DarkSideMoon

I’ve seen it all. Someone accusing Rickair of being a secret communist. This is the most delusional post you’ve made so far.

skywatch

A desperate industry looking for anything to get people to fly again, to be sure - but this is not it. The CDC does not recommend testing to end quarantine and says that you could continue to test positive on a PCR for up to three months after your infection - "Recovered persons can continue to shed detectable SARS-CoV-2 RNA in upper respiratory specimens for up to 3 months after illness onset, albeit at concentrations considerably lower than during illness, in ranges where replication-competent virus has not been reliably recovered and infectiousness is unlikely." "Thus, for persons recovered from SARS-CoV-2 infection, a positive PCR without new symptoms during the 90 days after illness onset more likely represents persistent shedding of viral RNA than reinfection" https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019...isolation.html

Bottom line – “Probability of culturing virus declines to 8% in samples with Ct > 35 (NCBI.nih.gov) and to 6% 10 days after onset”. In the US, “Most tests set the limit at 40, a few at 37. This means that you are positive for the coronavirus if the test process required up to 40 cycles, or 37, to detect the virus.” (NYT and other sources)

So am I going to schedule a vacation and fly out of the country knowing that I could be sitting in Mexico unable to test negative for up to THREE MONTHS? And potentially putting my entire schedule/life dependent on a decreasingly accurate PCR test? All to detect if I have a shred of DNA of a virus that I am nowhere near contagious or sick from? Doubtful.

Tom Bradys Cat

I get it, I get it....So why the industry lobbying? Seriously?

ClncClarence

The folks at the top who get all the data apparently believe that these measures increase consumer confidence and will get many people to fly who otherwise would not. I completely agree that the efficacy of the policies is dubious, but at this point I don’t really care as long as it puts butts in seats.

At my place, the majority of international destinations already required a negative test to enter and our loads were pretty darn good for the flights we were doing through the new year.

Excargodog

It is difficult to see how a test that is somewhat uncomfortable, costs money, and has a reasonably high likelihood of producing both false positives and false negatives is going to incentivize travel, particularly for - as an example - a family with two kids. Assuming you can get there at all, one of the kids comes up as a false positive, what do you do? Leave the kid in BFE is right out. Stay with the kid? And next time you try to go someone else in the family comes down with a false positive?

You and your kids might have to wade the Rio Grande at Ciudad Acuna in the dark of the night to ever get home.

https://ibb

skywatch

And that is exactly what I am afraid of - supposed to do a trip to Mexico in mid February, but we are going to cancel. Cannot take a chance on getting a positive test and getting stuck there for three months. I cannot imagine I am the only one that feels this way. Sure, industry is desperate to try anything, I get that, I wish we could just try using real statistics, actual practical testing for infectiousness, and dial down the doomsday rhetoric instead.

UnusualAttitude

Exactly. Like many on these forums I have been flying internationally throughout the pandemic. Even with crew exemptions the rules change constantly and it is hard to keep up with the various requirements. There is no way I would fly internationally with my family for vacation right now. Hopefully by summer we will start to see some easing of restrictions but for now things are only tightening up around the globe.

Excargodog

For all those who thought Europe handled this better than the US, they sure seem to be futzing up the endgame:

jetlaggy

Italy toughens Covid restrictions, imposes Easter lockdown

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/13/ital...lockdown-.html

jetlaggy

Dubai extends preventative measures until mid-April 2021

https://whatson.ae/2021/02/breaking-...id-april-2021/