Panicking

[whatagloriousthingtobe]

Was all excited as were due to fly out to Spain on the 25th, didn't even consider traffic light reviews. Now I've seen a news article stating Spain may be going on the red list!! Of course now I'm not excited at all and constantly worrying about it. I know nobody here can know for sure but what are peoples thoughts on this ? Can anyone reassure me ? 😫😫

Scaremongering by newspapers. Read the information in gov.uk and forget the rest

I did think hopefully it's just scaremongering but it's put a dampener on it now !

Hopefully just scaremongering. We are in the same situation - we will find out on the 26th

Annoying as we're already in Spain when they announce it ! Leaves you in a tough situation doesn't it

Very much doubt it will go red

If they did turn Spain red, where do you imagine that they would be planning to quarantine all of the returning UK travellers?

@myotherusernameistaken I know that's the thing isn't it. Just the media bloody worries you sometimes ! I read two articles by the same paper yesterday both saying different things !

Does anyone know roughly what time of day the travel announcements are usually made? We are due to fly to Menorca around lunchtime on 27th, so ideally hoping for a nice early announcement on 25th or more likely 26th....is that wishful thinking?

OP, fingers crossed it stays our way!

@Stillbloodyraining I read earlier they have been the last few reviews saying it via the transport secretary's Twitter account the night before on a Wednesday then officially announcing on the Thursday, so you might be okay !! My predicament is already being out of the country 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️
I just want some sun !!

@Stillbloodyraining - you will definitely know before you travel.
Last time it was on the front page of the BBC news website first thing on the morning the announcement was due. It may also be on the newspaper front pages which you can access at midnight - just search for BBC newspaper front pages.

I think it will go red early September, if at all.

1 in 35 people coming from Spain are testing positive - that would be enough to put me off… and I say that as someone who just came back from Portugal tonight - it felt very safe there though and we picked Portugal because of its strict covid measures. Not sure that will help but can you switch destination?

I reckon a significant number of people testing positive when getting back from Spain are those who recently had covid and therefore will show up positive on a PCR test still, despite no longer having covid. I fully expect to be one of those statistics myself in a couple of weeks when I'll return from a short trip abroad, having recently caught covid in the U.K.

I actually did try and amend the holiday, at a cost of £150 pp! That along with money we've spent on tests etc I just can't do it.
It'll be interesting to know if the 1 in 35 people coming back testing postive are unvaccinated. I agree it is a high number

@LittleRen

I think it will go red early September, if at all.

1 in 35 people coming from Spain are testing positive - that would be enough to put me off… and I say that as someone who just came back from Portugal tonight - it felt very safe there though and we picked Portugal because of its strict covid measures. Not sure that will help but can you switch destination?

We’re in Spain currently and it feels very safe. Mask wearing indoors, many wearing them outdoors too because that was the rule here until recently. Plenty of Covid measures still in place. Not sure what else they could do to make it ‘safe’.

Apparently the % of people returning and testing positive has dropped from 3% to 1.7%. Source = someone reputable looking on Twitter, but not official so it might be BS but either way, I think Spain will be fine.

My colleague came back from Spain 2 weeks ago and tested positive - she’s vaccinated. ( I’ve been on leave myself so don’t have more details). If anything the last 18 months have taught us is the government can change their mind at any point about travel abroad which is why many didn’t want to risk it. It’s a tremendously popular destination to “ turn red “ but if 1 in 35 are getting infected ( I have no idea if that’s true or not) then I question how sensible it was to go.

@IsabellesMissingSock

Apparently the % of people returning and testing positive has dropped from 3% to 1.7%. Source = someone reputable looking on Twitter, but not official so it might be BS but either way, I think Spain will be fine.

Probably @benkersben who has been reliably analysing this stuff for over a year. Worth a look. twitter.com/benkersben/status/1428457531026837510?s=21

@little0miss0mac it's not hom, but I do read his tweets too!

*him.

@Divebar2021

My colleague came back from Spain 2 weeks ago and tested positive - she’s vaccinated. ( I’ve been on leave myself so don’t have more details). If anything the last 18 months have taught us is the government can change their mind at any point about travel abroad which is why many didn’t want to risk it. It’s a tremendously popular destination to “ turn red “ but if 1 in 35 are getting infected ( I have no idea if that’s true or not) then I question how sensible it was to go.

Spain’s cases are far lower than ours currently as a percentage of the population, and also showing large week on week decreases whereas ours are increasing. Mask wearing still mandated. The % testing positive after returning from Spain is also dropping significantly. Based on current data, Spain is a far ‘safer’ place to be from a Covid perspective than the U.K.

@Divebar2021

My colleague came back from Spain 2 weeks ago and tested positive - she’s vaccinated. ( I’ve been on leave myself so don’t have more details). If anything the last 18 months have taught us is the government can change their mind at any point about travel abroad which is why many didn’t want to risk it. It’s a tremendously popular destination to “ turn red “ but if 1 in 35 are getting infected ( I have no idea if that’s true or not) then I question how sensible it was to go.

Isn't it the case tho that these quoted percentages are derived from positive day 2 PCR tests? If so, then to me that's pretty meaningless as people can test positive on a PCR for up to 90 days after having covid, which means it's in no way a reliable indicator that they picked covid up abroad.

@IsabellesMissingSock

I reckon a significant number of people testing positive when getting back from Spain are those who recently had covid and therefore will show up positive on a PCR test still, despite no longer having covid. I fully expect to be one of those statistics myself in a couple of weeks when I'll return from a short trip abroad, having recently caught covid in the U.K.

Our GP told us it's not common to test positive on a PCR after three weeks - certainly my DC had Covid in July and have just tested negative on Day 2 PCRs.

No way will Spain go red as there are millions there and not enough hotel rooms for quarantine here. It's just propaganda to deter people from travelling - ignore!!!

@ArabellaPilkington that's good to know! I am hoping to go away in October and the place I want to go to requires a negative PCR as well as both jabs. I am interested to see what my day 2 PCR will come back with in a couple of weeks. I had covid about 5 weeks ago.

@Neverrains just to show how strict it was Portugal require a negative test for everyone before entering the country - even vaccinated (apart from young children) and unvaccinated must isolate. This made us feel much safer on the plane and in the resort, if you move resorts during holiday you have to retest either with a healthcare professional or in front of the hotel staff. The hotel thoroughly checked our vaccine cert and test.

They also check vaccine certs to eat indoors over the weekend in evenings.

I am surprised Spain isn’t implementing similar measures to try and curb cases and protect tourism from uk.

Portugal wasn’t our first choice - we actually had USA then Greece then Spain booked but it was an amazing trip.

[quote LittleRen]@Neverrains just to show how strict it was Portugal require a negative test for everyone before entering the country - even vaccinated (apart from young children) and unvaccinated must isolate. This made us feel much safer on the plane and in the resort, if you move resorts during holiday you have to retest either with a healthcare professional or in front of the hotel staff. The hotel thoroughly checked our vaccine cert and test.

They also check vaccine certs to eat indoors over the weekend in evenings.

I am surprised Spain isn’t implementing similar measures to try and curb cases and protect tourism from uk.

Portugal wasn’t our first choice - we actually had USA then Greece then Spain booked but it was an amazing trip.[/quote]
We’re staying with our family who live here so no idea what it’s like in resorts. Everywhere is perfectly safe though and cases here are far lower here than in the U.K, so no need to worry about relative safety.