What to do if you test positive before flying home?

[Joneill]

I always go with MiB, individuals are smart, people are dumb.

Vaccination need to be an appealing option, beyond just you know less dying and hospitals. Way less doesn't sink in. (So you are saying I still could die?)

Got a vax card, you don't have to get a test to fly home. People might like that.

Except that being vaccinated and presenting a vax card in no way means you are not actively infected with Covid and able to spread it to others - which is the reason they require the test. Now that it appears that vaccinated individuls can actively carry and spread the virus as easily as unvaccinated individuals, it would seem that you can't drop the testing requirement - if you are truly "following the science"?

 

[cvchief]

Except that being vaccinated and presenting a vax card in no way means you are not actively infected with Covid and able to spread it to others - which is the reason they require the test. Now that it appears that vaccinated individuls can actively carry and spread the virus as easily as unvaccinated individuals, it would seem that you can't drop the testing requirement - if you are truly "following the science"?

I posted on that. There are cavets on 'as easily as unvaxxed'. I think that become one of those things where people like to say that "Oh well its the same" and it really maybe isnt.

And I am not saying they SHOULD drop it, I am just saying that producing privileges for the vaxxed is probably more helpful than many other things.

I requote:

"
The new data says that a fully vaccinated person who experiences a breakthrough infection can spread the virus just as much as an unvaccinated person. Is this only for symptomatic infections?
It’s expected that symptomatic breakthroughs are more contagious than asymptomatic breakthroughs.

When extrapolating, it is critical to understand that this study is derived primarily from one major site in which the activities and the settings that were leading to infections are not necessarily representative of the day-to-day life of a fully vaccinated individual."

New Data on COVID-19 Transmission by Vaccinated Individuals

 

[Outbound]

Except that being vaccinated and presenting a vax card in no way means you are not actively infected with Covid and able to spread it to others - which is the reason they require the test. Now that it appears that vaccinated individuls can actively carry and spread the virus as easily as unvaccinated individuals, it would seem that you can't drop the testing requirement - if you are truly "following the science"?

I get what you are saying, but the SARS-CoV-2 virus isn't going anywhere. It will be an endemic disease in the human population. Eventually it will attenuate to one of several respiratory diseases that occasionally flares up into epidemics but mostly impacts the elderly and those with compromised immune systems or underlying medical conditions, much like influenza does. Are we still going to require testing for it for travelers?

I understand that we aren't at that point yet. But we could be much closer, at least in the US, if more people got vaccinated. That's the frustration I and many others are feeling. If we had much higher level of vaccination in this country, we likely would not require returning travelers to test negative.

 

[ggunn]

The main problem is that, for a sizable percent of the population, there is no amount of data, information, or assuaging that will convince them to get a vaccine. These are folks who do not want to wear masks, do not want to social distance, do not want to get vaccinated, and want to pretend that the whole pandemic is just a hoax and not nearly as bad as people say. Until they land in the hospital on a ventilator. Then they have a change of heart and say that they wish they had gotten vaccinated.

And a significant portion of those folks object to vaccination for no other reason than that an authority figure is trying to get them to submit to it.

 

[Outbound]

And a significant portion of those folks object to vaccination for no other reason than that an authority figure is trying to get them to submit to it.

So what do we do? If no one tells them to get a vaccine, they won't get a vaccine. If someone tells to to get a vaccine, they cry "Don't tell me what to do!" Yeah, we can have local people they trust entice them to get vaccinated, and that sometimes works. But not nearly enough.

 

[ReefHound]

I strongly disagree. Public health authorities have answered all questions to the best of their ability given the data at hand. Remember, this is a novel virus. We don't know how long natural infection confers immunity because we've only been in this pandemic for a year and a half and because we have multiple variants which have circulated in that time. We do know, however, that people who were infected with COVID should still get a vaccine for greater protection.

More of the same old nonsense and double standards. We don't know any more about how long vaccinated immunity lasts than reovered immunity yet that hasn't stopped the push for vaccinations. We didn't know squat about what vaccinations would do in conjunction with recovered immunity yet that didn't stopped the push for vaccinations. I've had it with the wavering back and forth between "we know" and "we don't know" using the same data set depending on what suits the agenda.

Why don't we know the pct of breakthrough infections for those recovered? What pct of new hospitalizations are those who previously recovered? The data set is there.

Recovered plus vaccinated may be better than either recovered or vaccinated. That's simply addition. By the same logic, Moderna vaccinated plus JJ vaccinated is probably better than either one alone so why not a push for double or triple vaccination?

By the way, quantify "greater protection". Are you talking about an increase in effectiveness of 5% or 0.5%? Or are you just guessing because you don't have an actual number?

 

[ReefHound]

The main problem is that, for a sizable percent of the population, there is no amount of data, information, or assuaging that will convince them to get a vaccine.

Are you saying that these people have never had a vaccine? That a sizeable percent of the population is opposed to all vaccines? Or is it just *this* vaccine. I don't think it's fair to call someone an "anti-vaxxer" if they have accepted previous vaccines but are hesitant about this quickly developed emergency-authorized vaccine using a brand new mechanism.

 

[Outbound]

Are you saying that these people have never had a vaccine? That a sizeable percent of the population is opposed to all vaccines? Or is it just *this* vaccine. I don't think it's fair to call someone an "anti-vaxxer" if they have accepted previous vaccines but are hesitant about this quickly developed emergency-authorized vaccine using a brand new mechanism.

It's clear that nothing I say will convince you, so I won't bother. I'll just say, enjoy your delta inoculation.

 

[ReefHound]

It's clear that nothing I say will convince you, so I won't bother. I'll just say, enjoy your delta inoculation.

You are correct. Nothing you can SAY will convince me and clearly you cannot provide the data and numbers that I requested.

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

apparently eating food, drinking alcohol, and smoking cigarettes inside of 3 hours before you take the test can result in false negative results. that's why i never schedule my test any time before 10am.