Getting Covid on your trip
 

I have a friend who was on a walking/hiking trip in Portugal and she and her husband got Covid about 5 or 6 days into the trip. Maybe from the airplane? But anyway they were in the countryside and luckily had a friend in Lisbon who came and brought them back to Lisbon in case they needed medical care and to quarantine. They are both in their late 60’s and very fit. She did say that it’s been difficult navigating through what they need to do to leave the country. Airplane tickets had to be changed and although they have no more symptoms they continue to test positive. Forwarding part of her post and link to NY Times article.

“Now, 6 days into our recovery, we are symptom-free but still testing positive. We had to extend our stay in Portugal for 3 days to comply with still confusing rules. But we now have a new departure date and extra days in Portugal that make up for the days we lost. The sun shines here everyday and we are grateful to the kindness of everyone here.

Lastly, I wanted to advise others that navigating the waters of international travel right now is so difficult because of unclear, inconsistent rules and COVID protocol uncertainty. It can also lead to expensive changes and costs. If you’re traveling abroad anytime soon please read this:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/04/t...e=articleShare

The NYT’s article is behind a pay wall.

I recently went to the US for a very short trip. Both of my daughters were temporarily in New York (Manhattan) and I also wanted to visit a friend who's in very poor health.

On my first day in NY, I tested positive for COVID. I had to change the date of my return flight, which was fairly easy and only cost me $75 plus a small difference in the ticket prices (Lufthansa basic economy class). I remained positive until the day before my new return date. All that time I was isolating in my daughter's small apartment. I couldn't go to visit my friend.

In New York, quarantine lasts 5 days, positive or not, unless you have a fever. I was totally symptomless, so I began to go outside after my fifth day. I religiously wore my mask, and didn't eat in any restaurants, because I didn't want to run even a minimal risk of infecting someone.

I could even have returned to Italy if I had still been positive, because Italy is no longer requiring a negative COVID test provided you're fully vaccinated. However, if I had still been positive, I'm not sure I would have risked infecting someone on the plane. I had considered returning but not eating anything on the plane. Fortunately, I was negative by then.

Our friends got sick in the countryside of Portugal, so they did have the extra stress of getting back to Lisbon in case they needed medical care. My friend thinks they may have gotten it on their first day or so of arrival on a crowded city bus in Lisbon. They were masked but she said very few other people were. They also lost their business seats for return flight and will have to sit separately and can’t get non stop (like they had) back to west coast. And lots of change fees plus extra hotel room fees. So I think that the risk of getting ill from Covid has decreased because of vaccines and boosters but if you have the bad luck to get it on your travels it can complicates things. I guess US is one of last countries to require a negative test coming back into the country. Perhaps that will change soon.

One doesn't need a current negative test to fly into the US after having contracted covid - Per the CDC site:

• When you travel to the United States by air, you are required to show a negative COVID-19 test result or documentation of recovery from COVID-19 before you board your flight.

What You Need to Know

• If you recently recovered from COVID-19, you may instead travel with documentation of recovery from COVID-19 (i.e., your positive COVID-19 viral test result on a sample taken no more than 90 days before the flight’s departure from a foreign country and a letter from a licensed healthcare provider or a public health official stating that you were cleared to travel).

(Emphasis mine)

That is talking about a Fit to Travel form - sometimes called

Yes, our friends had to go to a hospital in Lisbon and get, she called it, a fit to fly document and use a specific pharmacy for some more testing. They also ended up going to the airport to speak directly to people at their airline to make sure they had all the right documentation. She said that different countries have different rules-The NY Times story talks about that.