[Closed] Covid whilst abroad..what to do?

Testing positive for COVID-19 while in Spain
If you are tested and the result is positive, you should call your regional hotline or one of the alternative helpline numbers as set out above and follow their advice. You are not required to self-isolate if you have mild or no symptoms but you should wear a mask and avoid crowded spaces.

Hotels and other accommodation providers may have their own COVID-19 protocols in place in the event a guest tests positive. You should abide by any safety measures put in place by your accommodation provider.

You should follow the advice of the local authorities at all times.

I doubt the airline will want you on the plane while you're positive.

I doubt the airline will want you on the plane while you’re positive.

they probably don't want you on if you've got a cold either, but would that stop you?

I think you might still need a fit to fly certificate before you can board a return flight.
you could ask at local Centro de Salud.. for a friend.

I think you might still need a fit to fly certificate before you can board a return flight.

Nope, just come back from Spain and there were checks on the way out, but not on the return.
I would check what the local advice is, definitely wouldn't fly home with it, that would be pretty shoddy.

Sit in the sunshine and sink some cold ones

they probably don’t want you on if you’ve got a cold either, but would that stop you?

i have never heard of an airline refusing a passenger with a cold.

No checks at either end last month, you do tick a box confirming you have no known symptoms on the Ryanair check in though.

Good luck, post up what happens, it could be me next week. Stuck in uk though but somewhere to stay so I would wait it out.

I guess today will be spent trying to find some accommodation then. Not sure how I’m going to move my bike box and the rest of my kit without jumping in a taxi given I’m currently 2 miles out of town

Seems you've two choices; do the right thing or just come back on the flight tomorrow.

Call these guys?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qk11

I would check what the local advice is, definitely wouldn’t fly home with it, that would be pretty shoddy.

Have a guess what a relative of ours did when they tested positive on the morning they left Cape Verde a week back... Utterly selfish and harmful to others.

Have you tried contacting your current accomodation provider? There may be local rules or guidance about staying put so they might extend, or be compelled to extend your booking. Even when you go they will probably want to take extra precautions when cleaning the place.
As for moving about try to follow rule 1.
Whatever the politicians or the press imply it is not just a cold. Lots of healthy, vaccinated sub 50 year old at work have been off work for 2 weeks or more in the last couple of months with it.
Also check what Spanish rules say. They were pretty harsh.
Apart from that rest lots and hope you recover fast.

But then again I obviously got it on the flight

You sure? Everyone I know who's had the Vid suddenly becomes a sleuth, examining their movements over the preceding week to pin point the moment it "got them"... While it's not unreasonable to identify the flight as a possible infection location, you may have been exposed almost anywhere.

As for what to do now? Dunno, ask the Spanish, You're on their turf...

As far as I can determine there isn't a legal requirement for your to isolate in Spain or on return to the UK. You would have to look at the conditions of carriage / T&C of your airline. However, flying would be a really anti-social thing to do.

What I would do.

1) Contact your travel insurance emergency number and confirm exactly what they will cover (rearranging flights, accommodation, cost of lateral flow tests so you know when you are testing negative, etc). If they ask are you symptomatic, you have fatigue.

2) Contact your airline, by WhatsApp or similar to avoid making charged calls. Have a look at flight schedules so you know roughly what options you will have over the next week or so. Ask to postpone the flight due to illness and ask the best number to call to rearrange once you are testing negative.

3) Contact your accommodation provider and ask if you can stay on. If they have a booking explain you situation, out of courtesy so they might do a better clean, and they might have ideas about accommodation and transport for you and your gear.

4) As said above, the UK FCDO guidance is to call your Spain regional hotline and inform them. See https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/spain/coronavirus

5) Contact your work to explain.

6) Get plenty of lateral flow tests and food delivered and take one test a day until they come up negative. I hope it's quick, but be aware some people are testing positive for ~10 days with the latest variant. Just so you are aware.

I hope you don't have any more symptoms and get the negative test quickly.

Here's the Spanish site to get the pass to enter the country -
https://www.spth.gob.es/

I had to show the pass and also got spot-checked and had to show evidence of vaccinations, or I woulda been sent home. (this was 3rd May)

No checks back to UK though.

Funny thing having to wear a mask on the actual plane, but not queueing in the tunnels leading to it. If someone's got Covid on a flight, you gonna catch it.
I would think a good place (apart from konagirl's link above) to check about return travel would be the airline.

The folks at Ryan air proved utterly useless at saying whether I could fly or not. However I’m on the side of not being a dick and getting on a flight and possibly infecting numerous other people, illegal or not

Work seemed a bit surprised I wasn’t just prepared to jump on a flight back home but hey ho I guess I’ll need to deal with the fall out from that at a later point

I had to 'stay' in a hotel resort when my son contracted chicken pox whilst on holiday - rest of the family went home with then baby daughter, leaving me and a two year old for another week. Bored stupid !

Call to the insurance to sort out accommodation - hopefully you won't have to move.

I would just come home, there's no requirement to isolate there or in the UK if you're positive. Going on holiday on a plane in the first place was where the risk of this was accepted. Personally I'm avoiding international travel until it's socially acceptable to fly whilst positive as I wouldn't risk having to stay abroad and pay potentially a fortune to extend the stay.

I took out insurance so the money is irrelevant

This from the TUI website...

Although UK restrictions have relaxed, if you're aware you have COVID-19, or you're displaying COVID-19 symptoms, we ask that you consider other passengers and don't travel. You'll be able to change your booking fee-free in line with our COVID flexibility policy. Also, some destinations require you to complete a health declaration form, that will usually include a question asking if you are displaying symptoms or have been in contact with someone who has tested positive. Many destinations also have health screening processes and random testing on arrival.

Did you get the text from Spanish auth about what to do if you get symptoms, I got text on arrival in Spain recently, with contact details.

I can dig mine out, maybe it was an email when they checked my health locator form at the airport.

Do as you would do if you had a cold as thats the latest advice. Just don't go hugging or smooching any old random's on the way home.
People on here act as if there's been no vaccine and its still June 2020. Move along now..

Going on holiday on a plane in the first place was where the risk of this was accepted.

I'm sorry to say, but pretty much this. Anyone travelling by air has already accepted the risk.

Move along now..

The vaccine isnt 100% effective and you are still contagious and other people can die as a result...

latest advice? is not to travel if positive, where did you get that crock from?

I thought current advice was don't ask don't test 🤷🏼‍♀️

Just be aware that travel insurance companies are being very iffy about paying out for not travelling after a positive test. At least mine is. Got a positive PCR a couple of days before flying out in March and cancelled everything. They are wanting a doctor's note saying I was unfit to travel as according to them the law around self isolation had changed in February (I'm pretty sure it hadnt in Scotland) and that I didn't have to legally self isolate. I'm having a fight with them and told them that it would have been morally and ethically awful to get on a flight and I would have had to lie to airline etc to travel. Haven't heard back yet.

It would have been morally and ethically awful

To an insurance company? Your aware that's like explaining particle physics to a dog yeah?

They are wanting a doctor’s note saying I was unfit to travel as according to them the law around self isolation had changed in February (I’m pretty sure it hadnt in Scotland)

Partly that will also depend if your insurance covered you for covid restrictions as opposed to being unfit to travel - a lot don't /didn't. Effectively if you were physically well enough you've been denied boarding and or opted not to travel (there's a much better more weasley explanation I'm sure), medically unfit to travel is not the same thing.

Did you get the text from Spanish auth about what to do if you get symptoms, I got text on arrival in Spain recently, with contact details.

I can dig mine out, maybe it was an email when they checked my health locator form at the airport.

I called a helpline and they basically told me that it was up to the airline.

My insurance company confirmed that I was covered to stay as long as I had a pcr confirmation I am positive. Awaiting the result of that but it’s a formality given 3 positive lat flow tests

Your aware that’s like explaining particle physics to a dog yeah?

@dangeourbrain that's a good point well made. My insurance company stated explicitly they covered Covid. Anyway I was symptomatic and not well enough to travel. How my doctor could know that I don't know. If they insist on a doctor's letter they'll get it, but for now I'm arguing the toss.

A free week in Mallorca ? Sounds good to me.

There aren't any restrictions in Spain if you catch Covid - the official advice is to quarantine if you can, but that's about it. There's nothing to stop you getting on the Metro, going to work or hitting the nightclubs, if you fancy it.

Personally I'd probably just get the flight, I very much doubt your insurance will cover an extra week in Spain when the government hasn't put any restrictions in place. Is that the morally correct decision to take? Dunno, tbh.

I very much doubt your insurance will cover an extra week in Spain when the government hasn’t put any restrictions in place

That was my first thought. When the return to UK tests were scrapped I’m pretty sure BJ explicitly stated it was so that people wouldn’t be stuck abroad with a positive test…

If your ins is covering you I would stay. The airline check in does say any symptoms don't fly, or it did last month.

It's conference season at work and people are starting to travel to places for them. I have to sign off on risk assessments for their travel and this now includes 'what if I get covid while at the conference' - not an insignificant risk given the mingling, even though most conferences are still mandating mask wearing and testing before travel, etc.  Part of our mitigations are that travellers have sufficient coverage should they fall ill and not be able to travel back. One colleague who lives alone even has a section on making sure his cats get fed!

If you have covid you shouldn't travel on a plane. There's a good chance you'll pass it on to other passengers, who may fall ill as a result and (although thankfully becoming much lower) there's a chance they could die. Or pass it to someone else who could. It's the same virus as before and thankfully our attitudes and behaviours are changing, but it's not disappeared. To those that say that once you decided to go on holiday and on a plane you effectively agreed to the risk - true, sort of, but that was a risk someone would have it and not know, not that they'd travel knowingly with the virus. If you want to check it, stand up at boarding at tell everyone and see how OK they are?

Secondly - another colleague had to travel back to his home country recently, one of his parents had died, he went back for funeral and then brought his mother back to the UK with him to be with her son and grandkids, etc. They didn't agree to go on holiday or to share the plane with Covid sufferers. Not everyone's 'accepting the risk when they decided to go on holiday'

Jonv +1.

I'd be furious if the person next to me on train/bus/tram/plane/car/desk had COVID.

I’d be furious if the person next to me on train/bus/tram/plane/car/desk had COVID.

Furious with those that make the 'rules' or the person next to you?

Hope you manage to sort it out and get well soon OP. Whatever the opinions of us internet 'experts' is pretty horrible situation. In the meantime I hope you're well enough to enjoy some sun and a Spanish take away.

Really surprised that anyone would condone flying, including OP's workplace. Glad to hear that insurance firm is supportive. Fingers crossed it's a case of feet up on a balcony in the sun with a bike mag for OP.

Firstly, I'd not have tested in the first place. I can't see any good that would come by doing this, but you have so that ship has sailed.
Re. your current situation, I'd double mask and fly home. I know this may not be popular, but it's what I'd do.

I can’t see any good that would come by doing this

Ummm.. how about I was meeting someone who works with vulnerable people and didn’t want to expose them

To be honest, regardless of their job I wouldn’t want to expose them as I’m not a selfish ****

I’d be furious if the person next to me on train/bus/tram/plane/car/desk had COVID.

As would I tbf

So I’m still very much positive by lat flo testing

Feel a bit run down unsurprisingly but not too bad

Plane booked for Wednesday, that’ll be 8 days after first positive test. What’s likelihood of still being contagious then

I can’t stay here forever, I need to get home asap