Skiing in France in Feb half term?

[winterrabbit]

We have a provisional booking in Feb half term for me, DH, and 3 kids aged 13, 11 and 3. DH and I are double vaxxed and will have had booster by the time we go. Our 13 year old is not yet vaxxed due to potential health risks so trying to work out if he will be able to get a covid pass if he tests every day in the region. Not sure if they still allow this or if they will insist on the super covid pass like Italy. Does anyone know? There's also the issue of the travel ban on UK citizens. Is this expected to be lifted? All looking a bit too difficult really!

I think the NHS pass only shows positive result and recovery if you've had a PCR. Some people have reported on Snowheads that with all the documents etc, some French pharmacies will issue a Pass Sanitaire for a small fee but without that he'll have to test I think daily.

@laddingford your DD should sign the same declaration d'honneur as her vaccinated parents (the special one for UK). Nobody will ask for it anyway.
@Mumrun41 I'm afraid I agree with @Africa2go, without a PCR you will likely not get a proof of recovery QR, although experience is mixed and not all pharmacies would give equivalence certificate so I would line up daily tests if I were you. At least with a recent infection he is less likely to pick up another which is what concerns me the most about daily testing.

laddingford I am in awe of you arranging someone to come to you to test daily. How did you manage that?

Does anyone here have any experience of testing in Avoriaz? It looks like you can’t book tests and that you just turn up at the pharmacy but I was wondering how busy it has been. Managed to book a Calais test and one in Morzine but the daily ones in Avoriaz are worrying me. My head is spinning slightly now!

[quote laddingford]@freckles20 or anyone - help!

We are in the same position as you were.

There are 5 of us, 4 double jabbed and boosted except my 13 year old daughter who has only had one jab. She gets her second the day we return!

We have arranged for someone to visit our accommodation every day at 5pm for the daily testing for her.

My confusion is that I have no idea which form to complete for the journey to France (we are taking the Eurotunnel). There does not seem to be a form specifically for a child who is allowed entry because parents are fully vaccinated.

If anyone could point me to the exact form I need to use, what elements i need to complete and what app (if any) i need to download it to, that will satisfy the French authorities.

I think we are clear on the daily testing.

Also, is everyone taking printed and digital version of the covid pass and what app does that need to be on?

Any help would be very much appreciated!!!!

Thanks![/quote]
@laddingford all travellers need to complete the 'declaration of honour' form prior to travelling to France. It's a printed form that you complete by hand and take with you.

In terms of the app for the pass sanitere / vaccinal the French system is to use the 'Tousanticovid' app.

So, each of you needs to download the app to your phone. Then, for the fully vaccinated amongst you, you scan the QR code from your latest jab off the NHS app and it will then validate on the Tousanticovid app and voila you have your pass vaccinal which should be valid for the whole of your stay.

For your non fully vaccinated daughter you use the same Tousanticovid app. But she will not have a QR code that she can use- that is where the daily testing comes in.

So, after each daily test you MUST obtain a QR code. Your daughter can then scan this QR code into her Tousanticovid app, which will validate and generate a 'pass sanitere' . It will only be valid for 24 hours from the time of the test though. So at 5.01pm the next day her pass sanitere will dectivate automatically.

You can only create this pass sanitere with a QR code. A negative test result isn't enough without that code.

As you may have read down thread we had issues with obtaining a QR code to go with my son's negative test. Once we found a testing site that printed off the QR code for us things became much easier. So, I would respectfully suggest that you make sure that your test provider is able to provide a printed QR code themselves, as opposed to providing you with a link via text or Email to access the QR code yourself (as in our case these links only lead to error codes).

I hope this all makes sense. Wishing you a fabulous trip.

P.S. I have also heard that the NHS app can be used my fully vaccinated people in place of the Tousanticovid app..
I don't have any experience of using this so can't comment on it.

@Peanutgurgle, I had a google and found info suggesting that you can book for the local medical centre via DrLib. See attached pic.

This is the system that we used to book DS’ tests with the local doctor and they were great. NB when booking, once you add your country as the UK if will remove the requirement to add a social security number.

If possible it is probably best to book the tests. The pharmacy may become very busy as they are unused to an influx of British kids needing tests. Plus there is a bottleneck of people wanting tests first or last thing due to not wanting their passes to deactivate in the middle of the day.

The tests take time. They also have to wait 30 mins before giving a definitive result. Then they have to enter your details onto their system. So it all takes time and I can imagine the pharmacies getting overrun especially as they are already very well used by the French for other things.

@Peanutgurgle, the screenshot attached on my previous post was from the Alvoriaz site here www.avoriaz.com/en/winter/practical-information/sanitary-measures/.

@Mumrun41 from what I can gather and what we experienced your son won't be able to use his recent infection as he would need a QR code to back this up.

As @abricotine says there are reports of some places issuing a pass sanitere using written proof of the relevant requirements (ie vaccination plus recovery). But this seems to be rare and we certainly couldn't get it done. The pharmacy laughed at us and said the paper proof could have been forged by us and that they could be fined €43,000 or given a prison sentence for not following protocol 🤷🏻‍♀️.

Unfortunately not Freckles. The pharmacy you can book for is in Morzine which will mean coming back down from Avoriaz every lunchtime which is quite a hike. I have used Doctolib for the other bookings. I followed that link and it looks like the medical centre in Avoriaz is only doing PCRs and the other Avoriaz pharmacy isn’t on Doctolib. But thank you. To complicate matters we are going to have to do lunchtime testing due to where we are staying and lesson times.

@Peanutgurgle

laddingford I am in awe of you arranging someone to come to you to test daily. How did you manage that?

Does anyone here have any experience of testing in Avoriaz? It looks like you can’t book tests and that you just turn up at the pharmacy but I was wondering how busy it has been. Managed to book a Calais test and one in Morzine but the daily ones in Avoriaz are worrying me. My head is spinning slightly now!

@Peanutgurgle I tried to book online at one of the two places in Val Thorens and there were two days fully booked/unavailable.

I then just called one of the other pharmacies (tel no was the only contact, no email) and they agreed to come to our accommodation to test my daughter, and two other children in our party, between 5-8pm every day. They will tell us what time each day so not perfect but ok. They will also do an additional test Sat morning so we can ski that day as well.

@FoxRedLabbingtons

laddingford I can't help you with the info about single jabbed folk, but in terms of the COVID pass, I have the NHS pass on my phone. I've also downloaded the TousAntiCovid app on our phones (including double jabbed DD) and have used the QR code from our NHS app (I took a screenshot and uploaded from that) and from DD's letter to get a pass vaccinal on the French App. It was a very easy job. I guess we will also take multiple print outs , especially as DD regularly parts company with her phone!

@FoxRedLabbingtons thank you

[quote abricotine]@laddingford your DD should sign the same declaration d'honneur as her vaccinated parents (the special one for UK). Nobody will ask for it anyway.
@Mumrun41 I'm afraid I agree with @Africa2go, without a PCR you will likely not get a proof of recovery QR, although experience is mixed and not all pharmacies would give equivalence certificate so I would line up daily tests if I were you. At least with a recent infection he is less likely to pick up another which is what concerns me the most about daily testing.[/quote]
@abricotine thank you

@abricotine
@FoxRedLabbingtons
@freckles20

Thank you all very much. I knew if I posted on here I would get some real help. No one at the ski company or Eurotunnel could help/make any sense and they are all worried about giving advice that is wrong.

Thanks again and phew!

I have another question that I’m hoping someone can help with. DS(15) has had one vaccine and positive NHS covid test from November. We have the NHS app and have QR codes for both. I also managed to get him the Swiss covid recovery certificate, again with QR code. We’ve uploaded all 3 codes into the tousanticovid app and all have been accepted BUT we haven’t had the confetti confirmation that you get when you upload your full vaccination certificate. Does this mean my DS doesn’t have the required health pass or does it just mean that the tac app recognises full vaccination status and rewards it with confetti and proof of recovery…although acceptable and complying with the rules….doesn’t get the same recognition? I want to think we’re ok….but at the same time don’t want to arrive and be refused a lift pass/access to restaurants and told he needs to do daily testing. Can anyone help as I think I’m going slowly mad 😫 TIA

@charflits

I have another question that I’m hoping someone can help with. DS(15) has had one vaccine and positive NHS covid test from November. We have the NHS app and have QR codes for both. I also managed to get him the Swiss covid recovery certificate, again with QR code. We’ve uploaded all 3 codes into the tousanticovid app and all have been accepted BUT we haven’t had the confetti confirmation that you get when you upload your full vaccination certificate. Does this mean my DS doesn’t have the required health pass or does it just mean that the tac app recognises full vaccination status and rewards it with confetti and proof of recovery…although acceptable and complying with the rules….doesn’t get the same recognition? I want to think we’re ok….but at the same time don’t want to arrive and be refused a lift pass/access to restaurants and told he needs to do daily testing. Can anyone help as I think I’m going slowly mad 😫 TIA

@charflits oh dear it is so confusing isn't it?

I don't have a straight answer unfortunately. I'm assuming it is not clear from the TC app whether it has allocate a pass sanitere / vaccinal?

If it is any help, my son's pass sanitere very obviously expired 24 hours after each test. So I'm hoping that if your DC has a pass on his app then it is ok.

I believe that the French version of the TC app that is used by people to check peoples passes is available from the App Store. So for example, if you were working in a French restaurant you would upload that version of the app and use it to scan your customers' TC app to see if they had a valid pass. I read about this on the snow heads forum.

So, I'm wondering if you could download this checking app, and use it to scan and check your DCs TC app status?

I'm afraid that I don't know the name of the checking app, but google may help you.

Alternatively you could try to find the info you need, or raise a query via the TC website here: bonjour.tousanticovid.gouv.fr/en/

@freckles20 Thank you that’s helpful. I’ll check out that site and see what I can find out. I miss the days of looking forward to going on holiday 😫
When your DS gets his daily pass sanitaire how does it show up? It’s all so confusing

I’m pretty sure the app bars etc use is tousanticovid verif, I downloaded it to check before.

I loaded my daughter’s (French) recovery cert to my TAC and I don’t remember the confetti for her either…

The app is called TAC Verif on App Store.

And I think you are correct: it’s only the vaccination certs that get the confetti. I recently uploaded my sons negative and positive test results to the TAC app and none of them got the confetti.

And does that still give them enough to get in to restaurants etc? Did it work for your son even without the confetti?

That’s the bit I can’t help you with: my son is fully vaccinated. I just noticed when I uploaded his négatif and positive test certificates (he’s got Covid just now) that there was no confetti.

If you try scanning his certificates with the TAC Verif app and get a green ‘Valide’ then it works.

Great…thank you. Will get on that. Hope your son is better soon.

Don’t get bogged down in the confetti, AFAIK it was a function added to TAC to make your day when you’ve been vaccinated/boosted..

I’ve never seen it triggered when you scan in/download a negative test result, but nevertheless the certificate is still valid.

Sorry to gatecrash but this thread seems to hold so much invaluable information!

DS turns 12 at the end of March and we were hoping to visit Paris at Easter, one week later. Do the requirements for Passe Sanitaire kick in when they turn twelve or is it at 12 and 2 months? This is probably a very basic question but just wanted to be extra sure!

12 and 2 months, to give just-turned 12 yr olds time to get vaccinated.

Just got confetti for double vacced 12 yr old and myself. Made my day!