Chat about Novel Coronavirus - 2019-nCoV - COVID-19

More a comment on your opinion of me. No idea about Rogan either.

Probably more about my opinion of people I know who like Rogan than you. For them, strong conspiracy-believing bro vibes with a pronounced lean to the right.

Christ the rules for tests are a bit byzantine aren't they? For a quick business trip to Italy arriving Tues and leaving Weds night I need PCR/antigen test within 48hrs of leaving. If I do that on Sunday it should still be valid for the return trip as that needs to be 3 days before arrival. Then need a day 2 test.
Plus the locator forms out and back.

Is that it?

It's possible the teat for arrive Tuesday could still be valid Wednesday...

Christ the rules for tests are a bit byzantine aren't they?

Yes.

For a quick business trip to Italy arriving Tues and leaving Weds night I need PCR/antigen test within 48hrs of leaving. If I do that on Sunday it should still be valid for the return trip as that needs to be 3 days before arrival. Then need a day 2 test.

Yes, although I believe that the reference to '3 days' in the guidance actually means 72 hours, so you'd have to do the test on Sunday after the time when you'd be returning on the Wednesday in order for it to be valid for the return journey. Or do it on Monday.

Plus the locator forms out and back.

Yep. Have fun with those. Doing the UK one really boiled my piss. You have to fill in your passport number, and then they ask when it expires, despite the fact that the government department receiving the form is the same department which issued the fucking passport in the first place, so they really ought to know.

Having got back from Italy on Sunday, my other top tips would be:

1. You'll need a surgical/FFP2/FFP3 mask, certainly on the flight back, not a fabric mask. I ended up giving away my 5 spares to other passengers who only had fabric masks and who were being denied boarding as a result.
   
2. Leave a looooooong time to check in and board. I started checking in at 4am on Sunday morning, and I only just made my 6am flight. There's a lot of fuckwits out there, and the check-in and departure gate staff and having to spend a lot of time explaining and enforcing the rules.
   
3. For my trip to Mallorca and the Italy trip I've used Medicspot for my Covid tests - all 5 of them. No links to them, just a customer, but while they're far from the cheapest they've been reliable and quick so far. The pre-departure test and the pre-return-to-the-UK tests were done with a lateral flow test which you register and photograph, and they send you a certificate. Seems to work well.
   
4. Take a copy of your NHS vaccination certificate with you. It seems that the Italian Green Pass app is working with the NHS certificates and QR codes now.
   

Thanks - good stuff. Will be back latish Weds and leaving early Tues so I hope that will give enough time to get a result back if I do Sunday night.
What fun...

deleterered-
wrong thread, IDIOT.

Had to take my 2yo daughter for a test earlier. I was too traumatised to remember to ask what the current turnaround is. Anyone have any idea how long the NHS sites are taking?

Friend of mine tested on Thursday at about 5pm in North London last week, got the result just before lunch on Friday.

Similar - my partner had one done yesterday just before lunch (give or take) and got the results (negative) late afternoon/early evening. Which was good as I had a meeting this morning I really didn't want to have to cancel!

Question from this - if the 'day 2' test is also a LFT, any idea why it costs 5 times as much?!

Also meant to say thanks for sharing info/experiences, was really helpful!

Day 2 has to be pcr

That's what I thought, so I guess just a typo in @Brommers info up there...?

Read again, he said pre departure from UK and pre return to UK, not day 2.

My bad. As you were.

For my trip to Mallorca and the Italy trip I've used Medicspot for my Covid tests - all 5 of them. No links to them, just a customer, but while they're far from the cheapest they've been reliable and quick so far. The pre-departure test and the pre-return-to-the-UK tests were done with a lateral flow test which you register and photograph, and they send you a certificate. Seems to work well.

Interesting that for Mallorca, a pre-departure LFT test is enough. For Germany, you need a PCR test (and I thought that was standard, didn't realise Spain had laxer rules).

Spain didn't require any test to get into the country if you're double-vaccinated, hence why I've done 5 tests rather than 6. So far I've done:

Mallorca: Lateral flow test before flying back to the UK (UK requirement), PCR for Day 2 test (UK requirement).
Italy: Lateral flow test before flying out (Italian requirement), lateral flow test before flying back (UK requirement), PCR test for Day 2 test (UK requirement).

Just waiting on the results of my Day 2 test after flying back from Italy, but I used one of my spare lateral flow tests yesterday and it was negative, so fingers crossed.

Happily I didn't have to quarantine when I arrived in Italy (I arrived just before they got rid of the need for quarantine for people travelling from the UK) as the event I was doing was classified as a National Sporting Event, so I was exempt from quarantine under the elite athletes rule. Somewhat ironically.

Edited to add: Also didn't need a test when I popped briefly into Switzerland on Thursday, going down the Umbrail pass before heading to the bottom of Stelvio. Cos Schengen.

For Cyrpus (unless my reading comprehension is as bad as recently evinced on this thread) you don't need any pre-departure or post-arrival testing at all if double jabbed. Just the pre-dep LFT and day 2 PCR upon return.

Got pinged by the NHS today.

The bizarre thing is I don’t have the app, so they could only have got my deets from when I flew in from Spain (where I live) and the passenger locator form. The ping also came the day after I got the negative result from my day 2 test.

Anyway, filled in the form and it says I don’t need to isolate, and we’re taking tests tomorrow to see an ill family member, but still, all so bloody confusing.

Starting to regret getting caught up in the narrative to wear masks to protect others, when we had lockdown and everything was pleasant it made sense but now that people are back I wish I could
go back in time and give Covid to as many cunts as possible.

This is correct. You do need to apply for a FlightPass and upload your jab evidence, and you get asked for the FlightPass everywhere.

Why?

I had a flashing moment if this thought last night.

I've been literally the only person wearing a mask in my local gym. Nobody sanitises their hands. Nobody wipes down the equipment or sanitises it after use. Sometimes people sanitise it before use, but never after. And yesterday I had a few people coughing with no mask right up in my grid while I was working out.

There are plenty of vulnerable people in my gym. The collective selfishness got on top of me for a moment.

^ not to pour scorn on anyone's gym going but surely after seeing that level of shittery you'd think "yeah this is not good and i should probably not be here".

on a slightly tangential note, how cautiously antisocial is everyone despite being 2xv'd? public transport / packed shopping centres / supermarkets even the park when it's rammed full of kids still gives me the utter heebs - our office had a party on a boat the other day and i just couldn't - i mean, it seems wildly reckless to even consider it. that said, everyone who did go looks like they had a grand old time.

^ not to pour scorn on anyone's gym going but surely after seeing that level of shittery you'd think "yeah this is not good and i should probably not be here".

Definitely, this is why it makes me sad. Sad that the vulnerable users of the gym who get the most out of it can't be safe mainly. Annoyed for myself too.