Covid-19 infection on a liveaboard at the Maldives

[Raphus]

No sympathy at all.
Travel in a poor country during a pandemic and then crying about the result?
Like written early in the article: we knew the risks.. Seems like they didnt.

One part bugs me a lot:
They were mad when they werent allowrd to leave the country when the quarantine is over. EVEN IF THEY ARE STILL TESTED POSITIVE.
I mean.. What tha hell.. They wanted to go on a plane, knowing they were tested positive the same day. Infect others that might not be so lucky to have mild symptoms?

Thats the reason this pandemic is so bad.
Not because of the virus, but because of how some people deal with it.

 

[doctormike]

Also frankly speaking 90% of the passengers on board an airplane from and to the Maldives are holidaygoers, all "taking the same risk". I think it is up to everyone to decide about it.

The whole point of public health measures, which we have been using to deal with pandemics since the 14th century, is the exact opposite of it being "up to everyone to decide about it".

 

[scubadada]

Yep I am travelling. And I assume full responsibility for my travels.

I am still not involved in the described situation, as I am just posting the link to give fellow divers access to the contained information.

I did not find any related rule that would disallow this post, but if you are saying the post is inappropriate because travel related posts are being censored by scubaboard.com staff please remove it.

Nothing wrong with your post. You are simply responsible for you own actions. I hope to not read about you in a similar trip diary.

Take care

 

[doctormike]

One part bugs me a lot:
They were mad when they werent allowrd to leave the country when the quarantine is over. EVEN IF THEY ARE STILL TESTED POSITIVE.
I mean.. What tha hell.. They wanted to go on a plane, knowing they were tested positive the same day. Infect others that might not be so lucky to have mild symptoms?

I didn't read the whole diary, and I'm totally on your side here, but there is one point that people should know about that.

Current CDC recommendations is 10 days isolation after a positive PCR. In rare cases (severe illness or immune disease) this isolation can be extended to 20 days. But some people will shed viral particles that are not replication-competent for months. That's why some operating rooms, which generally require a negative test for elective surgery, will not bother testing anyone who is more than 10 days out from a positive PCR. They are assumed not to be contagious, even if they did still have a positive test.

 

[Oliver Ohlendorf]

No sympathy at all.
Travel in a poor country during a pandemic and then crying about the result?
Like written early in the article: we knew the risks.. Seems like they didnt.

One part bugs me a lot:
They were mad when they werent allowrd to leave the country when the quarantine is over. EVEN IF THEY ARE STILL TESTED POSITIVE.
I mean.. What tha hell.. They wanted to go on a plane, knowing they were tested positive the same day. Infect others that might not be so lucky to have mild symptoms?

Thats the reason this pandemic is so bad.
Not because of the virus, but because of how some people deal with it.

I do have to agree about the second part. I do not understand why someone who has been tested positive with Covid-19 would want to travel anywhere before they stop being contagious.

About "travelling to a poor country", they have been paying 75 USD/night for the food and accommodation. I think it is fair to expect a decent "service" for that amount (especially in a "poor" country).

Did you know that for example the Canarian Islands have a free Covid insurance cover in place for all visitors, according to their intention to keep some travellers coming?

Did you know that a considerable part of the GDP of the Maldives comes from the tourist sector? So actually travelling there and "taking the risk" is bringing their economy needed income.

Did you know that infection rates on these islands are multitudes lower than within most rich countries?

 

[scubadada]

I do have to agree about the second part. I do not understand why someone who has been tested positive with Covid-19 would want to travel anywhere before stop being contagious.

About "travelling to a poor country", they have been paying 75 USD/night for the food and accommodation. I think it is fair to accept a decent "service" for that amount (especially in a "poor" country).

Did you know that the Canarian Islands have a free Covid insurance cover in place for all visitors, according to their intention to keep some travellers coming?
Did you know that a considerable part of the GDP of the Maldives comes from the tourist sector? So actually travelling there and "taking the risk" is bringing their economy needed income.

Did you know that infection rates on these islands are multitudes lower than within most rich countries?

You could use your arguments to rationalize traveling anywhere. Who has not been economically harmed by the pandemic?

 

[Oliver Ohlendorf]

I didn't read the whole diary, and I'm totally on your side here, but there is one point that people should know about that.

Current CDC recommendations is 10 days isolation after a positive PCR. In rare cases (severe illness or immune disease) this isolation can be extended to 20 days. But some people will shed viral particles that are not replication-competent for months. That's why some operating rooms, which generally require a negative test for elective surgery, will not bother testing anyone who is more than 10 days out from a positive PCR. They are assumed not to be contagious, even if they did still have a positive test.

I think it is mentioned somewhere in the diary that even with positive tests the people are considered not to be contagious after the 14 days quarantine. Thank you for pointing out that this seems correct than.
I personally did not know this.

So we can assume that in the majority of cases people would not infect others after 14 days past their first positive test?

 

[uncfnp]

I didn't read the whole diary, and I'm totally on your side here, but there is one point that people should know about that.

Current CDC recommendations is 10 days isolation after a positive PCR. In rare cases (severe illness or immune disease) this isolation can be extended to 20 days. But some people will shed viral particles that are not replication-competent for months. That's why some operating rooms, which generally require a negative test for elective surgery, will not bother testing anyone who is more than 10 days out from a positive PCR. They are assumed not to be contagious, even if they did still have a positive test.

I believe this is the same reason the USA is allowing reentry without a covid test if documented positive and released from isolation within 3 months.

 

[doctormike]

I believe this is the same reason the USA is allowing reentry without a covid test if documented positive and release from isolation.

Exactly, and this is something that I was following closely. Initially, a history of a positive test didn't get you out of further testing requirements, which meant that either we were wasting resources testing recovered people, or we were going to unnecessarily bar non-infectious people from travel and elective surgery, potentially for months after their infection. As more and more people recovered, that meant that there were going to be millions of people in that category. So that's now part of the decision tree.

I remember struggling to convince the medical board of our ambulatory surgery center to drop the negative test requirement for people who had documented positive PCR tests more than 20 days old. It took a while, even though that was what the hospital was doing!

 

[Oliver Ohlendorf]

You could use your arguments to rationalize traveling anywhere. Who has not been economically harmed by the pandemic?

Yes I could. And indeed I am travelling. Last year I have been twice to the Maldives and in 2 different other countries as well. From last December I have spent 3 weeks at the Canaries. I have experienced how grateful the people depending on tourists are to those who are "taking the extra risk".

At the same time many of my friends who only leave their home for food and to go to work got infected by Covid-19. Numerous people are even denying the fact how contagious Covid-19 really is, so they would not wear masks or distance themselves.

I think there is a lot of controversy involved with this pandemic. Most people are just trying to force their opinion and thoughts on everyone else, be it Covid-denyer or Stay-at-home supporter.
In fact we Europeans are a thread to the places we visit, because statistically the chance of carrying the virus is much higher among us.