What are the rules in the UK if I am positive and can't fly home?

[BuckeyeMark]

Say I feel bad the day before we debark. I use one of my tests.  Yup.  Covid positive.  Tell the airline I can't fly.  Now what?  Do I have to tell London health authorities? Do I have to tell my hotel? Do I have to stay put in my hotel room for five days?  I don't want to do anything wrong or violate the rules but Mr. Google is not helping me find the rules...

[ISLABONITA]

Only thing I can share is that I have friends that were on a land tour and day before their flight from Edinburgh 5 of them tested positive so they could not get on the plane and remained in the city for 5 days till they tested negative. I do not know the specifics about their flight home if they had to buy new tickets or the tour operator covered their flights. It was very loose quarantine as they went outside and wore masks and were able to sightsee for 5 more days.  They did have to pay for the hotel though.

Do you have trip interruption insurance?   If you contact the airline and change your flight after testing positive it could be for a number of reasons, so I do not think you would have to tell anyone if you did a self test but if you use a lab the test results will be recorded ( they ask for your passport number) 

 

Edited May 27, 2022 by ISLABONITA

[Harters]

5 hours ago, BuckeyeMark said:

Now what? 

Here in England, there are no longer any Covid restrictions. No quarantine. No reporting - effectively ther eis no longer anyone to report it to. No restrictions on what you might do or where you might visit, if you are positive. No mask wearing (except in health care locations) No nothing. You're free to get around as you wish. Our government no longer cares that you are likely to pass on the virus.

 

Here's the link to the government website to confirm that any sensible precautions you might take to protect others are entirely your own choice - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/people-with-symptoms-of-a-respiratory-infection-including-covid-19

Edited May 27, 2022 by Harters

[Globaliser]

6 hours ago, BuckeyeMark said:

... but Mr. Google is not helping me find the rules...

 

That's because there aren't any.

 

Many places (eg theatres) will request that you do not go if you may have Covid, but this isn't a rule and it isn't enforceable. So the approach is basically the same as if you have a cold or if you have flu. Most people I know are being responsible by staying at home if they have Covid, but it isn't because any rules require them to.

[John Bull]

Much the same as Harter's & Globaliser's  responses.

Isolation rules in England have been relaxed, it's now a matter of doing the honourable thing.  If a person is - or suspects that they are -  infected, they should adopt as high a degree of isolation as is reasonably possible in their individual circumstances. It's their civic duty to to use common sense, wear a mask, avoid crowds, and particularly avoid contact with those who are vulnerable.

Guidelines rather than rules, doubtless some don't follow the rules but its been that way for many weeks now and infection rates haven't risen and remain low.

Harter has a personal view that the government "no longer cares that you are likely to pass on the virus", a view shared by many others but the government sees it as part of the strategy of "living with the virus".

 

CDC currently requires that you provide an observed negative test no earlier than the day before your flight to the USA. 

For the CDC's observed test (face-to-face or by video link), the kit has to be supplied by the organisation carrying out the test, you cannot use your own home-testing kit. 

Take your booked test anyway in case your suspicions prove wrong and because you home test may have indicated a false positive.

If your CDC-approved test is positive, it's probably best to book at a hotel which offers no-charge cancellations if you give 24-hours notification. I've seen a couple of CC posts by people who've done that anyway "just in case", to avoid a last-minute scramble for accommodation.

And book cancellable face-to-face in-person tests at Lloyd's pharmacies & pay when you attend - It can take five days before you eventually get a negative test so that's the simplest & most economical way to do it. Obviously cancel any future bookings with them once you get a negative test, though apparently there's no charge for no-shows

 

Any cost of cancelling your flight & re-booking at short notice will of course depend on the terms of your ticket.

Check whether the various costs are covered by your travel insurance.

 

There's a very high probability that you won't test positive, but it's best to know the score if you do.

 

Guidelines & rules that we've quoted are current, but can change. They apply to England, they my be different when leaving the UK from Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/self-isolation-and-treatment/when-to-self-isolate-and-what-to-do/

 

JB 🙂

. 

[BuckeyeMark]

This is tremendously helpful.  Thanks to all.

[Harters]

6 hours ago, John Bull said:

infection rates haven't risen and remain low.

Although, today, the BBC reports that the Office of National Statistics latest infection data is not clear about whether numbers are again rising in several English regions including the West Midlands, North East, Yorkshire and the Humber and the South East.

[John Bull]

1 hour ago, Harters said:

Although, today, the BBC reports that the Office of National Statistics latest infection data is not clear about whether numbers are again rising in several English regions including the West Midlands, North East, Yorkshire and the Humber and the South East.

 

Figures from the ONS, or more-accurately PHE, have been in a mess since the govt stopped publishing figures for friday thro monday plus the plethora of bank holidays.

I don't know about regional differences, but from a mini-peak of 87,000 (7-day average) cases mid-March it fell to 55,000 (7-day ave) at the beginning of April to 13,000 (7-day ave) at the beginning of May, to average of 6,000 in the past seven days.

See this chart - and see the gaps too

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/uk/

 

JB 🙂

[Globaliser]

 

2 hours ago, John Bull said:

4 hours ago, Harters said:

Although, today, the BBC reports that the Office of National Statistics latest infection data is not clear about whether numbers are again rising in several English regions including the West Midlands, North East, Yorkshire and the Humber and the South East.

Figures from the ONS, or more-accurately PHE, have been in a mess since the govt stopped publishing figures for friday thro monday plus the plethora of bank holidays.

 

Isn't the ONS work independent and self-published? The media don't always make it clear, but the ONS' methodology is set out here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/methodologies/covid19infectionsurveypilotmethodsandfurtherinformation

[John Bull]

5 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

 

 

Isn't the ONS work independent and self-published? The media don't always make it clear, but the ONS' methodology is set out here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/methodologies/covid19infectionsurveypilotmethodsandfurtherinformation

 

 

Excellent bed-time reading.

For those of us with insomnia 🤣🤣🤣

 

JB 🙂

 

[Cotswold Eagle]

4 hours ago, John Bull said:

Figures from the ONS, or more-accurately PHE, have been in a mess since the govt stopped publishing figures for friday thro monday plus the plethora of bank holidays.

You’re mixing apples and pears to make orange juice there, I’m afraid. The ONS survey is about the overall positivity rate, and is done to a robust statistical method.
Daily case figures, as you rightly suggest, are significantly less useful than they were, but even back then their limitations were not generally well understood. 
PHE was replaced (in this context)  by UKHSA late last year. 

[Harters]

10 hours ago, Cotswold Eagle said:

The ONS survey is about the overall positivity rate, and is done to a robust statistical method.

Absolutely. Their weekly (?) group testing informs their analysis. Since the government changed its ground rules about testing and reporting, it's the only reliable infection data available. They've regularly tested the same large group throughout the pandemic so the base data has been consistent. FWIW, a family member has been one of those tested.

 

It shows that, whilst numbers are decreasing, they are stubbornly high. Factual data about hospital admissions  and deaths show a similar pattern. We are currently suffering about 100 deaths a day. That actually compares unfavourably to earlier periods of the pandemic. I had two UK  breaks during that time. According to the government Covid dashboard, on the  Friday I went away in 9/20 (before anyone had been vaccinated),  the deaths recorded were 24  and, in 6/21, just 6.

 

 

[Globaliser]

On 5/27/2022 at 11:34 PM, John Bull said:

Excellent bed-time reading.

For those of us with insomnia 🤣🤣🤣

 

If it helps to avoid people thinking that the ONS numbers are the same as the PHE / UKHSA numbers, I'm all for it.

[Harters]

Now, really interesting bedtime reading is the full Sue Grey report which I read through this morning (all 60 pages of it, although not actually in bed).