing, I dunno. Guess we'll know if it's worked in time for ski season eh? 🤷‍♀️

@makinganavalon I hear you, been two years now since we saw my parents. That's three grandkids they haven't seen in that time.
@NannyAndJohn you can pee off with your judginess, not everyone is going to France on a holiday. The BBC article includes a UK citizen living in Paris who was coming here so her baby born last year could meet grandparents. Why not try thinking outside of your own narrow "I'm alright Jack" perspective?