Covid surging in Bonaire

[scubadada]

One person in our party tested positive for the 5 day test. There were a lot of Abbott IDNOW boxes laying around leading me to believe that is what they are using, not a true PCR test. But it doesn’t really matter since the CDC says that PCR tests cannot distinguish between COVID and the flu.

This is incorrect. The Abbott ID Now test is a nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT). PCR is a subset of these tests. It is most likely that your colleague has Covid. Multiplex PCR is very accurate at differentiating between Covid and influenza

Stick with what you know, scuba diving. Don't spread false information!

 

[Outbound]

One person in our party tested positive for the 5 day test. There were a lot of Abbott IDNOW boxes laying around leading me to believe that is what they are using, not a true PCR test. But it doesn’t really matter since the CDC says that PCR tests cannot distinguish between COVID and the flu.

Leaving your last sentence aside...

Do you have any idea where this person may have been exposed? Was he/she going out and about on the island and dining at various restaurants, going to grocery stores, etc.? Just curious, and trying to judge potential risk of possible isolation for our upcoming trip.

 

[divezonescuba]

This is incorrect. The Abbott ID Now test is a nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT). PCR is a subset of these tests. It is most likely that your colleague has Covid. Multiplex PCR is very accurate at differentiating between Covid and influenza

Stick with what you know, scuba diving. Don't spread false information!

You are arguing with yourself. I said the Abbott IDNow is not a true PCR test. It is not. It is a type of NAAT test. A PCR test is a type of NAAT test. People are suppose to receive a 5 day PCR test, not an Abbott IDNOW test which is not a PCR test.

You should stick with what you know, it is obviously not What is happening here on Bonaire.

 

[Joneill]

Leaving your last sentence aside...

Do you have any idea where this person may have been exposed? Was he/she going out and about on the island and dining at various restaurants, going to grocery stores, etc.? Just curious, and trying to judge potential risk of possible isolation for our upcoming trip.

Not speaking of Bonaire, but after avoiding Covid for almost 2 years, an enormous amount of friends and family have tested positive in the last 4 weeks here in NJ (Luckily, none had more than mild symptons). Most had continued to be quite vigilant in that time but Omicron appears to be incredibly transmisssble and even very casual contact seems enough to get infected.

Anyone traveling internationally in the next 4-6 weeks better be prepared for an isolation/quarantine during their stay. We canceled our Aruba trip that was supposed to start yesterday as we couldn't risk a forced, extended stay if we had a positive exit test (which is not a small chance at present with over 100 tourists testing positive in Aruba each day for almost the past week).

Travelers beware!

 

[divezonescuba]

Leaving your last sentence aside...

Do you have any idea where this person may have been exposed? Was he/she going out and about on the island and dining at various restaurants, going to grocery stores, etc.? Just curious, and trying to judge potential risk of possible isolation for our upcoming trip.

We suspect that the person contracted it in the US, but did not become sufficiently positive until after the original pcr test to come to Bonaire. So maybe the 48 hour preflight window. the person did complain of having a cold the second full day after arrival.

We did see a lot of gatherings on the first which didn’t help anything. Many were indoors and not masked. Today, everybody was forced to be masked and only one person per household was allowed in stores. In the grocery store, you couldn’t use a basket. You had to have a cart To get in. I am not sure what the difference is. I didn’t have a cart token nor a quarter so I couldn’t get in, until a nice lady gave me her cart. There is a guard at the front enforcing the rules.

in the restaurants, no more than 4 people are allowed at a table, but there are a lot of people standing around at some restaurants waiting to be seated.

cactus blue is not operating due to COVID. Some of our groups restaurant reservations have been cancelled. Service is slow in general when you can get seated. we went to several restaurants a day or so ago and none had any food left.

We suspected that COVID might be an issue here. One persons wife cancelled because she could not afford to be quarantine. We decided to go anyway, but purchased insurance that covers COVID trip interruptions.

It was very stressful for a few hours prior to not receiving our day 5 “PCR” test results back. It is also somewhat disconcerting that they only contact you if you are positive. I think many would like peace of mind, not having to wonder when they are going to get positive results notification.

There is a Facebook group called Bonaire expats and COVID-19 that you would find helpful on making a decision. There was one post that said 16 of their group of 20 cancelled due to vaccination / testing / quarantining issues.

 

[scubadada]

You are arguing with yourself. I said the Abbott IDNow is not a true PCR test. It is not. It is a type of NAAT test. A PCR test is a type of NAAT test. People are suppose to receive a 5 day PCR test, not an Abbott IDNOW test which is not a PC R test.

You should stick with what you know, it is obviously not What is happening here on Bonaire.

The countries do not always accurately communicate their policies. The ID Now is an accurate NAAT test for Covid. Again, your colleague most likely had Covid.

Get over it, perhaps you should just not travel until you understand the obstacles. I will go to my scuba shop for scuba information, I will go to a qualified professional for medical information.

 

[tridacna]

Arguing about an infectious disease with an infectious diseases doctor. Brilliant!

 

[scubbq]

The story of a vaxxed and recovered COVID zombie traveling to Bonaire, for the third time in a calendar year, staying at Divi.

4 dives in, arrived yesterday at 4. Solo diver, reach out if you are here! Three turtles on first dive, have a bunch of dives planned on East coast in the coming week, can’t wait.

The story is I’ve been In direct contact with crisiswebsote/bonaire health department (twice over the past month), gaining their direct written permission via email to enter with a 24hr antigen test and original positive test from 12/14. I printed this correspondence out, the only thing that would allow the business class gate agent (3 of them huddling to decide how to respond properly at 4am) in Boston to call corporate corona magic hotline to gain a decision, while not properly communicating the circumstances of my $1700 fare approved by the Government of Bonaire.

I literally sent them my test results 23 hours before my flight, had their consent to enter with a warm regards from the official Bonarian .gov email account. Then a 30 minute heart attack dealing with the gate agent in the USA.

The Delta system has zero info about recovered corona people, just a negative PCR or take a hike. Buyer beware. Smooth on the Bonaire entry side.

 

[tursiops]

You are arguing with yourself. I said the Abbott IDNow is not a true PCR test. It is not. It is a type of NAAT test. A PCR test is a type of NAAT test. People are suppose to receive a 5 day PCR test, not an Abbott IDNOW test which is not a PCR test.

What you may not know is that Bonaire is perfectly happy with the ID NOW NAAT test. They accept it for entry, and they use it locally. They (and others) use "PCR" when what they really mean is NAAT. Having just returned from Bonaire and taken the "day 5 PCR test" I am quite certain it was a NAAT test, probably ID NOW, because the results were known within about 15 minutes, they told me. It could not have been the kind of PCR test you are referring to.

 

[DonnaDogMom]

Just back from a group dive trip to Bonaire over New Years. Two people in our group and 8-10 in another US group tested positive. At first they were saying we all needed to quarantine 5 days even if we tested negative. This was two days before our scheduled departure. After a day in quarantine and some pressure from the US consulate those who tested negative on another test were released from quarantine. i made it home and felt fortunate that we only missed one day of diving.