What to do if you test positive before flying home?

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I just arrived from Greece yesterday. As I flew back from the island of Samos on Saturday, I just got an antigen test for 20 Euros in the Athens airport. Payment to receipt of results was 30 minutes. They are open 24/7.

If a country has its act together like Greece, getting tested prior to a flight is no big deal.

I can't believe however that the world hasn't been able to get an international database on those vaccinated. I worry more about losing my vaccination card than both my passports.

 

[ggunn]

It may not be possible to tell how much of a risk vaccinated people are of becoming asymptomatic carriers of COVID. Counting asymptomatic COVID cases among the vaccinated is a futile effort because it cannot take into account the number of such cases among people who weren't tested.

 

[BRT]

I just arrived from Greece yesterday. As I flew back from the island of Samos on Saturday, I just got an antigen test for 20 Euros in the Athens airport. Payment to receipt of results was 30 minutes. They are open 24/7.

If a country has its act together like Greece, getting tested prior to a flight is no big deal.

I can't believe however that the world hasn't been able to get an international database on those vaccinated. I worry more about losing my vaccination card than both my passports.

What would you have done if you tested positive? Coming out of Cozumel in February I was very interested in getting the test as early as I could and still meet the 72 hour limit. We were close to the 72 hours when the plane took off.

 

[gopbroek]

Tourists have been tested up to a rate of thousands a day in order to depart for 7 months now with the peak numbers in the last few months. I believe the vast majority since spring have been fully vaccinated. I hear of a few outliers testing positive but have not heard of many testing positive.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I just arrived from Greece yesterday. As I flew back from the island of Samos on Saturday, I just got an antigen test for 20 Euros in the Athens airport. Payment to receipt of results was 30 minutes. They are open 24/7.

I'm glad it worked out, but isn't it a bit of a gamble to count on having a test completed at an airport just hours before your flight? I flew back from Brussels a couple of weeks ago, and while there was a test center in the airport I don't count on things working as advertised. I didn't trust that they wouldn't be closed for an hour for some unexplained reason or on strike (this is Belgium) or who knows what. I had a test done two days before my flight, figuring that if something went wrong completing my test I left myself time to schedule another one.

If I recall, Samos is the island that claims Pythagoras as one of their own. Cool.

 

[morecowbells]

Personally I think it is total BS when our state department requires US citizens entering legally to jump through the Covid testing hoops. If they are striving for increased vaccination rates, they should eliminate the testing requirement for vaccinated individuals. That would motivate many people to get vaccinated on the basis of circumventing testing requirements.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

What would you have done if you tested positive? Coming out of Cozumel in February I was very interested in getting the test as early as I could and still meet the 72 hour limit. We were close to the 72 hours when the plane took off.

Emailed my boss and go back to my family's house in Athens. I do realize that is not a luxury most travelers have.

However, while in Greece, I only went to "green" island (Kalymnos & Samos) and generally avoided people. I still wore masks, though I forgot to when I got a selfie with the Prime Minister (oops!). Oh yeah, and I just bought an Italian blazer for that dinner event. When the president of Cyprus's security detail blocked people on the sidewalk as he was coming out of the King George Hotel, I walked right through them. Some of the security detail looked at me funny: Wait! He doesn't have an ear piece. Meh, he looks like us and is dressed like us, must be fine. lol

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I'm glad it worked out, but isn't it a bit of a gamble to count on having a test completed at an airport just hours before your flight? I flew back from Brussels a couple of weeks ago, and while there was a test center in the airport I don't count on things working as advertised. I didn't trust that they wouldn't be closed for an hour for some unexplained reason or on strike (this is Belgium) or who knows what. I had a test done two days before my flight, figuring that if something went wrong completing my test I left myself time to schedule another one.

Well Greece is desperate for tourists, so they are doing everything they can to accommodate requirements for tourists to return to their home country. They are motivated to make people happy. While the Prime Minister has mixed approval ratings, he has made mandates for some things to work well. He does deserve some credit for that. If you are that concerned however, you can go the previous day to take an antigen test. I think the Greeks right now are opting not to strike as they understand how detrimental it will be for their country (and for them).

If I recall, Samos is the island that claims Pythagoras as one of their own. Cool.

We stayed just outside of Pythagoreio. My favorite fishing village in all of Greece. Went to his alleged cave and got a short respite from the record heat.

While the diving isn't that great, Samos Dive Center located there is run by a guy named Tony who knows where some antiquities are located. Anyone who goes, say hello for me.

 

[ReefHound]

So far, it seems that people infected with SARS-CoV-2 in 2020 had a 2.34 times greater chance of reinfection compared to those who were fully vaccinated. Reduced Risk of Reinfection with SARS-CoV-2 After COVID-19...

You could always just google this information yourself if you were truly interested in being well informed before making your vaccination decision.

Not if one googled more than 3 days ago since this was just released. Why are they comparing those with covid infections from Oct-Dec 2020 with those vaccinated in 2021? Compare apples to apples. And such a tiny sample from one location with tons of flaws in the methodology. Here are some of them, which they acknowledge is read past the first paragraph.

"reinfection was not confirmed through whole genome sequencing" for the recovered but "reinfection is the most likely explanation". So basically an educated guess that might drive the numbers higher for the recovered column.

"persons who have been vaccinated are possibly less likely to get tested. Therefore, the association of reinfection and lack of vaccination might be overestimated." which drives numbers lower in the vaccinated column.

"vaccination data are possibly missing for some persons in these analyses" so some of those re-infections put into the recovered column might have been vaccinated and belong in both columns.

"Finally, this is a retrospective study design using data from a single state during a 2-month period; therefore, these findings cannot be used to infer causation. Additional prospective studies with larger populations are warranted to support these findings."

Again I ask, why not simply ask new hospitaizations about both vaccination and recovered status, and release the numbers for tens of thousands of cases covering all states?

 

[ReefHound]

I have to say your bias is showing. I know a bunch of people whose docs told them, yea that's covid, just stay home. NOT in your data set.

I know a bunch of people who are like I have covid way back in November 2019. Besides like being wrong, they wouldn't be in the data set.

I don't believe there is a clear identification of prior infections. There is emerging data that maybe just one vax after a decent infection REALLY protects you. Like gold standard maybe.

Bias? From asking simple questions like "Why don't we know the pct of breakthrough infections for those recovered? What pct of new hospitalizations are those who previously recovered?"

I think you're the one biased since you twisted the scenario. I didn't ask about cases, I asked about hospitizations. The stay at home recoveries apply to breakthrough infections of the vaccinated as well as the recovered. A doc is going to recommend hospital versus home based on your current condition of symptoms not your past history of whether you were previously vaccinated or recovered.