What to do if you test positive before flying home?

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By “spread it just as effectively,” I mean that if you are one of the rare breakthrough cases, your viral load can be just as high as someone that isn’t vaccinated (despite you not having symptoms), so you can spread it just as easily as someone that isn’t vaccinated.

Agreed.

I think that is not the current interpretation of the data. We like to say, 'ok so A is just like B', because that is simple. Apparently the spread 'just like the unvaccinated' needs some nuance and the study has some issues that need considered.

"The new data says that a fully vaccinated person who experiences a breakthrough infection can spread the virus just as much as an unvaccinated person. Is this only for symptomatic infections?
It’s expected that symptomatic breakthroughs are more contagious than asymptomatic breakthroughs.

When extrapolating, it is critical to understand that this study is derived primarily from one major site in which the activities and the settings that were leading to infections are not necessarily representative of the day-to-day life of a fully vaccinated individual."

New Data on COVID-19 Transmission by Vaccinated Individuals
 
This isn’t quite up to the current understanding. It is still helps prevent people from catching COVID. But If you are a unlucky breakthrough case (which is indeed rare), at that point 1) you’re less likely to show symptoms but 2) you can still spread it.

Vaccination is still the best method, by far, that we have to protect ourselves and others.
I agree that vaccination is the best way to slow the spread of COVID, but if the numbers I am hearing are correct, people becoming seriously ill with COVD after being vaccinated is uncommon, but not rare.
 
Clinical Spectrum | COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines

Severe illness is that which requires hospitalization for low oxygenation levels. By that criteria, I believe that it is still rare for vaccinated individuals to be in that situation and uncommon for unvaccinated individuals to be in the same situation. Vaccinated patients are about 1/20 of hospitalized patients.
 
I agree that vaccination is the best way to slow the spread of COVID, but if the numbers I am hearing are correct, people becoming seriously ill with COVD after being vaccinated is uncommon, but not rare.

err...I don't know about that. I saw VA was breaking it out. It seems to show very stark difference. That seems to qualify in my mind as rare? I mean you would think 5% of the cases should be among the vaccinated, but its not that high. Probably should be even higher than 5% as the 'unvaccinated' probably isnt considering the post infection unvaccinated in the unvaccinated numbers right?

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COVID-19 Cases by Vaccination Status – Coronavirus
 
Clinical Spectrum | COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines

Severe illness is that which requires hospitalization for low oxygenation levels. By that criteria, I believe that it is still rare for vaccinated individuals to be in that situation and uncommon for unvaccinated individuals to be in the same situation. Vaccinated patients are about 1/20 of hospitalized patients.
Semantics, I guess. I don't consider 5% (I heard ~10% locally) requiring hospitalization having been vaccinated to be rare. Of course I am not arguing against vaccination - far from it. The vast majority of hospitalized persons are unvaccinated, and hospitalization numbers here in Austin are nearly as high as they were at the peak of the first wave.
 
Keep in mind that as more people get vaccinated it is only natural that we will see higher numbers of breakthrough infections. Theoretically, if we had a population that was 100% vaccinated, then 100% of the cases would be breakthrough cases, because the vaccine is not 100% effective.

What annoys me is the rule requiring a negative test before re-entry into the US. This is especially galling for vaccinated people. Why? Because the message has been that the vaccines, while not 100% effective, are highly effective at protecting against severe disease, hospitalization, and death. The public health message has shifted -- correctly, I think -- away from "you will be highly protected from disease" to "vaccines are doing their job because you will be highly protected against hospitalization and death." If that is the message, then what is the harm in letting vaccinated people who test positive on vacation return to the States? They might transmit COVID to others, but those people will either be vaccinated or will not. If vaccinated, they will in turn be highly protected against both disease and especially against severe disease and hospitalization. Again, this is the supposed goal of the vaccination campaign. If the returning traveler spreads COVID to a non-vaccinated person, then -- with the notable exception of children under the age of 12 -- so what? I hate to say this, but by this point vaccines have been widely available to anyone who wants one in the US. So if you haven't gotten yours yet, that's your problem.

Yeah, I get that it's a larger public health issue, but it's still annoying that a vaccinated American traveler might face the possibility (however low) of having to incur additional expense and problems if he/she tests positive before their scheduled return home, all because we want to stem the spread of COVID to a population who thus far hasn't done a single thing to protect themselves or their larger communities.
 
That is assuming, of course, that your positive test is not an indication that you have the virus and will get sick, and that you'll get a negative test sometime before that 10 days is up. It's the best case scenario. If things go otherwise for you you'll likely be there longer, maybe a lot longer.

Remember, you do not need a negative test result to fly if you have a positive test result within 90 days and a letter of recovery from a physician. So if you test positive, you do not need a followup negative test, just a doctor to give you such a letter. With the conventional wisdom that you are no longer infectious after 10-14 days, that shouldn't take longer than that, maybe less if you are asymptomatic.
 
hate to say this, but by this point vaccines have been widely available to anyone who wants one in the US. So if you haven't gotten yours yet, that's your problem.
Whether we agree with it or not, the government has the obligation to do what it can to protect everyone from COVID whether they choose to be vaccinated or not. If I were king I would mandate that everyone get vaccinated who doesn't have a medical reason why they shouldn't, and I would scale up vaccine production to the point where we could vaccinate the rest of the world. That would make COVID testing on Cozumel before returning to the US unnecessary, but as long as this wave of cases continues I don't see the policy changing.
 
Not saying to not take it seriously (I commend you for taking it seriously), but if you’re vaccinated…the breakthrough infection rate is EXTREMELY low. Like a fraction of one percent.

It's many times higher than that just for hospitalizations, which are a small fraction of cases.
 

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