Oy. Shaking my head.
That’s bizarre and seems almost impossible. There are zillions of people testing positive all over Europe, and they have a free ambulance to move these 2 to another hotel? What is the policy?
Testing is only required for entry. Not sure why they were tested again.
Edited to add:
This has more details. They took a rapid at their hotel when they got symptoms and then alerted the hotel who took them to a quarantine hotel. That was their mistake. It would have been better to get an Airbnb on their own and not tell anyone.
Its a sticky situation for sure. Another issue is that any international traveler faces is the need to show a negative covid test before boarding a flight to the US. Anyone catching covid while abroad could really get caught up by this and then have to spend more time in country and possibly be forced into a similar situation.
Its a risky time to travel internationally. I would certainly look into travel insurance that would cover these or related situations. I would also be prepared to have to spend more time away, just in case.
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We had a relative that planned to stop in Iceland for a couple days on the way home from a European trip. He tested positive on arrival in Iceland. He got two extra weeks of vacation in an Icelandic hotel room and never did get to see the country. He was asymptomatic the entire time.
We are not traveling internationally until all these testing requirements are gone.
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The usefulness of the testing requirements are gone because of omicron. Smart countries will start to lift them.
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Yes, the UK has just dropped pre-departure tests and shifted from post-arrival PCR (with isolation until results received) to a simple rapid test with no isolation.
I doubt the US will lift the pre-travel testing any time soon though: international travel is just far less important as a proportion of flights compared to Europe, so US airlines are less concerned about lobbying for it.
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They voluntarily tested and voluntarily reported the results. This story will certainly dissuade tourists in Italy from following that path.
Seems the if they had just remained silent about their condition they could have continued on their planned trip. Hopefully testing negative in a few days.
Yes, the ethical thing to do…is what they did. However, when ethical behavior results in punishing results…less ethical behavior is induced.
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Hope no US airline will step in to help these idiots.
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/airline-passengers-partying-canada-sunwing/index.html
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Publicized consequences are quite possibly the only thing that will change the behavior of others, so glad the airlines are responding appropriately. I wonder how many were in the group and what group they were.
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My current thoughts on travel: Hiatus.
I have a call tomorrow for a Go/No-Go decision on a trip to the UK for an in-person meetings with the top say 20 or so managers of a company for half a day and the top 6 for a day. It’s a No-Go from me. Let’s postpone until March.
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I wouldn’t have any in person meeting (in a close conference room for hours with people I don’t know) whether it requires travel or not.
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Agree. I’m doing all of my work remotely – I’m on the phone with California, NY, DC and elsewhere in the US, London, Paris, the Netherlands, Norway, and Australia. I actually enjoy the travel but my life is much simpler. [Lack of travel does have a long-run deleterious effect on business].
I helped this company a couple of years ago make a huge decision unlike they had ever made before and develop a process for carrying it out. It worked and now they want to have the same kind of engagement to decide what to do next. I don’t think it will work virtually. The intent is good, but now is not the time.
I have few questions about this reporting. I was in italy this past October. My test result was only available to me. Not to the hotel. Most countries do not allow sharing of people’s medical information. If they were tested for their return home, they wouldn’t be able to come back until they were tested negative anyway.
We were also in Italy in Oct/Nov and got our test done at a pharmacy suggested by the hotel. The hotel had no access to the test.
According to the article, this couple self-reported their positive tests they took on their own - to the hotel. Then they were stuffed in quarantine in another hotel.
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Yes, that’s what happened. Big mistake.
I took a quick run down to Cabrillo National Monument hoping to see whales. No whales sighted, but there were not one, not two, but three sidelined cruise ships parked outside the bay. We’ve had one or more hanging out for most of the pandemic.
I was in London for business meetings just after Thanksgiving before the latest WFH guidance. Incredibly variable attitudes, some companies didn’t wear masks in meetings, a few companies were very strict about it. But generally most people in the UK are a lot closer to a “what will be will be” position and not very worried about catching it unless they are elderly or have other health conditions. I don’t think people in most US states are quite there yet.
As a traveler I would definitely be concerned about catching a mild case and being stuck in a hotel unable to travel back to the US for a week or two. But that will probably still be the same risk in March and might not be an issue if you are only there for 2 days as you wouldn’t test positive in that time. I have a board meeting in April and plan to go in person.
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H is supposed to travel to CA in February and FL in March. I’m skeptical that it will happen. H misses the travel. He does lots of conference calls with his international colleagues but he says that developing the relationships doesn’t happen on Zoom, and that lots of negotiations take place “in the margins” via one-on-one in-person conversations.
We just got back from CA. Early morning flight, N-95 plus fabric mask, non-stop, plane was an international 777 with 2-4-2 seating configuration, and H got us into bulkhead seats at the front of Premium Economy (a classification for intl flights, but he knows the layout and grabbed them because they were listed as Economy on the seating chart). We didn’t have seatmates, and noone in front of us. We had PreCheck, and got to the gates as the flight was boarding. Metal straws enabled us to drink without removing masks. Didn’t eat at the airport or on the plane.
Not in a hurry to travel that way again!
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DH is supposed to travel to FL at the end of the month. The bozos organizing the conference are too stubborn to cancel. I am doing my best to convince him he doesn’t need to go. I am pretty angry at the moment.
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