Covid Tests

[Joneill]

This is really strange. What would have happened if you had tested positive? Had to fly back home I suppose.
A friend of mine told me recently "I have done a lot of travelling recently all over. Including Namibia and Botswana. COVID is a non-issue for travel now." I've also been to Luxembourg, Turkey and the Azores over the summer - the biggest imposition was that you still have to wear facemasks on the interisland flights in the Azores. Maybe the more expensive your destination, the more of an issue it is likely still to be making of Covid. Which is a reason to avoid expensive destinations.

If positive, I believe that I would have had to quarantine at the resort for 5 days and then retest. I just checked and It looks like they have since dropped the post arrival test on Fiji.

For many of these places, the main issue has been that they do not have the facilities/staff to handle a large spike in hospitalizations so they were just trying to keep things under control to avoid overwhelming their systems.

Unless we see spikes as we head into the fall, I suspect that many of these post arrival tests will be dropped in most places over the next 3-6 months.

 

[bcaderunr]

I've just been told that I need to get a negative Covid test for a liveaboard trip that I was thinking of booking in Mexico. If it's positive then I'm not allowed to join the trip. This rules it out as far as I'm concerned because I don't want to take the risk of flying all the way there only to not be able to dive. How widespread is this sort of requirement on liveaboards worldwide nowadays?

Thanks

Wife and I had to do a quick self-test before boarding the Caribbean Explorer (St. Maarten) in July this year. We were fine with that. To everyone's relief, we were negative and we happily joined the other non-covid passengers and crew. Anyone with covid stepping onto liveaboard should be ashamed of themselves:
1) For putting their fellow divers in jeopardy;
2) Potentially shutting down the operation for the next 2 weeks if enough crew become infected;
3) Exposing the operation to liability from lawsuits for not ensuring guests safety.
Does anyone out there really want to be that person?

 

[jonhall]

To everyone's relief, we were negative and we happily joined the other non-covid passengers and crew. Anyone with covid stepping onto liveaboard should be ashamed of themselves:

Just to share how things can actually work out since I have now had the experience - on a cruisetour with Holland in Alaska, we had to test negative before leaving home...no one ever looked at results (my wife and I also are the ones who mask up often and had all booster covid shots.) Edit: Guess I should note that we were both negative. On about our 2nd day in Fairbanks, I started having a slightly sore throat in the morning which disappeared within 20 minutes of getting up. The next day I had some congestion and passed it all off as a change in the weather. The morning we were to leave Anchorage, we had to test again for the cruise portion of the tour. I was positive. I believe I very well could have contracted it at anytime between my original covid test and a day after arriving in Alaska. Needless to say we didn't get to do the cruise

Our friends, who did a shorter version of the land tour, also had to test a couple of days prior to boarding for the cruise - they were negative. A few days into the cruise, they were scheduled to get massages, but called to cancel and told them it was because they had scratchy throats. They got a knock on their door not long after and were tested for Covid - both positive. Quarantined for the remainder of cruise in different location on ship and had to stay in Vancouver 10 days, which actually got cut shorter by 3 days. Their situation tells me that there were probably several onboard who tested negative before boarding but got it right afterwards and didn't get tested again while on the ship.

We can all hope that a negative test means we don't have to worry, but that is not always the case.

 

[Jayfarmlaw]

We had to have a negative test within 24 hours of boarding. Our group all tested negative and boarded on a Saturday. Tuesday evening one of our group was feeling a little like allergies were kicking in. By Wednesday, a few others we having mild symptoms similar to allergies as well as two of the crew members. Upon returning home, 7 out of 18 tested positive and 2 others more than likely had it.

im not sure what the benefit of the test within 24 hours prior to boarding when you will be traveling in the next 24 hours. No telling where we picked it up. We did have to buy a $15 insurance policy in case we required medical treatment and quarantine, but Covid never crossed our minds. No fever, headache, or anything else….basically just runny noses.

I don’t think there is anyway to keep Covid off a boat. It’s all just security theatre.

safe travels,
jay

 

[waterone]

Thanks. If they're doing it in Raja Ampat as well then they're probably doing it everywhere. I think I'll hold off on liveaboards for the next few years. Plenty to do onshore.

Fairly sure they aren't doing it everywhere, just need to inquire per company.

Anyone with covid stepping onto liveaboard should be ashamed of themselves:

I'm sure it happens more often than you think, even after testing.

1) For putting their fellow divers in jeopardy;
2) Potentially shutting down the operation for the next 2 weeks if enough crew become infected;
3) Exposing the operation to liability from lawsuits for not ensuring guests safety.
Does anyone out there really want to be that person?

I wouldnt be concerned about not getting a test if I wasn't feeling sick. I feel along the same lines as Jayfarmlaw, after traveling to get there, it's mostly theater to help some people feel better. Similar to how many places only tested the non vaccinated.

 

[tursiops]

I don’t think there is anyway to keep Covid off a boat. It’s all just security theatre.

You are missing the point, I think. Such tests do not provide unambiguous results, but they do reduce the likelihood of covid on the boat. PCR tests immediately prior to boarding would be much better than antigen tests 24h in advance, but there would be even more whining about that.

 

[Jayfarmlaw]

My point was, regardless if you test negative 24 hours in advance, when you are in multiple airports, airplanes, restaurants, and other public spaces with thousands of other peope in the next 24 hours, the odds are pretty good you will be exposed.

Not whining, don’t care one way or the other. We happily took the test, we got on the boat, 1/2 of us got very mild Covid. My wife got it, I didn’t. Same cabin, same bed, often drinking from the same cup. Same vaccinations too, Both of us had had it before.

The only point I was making is there is no way your going to keep Covid off a live aboard, a plane, a restaurant, or any other confined public space. More so when you throw in day trips. Unfortunately, it’s just the luck of the draw.

Jay

 

[bcaderunr]

We had to have a negative test within 24 hours of boarding. Our group all tested negative and boarded on a Saturday. Tuesday evening one of our group was feeling a little like allergies were kicking in. By Wednesday, a few others we having mild symptoms similar to allergies as well as two of the crew members. Upon returning home, 7 out of 18 tested positive and 2 others more than likely had it.

im not sure what the benefit of the test within 24 hours prior to boarding when you will be traveling in the next 24 hours. No telling where we picked it up. We did have to buy a $15 insurance policy in case we required medical treatment and quarantine, but Covid never crossed our minds. No fever, headache, or anything else….basically just runny noses.

I don’t think there is anyway to keep Covid off a boat. It’s all just security theatre.

safe travels,
jay

I understand. It's a lot like going thru TSA prior to stepping on a plane. Lots of smoke and mirrors to make us all feel safe. That said, I'd rather have my fellow passengers pass thru a metal detector before sharing a flight with them.

 

[Arbu]

OK, my plan was to take a flight from London to Puerto Vallarta, then on to Los Cabos via Mexico City. Then a couple of days at Los Cabos before getting on the liveaboard. The operators say:

"ALL GUESTS ARE REQUIRED TO SHOW PROOF OF A NEGATIVE COVID TEST TAKEN WITHIN 72 HOURS BEFORE
BOARDING"

I would get the test in Cabos. I understand that it takes 3-5 days after exposure before you test positive. So my test in Cabos is effective to check that I haven't caught it off the few dozen people I may have met in the days before leaving London. But nothing is done for the far greater risk that I might have caught if from any of the thousands of people I will have passed when flying. That's the same for all guests on the boat. Our trips are being put in jeopardy to give us negligible protection in face of bigger risks that we readily accept. If the operator can't make that point to clients who get Covid on the boat, or in its defence in any potential litigation, then I think it's spineless.

 

[jonhall]

I would get the test in Cabos. I understand that it takes 3-5 days after exposure before you test positive. So my test in Cabos is effective to check that I haven't caught it off the few dozen people I may have met in the days before leaving London. But nothing is done for the far greater risk that I might have caught if from any of the thousands of people I will have passed when flying. That's the same for all guests on the boat. Our trips are being put in jeopardy to give us negligible protection in face of bigger risks that we readily accept.

I've just been told that I need to get a negative Covid test for a liveaboard trip that I was thinking of booking in Mexico. If it's positive then I'm not allowed to join the trip. This rules it out as far as I'm concerned because I don't want to take the risk of flying all the way there only to not be able to dive.

This is what todays traveler has to consider. In accepting the risks, we are also accepting the hassles that may go along with it in the event of a positive test. One is either willing to chance it or they are not.

It was the same for having to get a negative test before flying back into one's home country - would you be willing to isolate in a hotel room for 10 days before being allowed to fly home? Many wouldn't travel out of their country for this reason.

Early on I worried about the "what -if" I test positive.......now I tend to think that if I have that positive test, I'll deal with it when it happens.