Covid testing in Cozumel

[Memo Mendoza]

FYI

 

[ggunn]

No apologies needed. Our belief (wife and I) is that the pandemic will not be over until everyone is exposed...herd immunity. Whether it's by getting Covid (like we did) or by the vaccine (which we never intended to get). It wasn't bad for us. Cold symptoms for about 3-4 days, fever below 101˚ (12 hours for me, 36 hours for my wife). We are both 60 years old, and in pretty good health. I do believe it is a very serious virus for those with compromised immunity, elderly, etc.

I wear a mask at work and in stores. Social distance in both. Doing more hand washing. We do go out for dinner once a week...either a bar or a restaurant.

So we do some of the precautions, but we do not follow the CDC guidelines to a "T". The way I see most people wearing/adjusting/fiddling with masks, I do not believe they are doing much good. If people feel the need to isolate themselves, that is their decision. It is not ours.

Again, all the measures taken are to reduce the probability of getting infected. Some people will still contract the virus even though they are following all the guidelines; nothing short of total isolation in an airtight bubble or alone on a deserted island can drive the probability to zero. Here in Austin a study released a few months ago showed a correlation between people with positive test results and people who have been going to eat in restaurants, despite the precautions that the restaurants are taking.

 

[tridacna]

Personally, I am glad to see the US requiring negative PCR tests for anyone arriving from an international flight -- it's long overdue (countries that actually take the pandemic seriously have had similar requirements since last spring, we are just very, very late to act). I'd like to see the same requirement before boarding all domestic flights, too, since there's plenty of evidence that travel (whether from Cozumel or from Cleveland) spreads the pandemic.

Both PCR and rapid antigen tests are accepted. Why they’ve chosen to include individuals who have had the disease but exclude people who’ve been vaccinated is beyond my pay-grade.

 

[nwflyboy]

Both PCR and rapid antigen tests are accepted. Why they’ve chosen to include individuals who have had the disease but exclude people who’ve been vaccinated is beyond my pay-grade.

I don't know either, but would guess that it's probably because doing something else would complicate the implementation enough that just doing it this way for now gets them close.

It's worth noting that we do not yet know if individuals who have been vaccinated can still spread the disease. Most experts seem to suspect that won't be a problem, but we don't have evidence yet to suppurt that optimistic view. Based on how other vaccines for other diseases behave, it's likely that vaccinated individuals won't be able to spread covid, we will find out with the passage of time and large numbers of people vaccinated. The same is true for those who have "had the disease"...but there may be more shades of gray there (I don't know, just speculating).

No set of rules are perfect, the current/impending rules will surely be adjusted going forward.

 

[tridacna]

A

I don't know either, but would guess that it's probably because doing something else would complicate the implementation enough that just doing it this way for now gets them close.

It's worth noting that we do not yet know if individuals who have been vaccinated can still spread the disease. Most experts seem to suspect that won't be a problem, but we don't have evidence yet to suppurt that optimistic view. Based on how other vaccines for other diseases behave, it's likely that vaccinated individuals won't be able to spread covid, we will find out with the passage of time and large numbers of people vaccinated. The same is true for those who have "had the disease"...but there may be more shades of gray there (I don't know, just speculating).

No set of rules are perfect, the current/impending rules will surely be adjusted going forward.

Agreed. But we don’t know whether people who have survived the disease may be carriers either. I would prefer that they sided conservatively. Giving survivors a pass makes no sense. Their logic astounds me!

 

[ggunn]

A


Agreed. But we don’t know whether people who have survived the disease may be carriers either. I would prefer that they sided conservatively. Giving survivors a pass makes no sense. Their logic astounds me!

Of course, we are not privy to the logic; we can only see the result. It could be well thought out, with all conceivable factors considered and the math of probabilities worked out to many decimal places... or not. We can only speculate.

 

[scubadada]

Both PCR and rapid antigen tests are accepted. Why they’ve chosen to include individuals who have had the disease but exclude people who’ve been vaccinated is beyond my pay-grade.

I believe vaccinated individuals can still be infected and transmit disease. The vaccination appears to significantly decrease the risk of symptomatic and severe disease. Without symptoms, these individuals may even be at higher risk for transmission. We are still learning at a logarithmic rate.

Reinfection appears to be a relatively rare event.

Nearly everything in Infectious Diseases is statistics

 

[ReefHound]

All of this continued guessing... Dr Rich posted an article in another thread that does the best job I've seen at answering the question and there is indeed plenty of data just not enough for the medical experts to stake a definitive position.

 

[Dave Dillehay]

Given the new rules for re entry to the US, requiring Covid testing 3 days before reentry, we at the Villa Aldora have contracted with DR. Pasqual Piccolo to provide Covid antigen testing at the Villa Aldora for all guests. The testing will be performed at the Villa so the guests will not have to endure issues with finding a place for the test.

Dr. Piccolo will provide the required documentation for return to the US.


Dave Dillehay

 

[uncfnp]

My thoughts after some reflection...

Recent infection gets a pass because individuals can continue to test positive for some time after the illness but are no longer considered infectious.

Infection post vaccination alone is not enough to explain it’s absence. We still have to wear a mask. I wonder if it is because of the slow rollout of the vaccine and the concern for demand among travelers. But then again why not allow antibody proof and the touted Immunity Passport.