@coralbrook I was talking about quarantine in Australia. They are taking this very seriously. They don’t want people possibly infected with Covid walking their streets.
If you choose to travel anywhere with a mandatory enforced quarantine, plan to pay for it yourself.
The visitor would pay. Since I am on business travel, my employer is paying. I was whisked off to the room with the understanding that the traveler would pay for the quarantine.
Yes, it is a hot meal in disposable to-go containers.
I believe it is a flat charge per day, but don’t know for sure. They didn’t hand me a bill when I arrived!
Yes, you can order groceries, restaurant food and other essentials. Deliveries are vetted by authorities.
Only one bottle of wine or three beers per guest per day is allowed. It is a separate cost.
You can order them on-line and have them delivered to your room.
A laundry service is available for a fee. Just regular washing, no dry cleaning
A fresh set of linens is provided at the start of the second week. No one comes in to clean. Soiled linens are placed in a sealed, knotted plastic bag and left outside of the room.
We made the decision for my daughter (30) to fly across the country in early Dec. and then return home in mid-January, hoping to avoid peak times for flights. I got a suite for her on an airline that offers them, meaning she is seated by herself with partitions around her.
She has a serious chronic health condition and this was the only way she could feel safe. She will wear a face shield, mask and glasses.
I rent a winter apartment in a house that has a landlord summer apartment upstairs. In the winter, it is empty and they have been kind enough to let my daughter quarantine there.
She will get tested before her trip and then 3-5 days after she arrives, and I will try to get a test as well. We are hoping that after those days and a test she can then comfortably stay with me and we can be a bubble.
I would love tips on when to test- how long she should be upstairs before the test. She is very careful at home so we are just concerned about any exposure from the flight and airport.
We have both been isolated for a long time. I feel like this trip is worth the risk due to her isolation all this time, but it is scary.
@compmom, ShawD, her BF and ShawSon are flying east. As a nurse practitioner, she is taking care of testing in California. But, they will rent an Airbnb (actually, I rented it) and will stay there for three days before they get the test. She says it can take up to three days for someone who has come into contact with the virus to test positive. I didn’t ask about the false positive and false negative percentages for the test.
We are leaving our car at the airport the night before so they can take it and drive without us to the apartment.
We hadn’t thought about getting a test, but that might be a good idea.
Thanks @Shawbridge. Leaving the car is smart too: but my kid can’t drive! We will essentially renting an airbnb type situation but it will be above my apartment so we can take walks for that first week!
My D is also going to get a test in CA so she can enter MA, then will get another test in the 3-5 day time frame, so she can relax with me. I will get tested and also be extra careful during that week.
Fingers crossed that MA and CA are not surging by then. The airline said it is always possible that the entire flight(s) will be cancelled and we would get a full refund.
A friend and her family have decided to take a trip to Tahiti. She says they have to have a covid test within 72 hours before the flight and will get tested 4 days after they arrive. She says Tahiti has been using this system since they reopened and no positive cases yet.
Just saw a story on Good Morning America stating that the virus is not surviving at high enough levels to be transmissible on airplanes, when everyone is masked. This is due to the filtration system and large amount of air flow. Apparently, flight attendants have a very low rate of infection. Study was done by Dept of Defense along with the airlines. Makes me consider possibly flying.
RE: airplanes, I saw a report that stated the air circulation system pulls air downwards, effectively pulling particles out of the air. Also the air is recirculated every few seconds. Also made the point that waiting in the terminal is the more hazardous part of the ordeal.
Part of the problem I encountered when I flew last (in May) was that people could take their masks off to eat/drink. The woman next to me was “eating” almost the entire flight and was maskless.
Compmom - what are airplane suites and what airline offers them? I was under the impression airlines were filling planes with a few exceptions that were leaving the center seat open.
I wish mask use wasn’t an issue in the US. It is such a small individual sacrifice for the benefit of all.
Have they changed the air systems in the planes since Covid? We were discussing air travel vs sickness the other day in our family and from the multiple times we’ve traveled it always seemed we could count on picking up a cold from air travel relatively often. Definitely more than our many road trips.
It could be from the airport itself, I suppose, and of course, no one wore masks then.
I remain skeptical about air travel, esp if someone sitting near me were infected.
Friend recently flew Frontier, and the plane was totally booked. No open center seats. She mentioned it felt especially claustrophobic, primarily because of the contrast with social distancing elsewhere for the last 6 months.
My D20 is traveling to Boston this weekend. The numbers there have been rising steadily (as they have where we live). She arrives back home Sunday night. The plan is to have her isolate in her room/bathroom away from the rest of us (my H is immunocompromised) at any point that she is in the house. She will take a test on Wednesday, and continue to isolate from us until she gets a negative result.
It was my sister’s birthday yesterday, so she visited my parents when my dad requested it. She hasn’t been around them for quite awhile, since she is teaching students in-person and my dad hasn’t been careful (grr). She kept a lot of distance from my folks and gave them new N95 masks to wear.