Covid testing in Cozumel

[USMC0842]

So we just got back from Playa del Carmen. I know this is for Cozumel but I figured close enough. We stayed at Paradisus. They are offering free Covid tests and insurance. The insurance covers for any medical for up to 15 days. What I did not know was the insurance is not just for COVID. I was very easy to get the tests done. We were a group of ten and it was great. My son ended up getting a ear infection. They Activated the insurance for us and it didn’t cost us a dime. They had a doctor come to are room. The only thing we paid for was the antibiotics. The cost was $20 for two bottles. Not sure how it is at other resorts but it went very smooth at Paradisus.

 

[morecowbells]

Shaking my head that the Covid testing rule is still in place. Now the CDC states that vaccinated people can ditch the mask indoors. I never thought the travel requirement made any sense, but perplexed that it has never been revisited.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Shaking my head that the Covid testing rule is still in place. Now the CDC states that vaccinated people can ditch the mask indoors. I never thought the travel requirement made any sense, but perplexed that it has never been revisited.

The rules change slowly as the data trickles in. It has been this way throughout the pandemic.

 

[ggunn]

I am on the island now and they seem to be pretty much on CDC rules. Masking in cabs and entering restaurants, not so much outdoors. On dive boats sometimes DMs mask for part of the trip but divers do not. Ditto for the fishing boat. The hotel (Blue Angel) Is mostly open air with no common enclosed spaces; the staff masks but guests mostly do not except sometimes in the lobby, which is also open. My group of eight are all vaccinated; I would not be here otherwise.

No judgement, just my observations.

 

[ReefHound]

Shaking my head that the Covid testing rule is still in place. Now the CDC states that vaccinated people can ditch the mask indoors. I never thought the travel requirement made any sense, but perplexed that it has never been revisited.

There is no practical way to selectively enforce a mask mandate unless you have Vaccinated! tattooed on people's foreheads. And if people look around and see lots of others without a mask, they are going to take theirs off if they don't like wearing masks.

 

[morecowbells]

There is no practical way to selectively enforce a mask mandate unless you have Vaccinated! tattooed on people's foreheads. And if people look around and see lots of others without a mask, they are going to take theirs off if they don't like wearing masks.

I am only referring to the CDC mandate requiring US citizens to get tested prior to returning to the US. We can travel between hotspots in the US with no questions asked, yet returning from places with low Covid numbers such as Cozumel has always been questionable. We are being told it is okay to now ditch the masks if we are vaccinated, but the travel restrictions are still in place. Personally, I think the 3 day test rule was absurd in the first place and should have been revisited a several months ago.

 

[Manatee Diver]

I am only referring to the CDC mandate requiring US citizens to get tested prior to returning to the US. We can travel between hotspots in the US with no questions asked, yet returning from places with low Covid numbers such as Cozumel has always been questionable. Personally, I think the 3 day test rule was absurd in the first place and should have been revisited a several months ago.

In the updated guidelines there is more reasons why the return testing for vaccinated people is stupid. As the guidelines specifically says unless your symptomatic there is no reason for vaccinated people to take the test even with a known exposure to COVID.

 

[cvchief]

I am only referring to the CDC mandate requiring US citizens to get tested prior to returning to the US. We can travel between hotspots in the US with no questions asked, yet returning from places with low Covid numbers such as Cozumel has always been questionable. We are being told it is okay to now ditch the masks if we are vaccinated, but the travel restrictions are still in place. Personally, I think the 3 day test rule was absurd in the first place and should have been revisited a several months ago.

Well it could have caught a few sick people I guess and kept them from coughing on me? Sort of felt like it was part that and part just discouraging international travel?

Of course, the whole 'vaccinated people don't need to do X' is an issue. Early on with few people vaccinated, you couldn't really say that because a large part of the unvaccinated people would just lie because that is what people do and there was really no way to check them. So the Gov drags their feet until there are enough vaccinated to reduces the unvaccinated liars to a manageable number....

 

[Manatee Diver]

Of course, the whole 'vaccinated people don't need to do X' is an issue. Early on with few people vaccinated, you couldn't really say that because a large part of the unvaccinated people would just lie because that is what people do and there was really no way to check them. So the Gov drags their feet until there are enough vaccinated to reduces the unvaccinated liars to a manageable number....

I don't think that is the case, if I am presenting a PCR test at check in I can easily present a vaccination card. And the data showing that vaccinated people not only don't get symptoms, but don't get the virus in any significant numbers, and if they do get the virus they rarely get a high enough viral load to transmit it easily; that data is a couple of months old now.

Other countries have actually acted on it well before we did, because the virus response is less political there. I think that the covid guidelines have always been political, when Trump was in office they were probably overly loose, Biden came in office promising that they would be tightened. And now they are finding that it is hurting the economic recovery and people are asking "Why should get an unproven vaccine if it doesn't even improve anything for me?" That is why you have the sudden change, it literally changed overnight without the usual signals you get with changes.

 

[cvchief]

I don't think that is the case, if I am presenting a PCR test at check in I can easily present a vaccination card.

Yep.... you sure can...... An eBay account reportedly sold over 100 fake COVID-19 vaccination cards in two weeks

Or like a printer.....

While, I think, at least in Coz, there is some degree of verification on the test results, as the actual testing companies are operating in the same county vs a vax card from some other country? I could be wrong. Maybe you can just as easily fake a test result?

You would think they could just read my 5G vaccine chip? It has really improved my cell phone reception. Also like "Hey, Siri" I can say "Hey, Bill Gates" to my arm. Sadly the darn thing only searches on Bing and everyone hates that....

And the data showing that vaccinated people not only don't get symptoms, but don't get the virus in any significant numbers, and if they do get the virus they rarely get a high enough viral load to transmit it easily; that data is a couple of months old now.

Other countries have actually acted on it well before we did, because the virus response is less political there. I think that the covid guidelines have always been political, when Trump was in office they were probably overly loose, Biden came in office promising that they would be tightened. And now they are finding that it is hurting the economic recovery and people are asking "Why should get an unproven vaccine if it doesn't even improve anything for me?" That is why you have the sudden change, it literally changed overnight without the usual signals you get with changes.

Oh I completely agree. My wife was locked up for 14 month because of her COVID risks. Now, we have compete faith given the data. We did two Coz trips in the last month.

And I agree the with the 'wait, what good is the vaccine then' argument, but I think the fits my theory as well. And at the end of the day, it really is the states that control it. And many of them did it many different ways, red state getting ahead of the CDC under Pres Trump and now blue states resisting following the new CDC advice under President Biden. But it is all too political, which overshadows science both ways really.