Is it possible to travel responsibly (during a pandemic)?

[GJC]

Another consideration is if you fly somewhere and happen to test positive before you fly back, you will be in quarantine for 14 days or so until you can fly back.

 

[KenGordon]

The ethical issue is you're putting other people's lives in danger. The counter argument is we do that every time we drive, outside the pandemic we could acquire and spread strains of the flu that could injure and kill people, and we don't normally live lives committed to maximum risk mitigation.

I don’t think not flying around the world is maximum risk mitigation. Not going outside your house at all would be maximum risk mitigation. Who goes on holiday into an area with an Ebola outbreak? The travel is a key EXTRA risk.

Driving is not as risky as covid19. In the U.K. Covid has killed 50 years worth of current road deaths and about 20 years worth of improvements (road deaths are 25% of what they used to be). Part of that is modifying the behaviour of drivers.

Here we have huge annual health campaigns to reduce the spread of flu and flu kills an order of magnitude fewer people.

In all the work situations (especially factories and construction) risk mitigation is a key requirement. This save thousands of lives a year.

 

[Blackcrusader]

Another consideration is if you fly somewhere and happen to test positive before you fly back, you will be in quarantine for 14 days or so until you can fly back.

Not only that you may have another 14 days mandatory quarantine at final destination as well.

 

[Jackie Treehorn]

Sweet, thanks. That seems a nice summation of valid concerns.
After the first couple pages I just got sick of condescension, patronizing, passive aggressive bents and logical fallacies.

Take a topic that has wide shifts in individual's personal experiences, mix in some political drama, and then discuss it on a relatively anonymous internet message board... and voila! A $%^& show is served.

 

[uncfnp]

Not only that you may have another 14 days mandatory quarantine at final destination as well.

Not in the US since you can not board a plane to return home without a negative test or documentation of recovery.

 

[tursiops]

Not in the US since you can not board a plane to return home without a negative test or documentation of recovery.

However, the CDC recommends (COVID-19 and Your Health) self-quarantine/isolation after return and the Presidential Executive Order of January 21 says this is mandatory, per (a)(ii):

Local/State laws can supersede this.

 

[uncfnp]

However, the CDC recommends (COVID-19 and Your Health) self-quarantine/isolation after return and the Presidential Executive Order of January 21 says this is mandatory, per (a)(ii):
View attachment 642474

Local/State laws can supersede this.

Quarantine is applicable to exposure. A traveler testing positive and undergoing isolation until released for travel does not need quarantine since they are within the grace period from illness and can indeed travel for 3 months without additional testing.

• For adults previously diagnosed with symptomatic laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 who remain asymptomatic after recovery, retesting or quarantine is not recommended if another exposure occurs or might have occurred within 90 days after the date of symptom onset from the initial SARS-CoV-2 infection.
  
  
• For adults with past laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 who have never had symptoms and have had a subsequent exposure or possible exposure, the date of first positive viral diagnostic test result (RT-PCR or antigen) for SARS-CoV-2 should be used in place of the date of symptom onset to determine the interval between past infection and the recent exposure. This interval can then be used to inform decisions about testing for the recent exposure.
• 
  

 

[tursiops]

Quarantine is applicable to exposure. A traveler testing positive and undergoing isolation until released for travel does not need quarantine since they are within the grace period from illness and can indeed travel for 3 months without additional testing.

• For adults previously diagnosed with symptomatic laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 who remain asymptomatic after recovery, retesting or quarantine is not recommended if another exposure occurs or might have occurred within 90 days after the date of symptom onset from the initial SARS-CoV-2 infection.
  
  
• For adults with past laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 who have never had symptoms and have had a subsequent exposure or possible exposure, the date of first positive viral diagnostic test result (RT-PCR or antigen) for SARS-CoV-2 should be used in place of the date of symptom onset to determine the interval between past infection and the recent exposure. This interval can then be used to inform decisions about testing for the recent exposure.

How does this relate to the CDC guidance, which is simply about returning home from travel internationally?

 

[uncfnp]

The CDC guidance to quarantine is to cover for possible exposure during travel. We have the same guidance for exposure in the states though few follow it. Specifically the guidelines are...


Get Tested and Stay Home After Travel

• Get tested with a viral test 3-5 days after travel AND stay home and self-quarantine for a full 7 days after travel.
  • Even if you test negative, stay home and self-quarantine for the full 7 days.
  • If your test is positive, isolate yourself to protect others from getting infected.
• If you don’t get tested, stay home and self-quarantine for 10 days after travel.
• Avoid being around people who are at increased risk for severe illness for 14 days, whether you get tested or not.

These are guidelines for returning travelers that were not diagnosed with covid.

I am not aware of specific guidelines for returning travelers post covid other than the general covid exposure recommendations I linked. Do you have a link?

 

[chillyinCanada]

The CDC guidance to quarantine is to cover for possible exposure during travel. We have the same guidance for exposure in the states though few follow it. Specifically the guidelines are...


Get Tested and Stay Home After Travel

• Get tested with a viral test 3-5 days after travel AND stay home and self-quarantine for a full 7 days after travel.
  • Even if you test negative, stay home and self-quarantine for the full 7 days.
  • If your test is positive, isolate yourself to protect others from getting infected.
• If you don’t get tested, stay home and self-quarantine for 10 days after travel.
• Avoid being around people who are at increased risk for severe illness for 14 days, whether you get tested or not.

These are guidelines for returning travelers that were not diagnosed with covid.

I am not aware of specific guidelines for returning travelers post covid other than the general covid exposure recommendations I linked. Do you have a link?

Those are specific to the US and this is an international board. For instance, Canada's re-entry requirements for all international travelers are the same and onerous on healthy returnees and extremely unpleasant and even more expensive for covid infected returnees.