Scrutable

Could Covid testing when returning to the UK be the new PPI scandal? I know several people who popped back to the UK for a couple of days on business but still had to purchase the day 2 test but weren't there long enough to either do it or get results.

Opti wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 08, 2021 12:33 pm

Could Covid testing when returning to the UK be the new PPI scandal? I know several people who popped back to the UK for a couple of days on business but still had to purchase the day 2 test but weren't there long enough to either do it or get results.

The day two test had to be done within two days of landing, not on day two, and had to be done even if you left the same day as you landed. The point of this test was to monitor how much and what variants of the virus were coming in to the country.

The day eight test was the one you could skip if you left. This was a test to check you were clear to leave quarantine. It was a con that you had to purchase this even if you knew you were going to leave, but I guess there was no guarantee you would leave. I would be surprised if that was classed as mis-selling.

WFJ wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 11, 2021 7:19 am

The day two test had to be done within two days of landing, not on day two, and had to be done even if you left the same day as you landed. The point of this test was to monitor how much and what variants of the virus were coming in to the country.

Apparently not.

gov UK website wrote: If you will be in England for less than 2 days you still need to book and pay for a day 2 COVID-19 test. You only need to take the test if you are still in England on day 2.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-to-e ... s-covid-19

OK sorry I should have checked. That was the rule when I visited the UK for a few days in April. I guess it has changed now.

A lot has changed due to the current situations but things will be okay hopefully

Someone who won't be travelling

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-58940128

shpalman wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 20, 2021 4:29 pm

Morocco bans UK flights due to Covid cases rising

Flights to* Germany and the Netherlands have also been banned at the same time, to be fair.


*That's what is says here. I presume that the authorities find it easier to ban flights going out than coming in. Since people will want to go home at the end of their holidays, the net effect is much the same.

We're booked for a seated gig at the Union Chapel in just over 4 weeks time. Flying in, check-in hotel, eat, go to gig, sleep, fly back home to Spain.
Even that small window of possible infection is leading us to maybe prepare to lose some of the investment (not a heartbreaking amount) and just not go.

We're really concerned at the level of infection rates in the UK compared to the very low levels we enjoy here. We'd obviously be FFP3'd up, both vully vaccinated, but the thought of things getting worse in the UK is making me jittery.

It's a gig that we were very much looking forward to, an old mate.

Until August of this year, a vaccine didn't get you out of quarantine when entering the UK. Nor did it get you out of having to self-isolate if you were called by Test 'n' Trace because you'd been in contact with someone who tested positive.

Then in August, both of those changed, at different times. From 2 August you could (re-)enter the UK with a vaccine and not have to quarantine, but only if you got your vaccine from the NHS. Then from 9 August, if you were vaccinated (again, by the NHS), then if T'n'T called you, you were advised to get a test, etc, but they couldn't make you self-isolate.

Furrins and traitors (i.e., UK citizens who dare to live in furrinland) complained, and at some point the UK government generously decided to recognise their smelly furrin vaccines administered by stinking furrin nurses in unsalubrious furrin hospitals. But this only applied to the quarantine-when-travelling exemption, not to the T'n'T-contact exemption. This was probable due to a lack of joined-up government, but in any case, it means that if you are a visitor to the UK, fully vaccinated in the EU or US, and someone who was on your plane tests positive, T'n'T can lock you up for 10 days.

Even worse, it seems that whereas with the quarantine situation you didn't have to quarantine for the full 10 days if your trip was less than that (i.e., you could break quarantine to go the airport), that is not the case with T'n'T-enforced self-isolation. It seems (as far as I have been able to make out) that if you are called by T'n'T even one day before your return flight to furrinland, and you only have a pathetic furrin vaccine, you have to stay indoors for 10 days, even if that means extending your hotel or rented accommodation stay by 9 days; you are (again, AFAIK) not allowed to go to the airport in this case.

We only discovered this fun fact earlier today. Mrs sTeamTraen is going to the UK in 10 days time for a week, so she has her fingers firmly crossed that nobody on her plane tests positive. She has booked an extra return flight for a week after her original one, because it was only £8 and feels like a bit of an insurance company.

I must say, there are times when I fully understand why people go a bit Julia Hartley-Brewer over some of the rules.

EU Digital COVID Certificate: Commission adopts equivalence decisions for Armenia and the United Kingdom
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/pressco ... ex_21_5645

EU to recommend nine-month vaccine validity for travel

Guardian Live Blog wrote:the EU is to propose a nine-month limit on Covid vaccine validity for travel.

Alberto Nardelli and John Follain wrote:The European Union will recommend a nine-month time limit for the validity of Covid-19 vaccinations for travel into the bloc and also propose prioritising vaccinated travellers.

EU moves to place Covid booster jabs at heart of travel rules

shpalman wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 25, 2021 12:57 pm

EU to recommend nine-month vaccine validity for travel

Guardian Live Blog wrote:the EU is to propose a nine-month limit on Covid vaccine validity for travel.

Alberto Nardelli and John Follain wrote:The European Union will recommend a nine-month time limit for the validity of Covid-19 vaccinations for travel into the bloc and also propose prioritising vaccinated travellers.

Man tests positive for covid, and later that same month flies to Milan and tests positive again!

What are the chances.

As well as the day-2 (or earlier) PCR test, everyone 12 or over arriving in the UK from 4am on Tuesday 7 December will now need to show a negative LFT/antigen test, taken on the day of departure or the two previous days, before travelling. This was the case until October too, although then the minimum age was 11 and the test could be taken on the day of departure or the three previous days.

Summary of the evolution of the rules, as I remember them (some of the details of the very early measures may not be 100% correct):
Version 1.0, some time in 2020: Pre-flight lateral flow/antigen test taken on the day of departure or the three previous days. Day-2-and-8 PCR tests (day 2 meaning "On or before day 2", day 8 meaning "On or after day 8"). 10 days quarantine for all.
Version 1.1, December 2020: Addition of optional day-5 PCR test to get out of quarantine.
Version 2.0, early August 2021: Day-8 test and pre-flight antigen test dropped for fully-vaccinated (by the NHS) people, and children who live in the UK and so are only unable to be vaccinated because the NHS doesn't fully vaccinate under18s.
Version 2.1, late August 2021: Day-8 test and pre-flight antigen test dropped for fully-vaccinated (by the EU or US) people, and children who live in the EU or US and so might be unable to be vaccinated because their system doesn't fully vaccinate under18s, although some do, but that's too complicated to work out at that level of detail.
Version 2.2, October 2021: Day-2 test for unvaccinated people can now be an LFT
Version 3.0, November 2021: Reverse ferret: Even fully vaccinated people now need a PCR (not LFT) on or before day 2. They also have to quarantine until they get the result back.
Version 3.1, December 2021: Restoration of the pre-flight LFT. This now has to be taken on the day of departure or the two (not three) preceding days.

So as of Tuesday, the remaining benefit for travellers of being vaccinated will be (a) no day-8 test and (b) quarantine is only until your day-2 test comes back negative. And being less likely to die if you get Covid, of course.

It's probably helpful to distinguish between 'quarantine' and 'self-isolation', given that the rules don't require hotel quarantine in the way arrival from a red list country does.

discovolante wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 04, 2021 11:54 pm

It's probably helpful to distinguish between 'quarantine' and 'self-isolation', given that the rules don't require hotel quarantine in the way arrival from a red list country does.

My understanding is that quarantine means, roughly, "don't leave the house", while self-isolation means "stay in your room within the house".

Alternatively, they might mean the same thing but quarantine is when the Department for Transport tells you to do it and self-isolation is when the Department of Health tells you to do it.

I'm having trouble getting too upset about the extra cost of travel tests for someone who booked a holiday to New York, where apparently you can't get a lateral flow test for under $200. My budget for an adult and two teenagers in NYC would be around $400/day before buying the flights. And also, there's a f.cking pandemic on, you're meant to imagine that something like this could happen.

sTeamTraen wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 07, 2021 9:23 am

discovolante wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 04, 2021 11:54 pm

It's probably helpful to distinguish between 'quarantine' and 'self-isolation', given that the rules don't require hotel quarantine in the way arrival from a red list country does.

My understanding is that quarantine means, roughly, "don't leave the house", while self-isolation means "stay in your room within the house".

Alternatively, they might mean the same thing but quarantine is when the Department for Transport tells you to do it and self-isolation is when the Department of Health tells you to do it.

Ah well in that case, if you're coming to England you need to quarantine, but if you're coming to Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland you have to self isolate (a bit differently depending on where you're going). Helpful.

Sister-in-law was supposed to be visiting us for a week starting on Thursday. Of course, she's tested +ve for Covid.
Went to the pantomime at the weekend with her daughter and grandaughter. Well, she was coming from the UK, so not really a big surprise.
She's triple-jabbed.

Really needed a reason to have a good clean-up. Oh dear. How sad. Never mind.

Opti wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 07, 2021 11:29 am

Sister-in-law was supposed to be visiting us for a week starting on Thursday. Of course, she's tested +ve for Covid.
Went to the pantomime at the weekend with her daughter and grandaughter. Well, she was coming from the UK, so not really a big surprise.
She's triple-jabbed.

Really needed a reason to have a good clean-up. Oh dear. How sad. Never mind.

Omicron? (There's presumably a way to make a humorous response to that, along the lines of "No, she went of her own accord".)

Actually, I suppose you should be glad she cancelled. I suspect that a lot of multi-jabbed people will be travelling and hoping to not get too badly ill, at least until everywhere imposes a vaccine *plus* test requirement. EU countries seem to be mostly holding the line on vaccine *or* test, certainly for intra-EU travel. When this is over (yes yes I know) the EU will have to have some interesting discussions about pooled sovereignty and public health.

sTeamTraen wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 07, 2021 1:11 pm

Actually, I suppose you should be glad she cancelled. I suspect that a lot of multi-jabbed people will be travelling and hoping to not get too badly ill, at least until everywhere imposes a vaccine *plus* test requirement. EU countries seem to be mostly holding the line on vaccine *or* test, certainly for intra-EU travel. When this is over (yes yes I know) the EU will have to have some interesting discussions about pooled sovereignty and public health.

Yep, I'm feeling quite relieved. When we were back in that London for 24hrs two weeks ago I was totally freaked to see quite so many going maskless.
It's just become a natural habit here. Except for a very few dickheads ... and the PoPo are getting tough with them. Quite a few second-homers who've come over for the festivities have been caught without ID here. They're not messing about.