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pauldavidmena
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Location: Centerville, MA, USA
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Covid testing prior to returning to the U.S.
Back in December the CDC issued the requirement of a negative rapid test within a day of returning to the U.S. from an international location - including Mexico, of course. This
presents travelers with an interesting dilemma: in the remote chance that one tests positive for Covid, what does one do?
When I asked this question of St. Jude's Hospital in Todos Santos, they said that I would need to isolate for 5 days before getting retested. Given
that I'll be checking out of an AirBnB on the following morning, I'll need to scramble to find a place to stay - and to not be out in public for the
next 5 days. This would be easy if I lived in Todos part-time - I would just return to my home - but navigating quarantine from a hotel (assuming
there are any vacancies during February) would be much trickier. Not to mention the need to reschedule the return flight, the rental car return and
our dogsitter back in MA. It's making us strongly reconsider our plans.
Has anyone on BN experienced a positive test in Baja since this rule was put in place (or know of someone who has)? I'd be curious to know if the
likelihood is so negligible that it's worth the risk to escape a New England winter for 8 days (and possibly 13).
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100X
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I understand your concern. I do not know anyone that received a positive result, but we had 3 guests in Loreto and all of them received a negative
test before leaving.
To be honest, the danger of getting Covid does not seem much different down here than in the states. Again, I understand your concern, but I believe
if you continue to practice safe behavior the "gamble" is well in your favor.
I once asked my neurosurgeon if I could race the Baja 1000 9 weeks after L5/S1 discectomy, to which he responded "Well there is always a risk, but I
would go for it--you have to live your life." I often think of those words, and generally live by them.
A life of fears leads to a death bed of regrets.
Find someone who will take care of you, and take care of them.
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JDCanuck
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I would think if you tested positive you should also inform the place that you book to stay at for those 5 days that you are indeed carrying the virus
so they can take extra precautions against you spreading it to others. Are there any hotels that have volunteered to house positive cases in Cabo and
what are they charging to do so?
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mtgoat666
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Quote: Originally posted by pauldavidmena  |
Has anyone on BN experienced a positive test in Baja since this rule was put in place (or know of someone who has)? I'd be curious to know if the
likelihood is so negligible that it's worth the risk to escape a New England winter for 8 days (and possibly 13). |
here in san diego, i know many people that came down with covid over the past month. i have friends in baja that tested positive for covid in past
month. the risk of getting covid is pretty high, lots of people getting it this winter. the majority of the population expected to get covid
omicron variant over this winter, so you got a better than 50/50 chance chance of getting covid this winter, and there is appreciable chance you will
test positive in baja.
if you test positive, follow the guidance and quarantine. in your case of traveling in baja, this will require you to get a hotel room, get a new air
ticket home, retest, etc.
travel is a bit more complicated in this time of covid.
Woke!
“...ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” “My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America
will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
Prefered gender pronoun: the royal we
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pauldavidmena
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Posts: 1692
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Location: Centerville, MA, USA
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| Quote: Originally posted by 100X | I understand your concern. I do not know anyone that received a positive result, but we had 3 guests in Loreto and all of them received a negative
test before leaving.
To be honest, the danger of getting Covid does not seem much different down here than in the states. Again, I understand your concern, but I believe
if you continue to practice safe behavior the "gamble" is well in your favor.
I once asked my neurosurgeon if I could race the Baja 1000 9 weeks after L5/S1 discectomy, to which he responded "Well there is always a risk, but I
would go for it--you have to live your life." I often think of those words, and generally live by them. |
My wife's doctor gave her the same advice - to make the trip down and to prepare most of our meals in the casita we are renting. Fortunately she loves
to cook, and there are plenty of markets in which to buy fresh meat, fish, vegetables, etc. It will put a damper on any (or at least most) nights out,
or visiting with friends we have made over the years, but there's something to be said for a dose of warm weather during winter.
Cancelling at this point would mean forfeiting the deposit on the casita (about 50% of the total cost) and whatever fees we'd have to pay the airline.
Testing positive - which I agree is less likely than testing negative - would mean having to pay for a hotel, extended auto rental, etc., and to have
take-out delivered to our room. At least we'd be able to do so wearing sandals and shorts!
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JDCanuck
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Voluntary isolation camps is starting to make a whole lot more sense for those that are unfortunate enough to test positive while on vacation. We are
hearing of more and more people we know in La Paz that have tested positive for Covid, presumably the Omicron strain(9 in the past week) and the risk
of contracting it on vacation is elevated at present.
[Edited on 1-14-2022 by JDCanuck]
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pauldavidmena
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Posts: 1692
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Location: Centerville, MA, USA
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| Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666 | | Quote: Originally posted by pauldavidmena |
Has anyone on BN experienced a positive test in Baja since this rule was put in place (or know of someone who has)? I'd be curious to know if the
likelihood is so negligible that it's worth the risk to escape a New England winter for 8 days (and possibly 13). |
here in san diego, i know many people that came down with covid over the past month. i have friends in baja that tested positive for covid in past
month. the risk of getting covid is pretty high, lots of people getting it this winter. the majority of the population expected to get covid
omicron variant over this winter, so you got a better than 50/50 chance chance of getting covid this winter, and there is appreciable chance you will
test positive in baja.
if you test positive, follow the guidance and quarantine. in your case of traveling in baja, this will require you to get a hotel room, get a new air
ticket home, retest, etc.
travel is a bit more complicated in this time of covid.
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As it happens, my wife's doctor - the same one who encouraged us to go - basically said "you will probably catch COVID at some point this winter". She
is headed to Hawaii today, where she won't need (but should take voluntarily) a negative test to return home.
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BajaParrothead
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Posts: 460
Registered: 12-4-2012
Location: Portola, CA / Los Barriles
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| Quote: Originally posted by pauldavidmena | Back in December the CDC issued the requirement of a negative rapid test within a day of returning to the U.S. from an international location - including Mexico, of course. This
presents travelers with an interesting dilemma: in the remote chance that one tests positive for Covid, what does one do?
When I asked this question of St. Jude's Hospital in Todos Santos, they said that I would need to isolate for 5 days before getting retested. Given
that I'll be checking out of an AirBnB on the following morning, I'll need to scramble to find a place to stay - and to not be out in public for the
next 5 days. This would be easy if I lived in Todos part-time - I would just return to my home - but navigating quarantine from a hotel (assuming
there are any vacancies during February) would be much trickier. Not to mention the need to reschedule the return flight, the rental car return and
our dogsitter back in MA. It's making us strongly reconsider our plans.
Has anyone on BN experienced a positive test in Baja since this rule was put in place (or know of someone who has)? I'd be curious to know if the
likelihood is so negligible that it's worth the risk to escape a New England winter for 8 days (and possibly 13). |
December28 a friend and his family tested the day before their flight out of SJD. Of the five family members, his daughter tested positive with the
rapid test. She had no symptoms, so they retested her the following day and she was negative. They all boarded and returned to the states.
In their case, they contacted me to see if they could stay in my vacant home in LB if she indeed tested positive again, but that wasn't necessary.
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JDCanuck
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| Quote: Originally posted by BajaParrothead |
December28 a friend and his family tested the day before their flight out of SJD. Of the five family members, his daughter tested positive with the
rapid test. She had no symptoms, so they retested her the following day and she was negative. They all boarded and returned to the states.
In their case, they contacted me to see if they could stay in my vacant home in LB if she indeed tested positive again, but that wasn't necessary.
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So it seems she had a false positive, while in our family we strongly believe we have had two of the 5 tests come back false negatives despite showing
symptoms using the rapid tests. Maybe this is why our health leaders are now telling us if we have symptoms to assume we have covid and not bother
getting tested unless the symptoms become very worrisome at which point they will provide a more accurate PCR test on appointment.
[Edited on 1-14-2022 by JDCanuck]
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mtgoat666
Select Nomad
Posts: 17492
Registered: 9-16-2006
Location: San Diego
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Mood: Hot n spicy
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| Quote: Originally posted by JDCanuck | | Quote: Originally posted by BajaParrothead |
December28 a friend and his family tested the day before their flight out of SJD. Of the five family members, his daughter tested positive with the
rapid test. She had no symptoms, so they retested her the following day and she was negative. They all boarded and returned to the states.
In their case, they contacted me to see if they could stay in my vacant home in LB if she indeed tested positive again, but that wasn't necessary.
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So it seems she had a false positive, |
more likely she had a true positive followed by a false negative.
2 unwritten (and potentially unethical) rules of testing: (1) don't test if you dont need to, because you might not like the result; and (2) if you
dont like the first result, keep testing until you get the result you like.
Woke!
“...ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” “My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America
will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
Prefered gender pronoun: the royal we
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JDCanuck
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Registered: 2-22-2020
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Altho I already have a return flight pre-booked (which thankfully can be cancelled or delayed at no cost), We are avoiding setting a time to travel
down there until the present wave shows consistent signs of being in a declining trend, similar to the last time we went down. We also did not book
our initial hotels until very late to avoid possibilities of having to cancel. There were a lot of unoccupied hotel rooms in La Paz at that time and
not booking early on was not inconvenient.
Planning necessary travel has become a very complicated situation.
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JZ
Elite Nomad
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Registered: 10-3-2003
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When are you going? There is a chance for this spike to be over in 1 to 2 months.
You should investigate getting an at home test and having it proctored (video call). That way you don't have to go to a clinic and perhaps you can
just stay were you are in the chance you test positive. I'm pretty sure that this works for airlines like Alaska, so assume others as well.
Also, a lot of airlines now let you cancel flights and they have eliminated change fees. They will give you credit for other flights.
I've been to Baja several times over the last year, flying in. I probably wouldn't go for the next 2 months.
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JDCanuck
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Plan was to drive down in January through the US (delayed now til mid to late Feb due to present Covid surging in the US). Westjet allows you to
cancel, delay or transfer flights to others at no cost, and the returning flight is presently booked for Mar 31, which still looks hopeful. As I have
my own remote residence, testing there before flying back isn't an issue for me like it would be for the Original Poster. I really sympathize for
those that might be trapped down there by testing positive with limited options for places to stay if they do.
I can't say enough good things about Westjet as they provided us with luxurious meals and accommodations when we were stranded in Calgary for 2 days
during the sudden storm back last fall which prevented them from flying into Cabo.
[Edited on 1-14-2022 by JDCanuck]
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pauldavidmena
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Location: Centerville, MA, USA
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| Quote: Originally posted by JZ | When are you going? There is a chance for this spike to be over in 1 to 2 months.
You should investigate getting an at home test and having it proctored (video call). That way you don't have to go to a clinic and perhaps you can
just stay were you are in the chance you test positive. I'm pretty sure that this works for airlines like Alaska, so assume others as well.
Also, a lot of airlines now let you cancel flights and they have eliminated change fees. They will give you credit for other flights.
I've been to Baja several times over the last year, flying in. I probably wouldn't go for the next 2 months.
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We are scheduled to fly out from Boston on February 3 and to return from Los Cabos on February 11. So our flight is 3 weeks from yesterday, leaving us
very little window to see an encouraging trend in COVID infections in BCS. Things seem to be improving here on Cape Cod, but Baja seems like a world
away.
We have an appointment for a rapid test in Todos Santos the afternoon before we fly out. That would be well within the time range required by the CDC
- assuming it's negative. If it's positive for either one of us, we've got a bunch of phone calls to make when we get back to the casita.
Our tickets through American Airlines are not non-refundable, but I imagine there would be fees involved if we had to reschedule. Our car rental will
be from Dominic's Los Cabos. My guess is that he would let us extend our rental lest we have to drive down to Los Cabos airport to return it and then
find a way back to Todos Santos - all after testing positive for COVID.
If we had more flexibility, we'd push out our plans by a month or more, but we'd need to work with our casita's property manager (i.e. not AirBnB,
through whom we rented it) to figure that part out. In the meantime, we're watching the situation as closely as we can from 3300 miles away.
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JZ
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Definitely book travel through airlines like Delta and Alaska moving forward. Both have eliminated change fees. They also give you the option to
make the tickets fully refundable (you get the cash back immediately), but worst case they give you a credit.
Airlines like American and United don't give two sh#ts about their customers. Hell, they were basically the only two airlines not blocking middle
seats on flights in 2020.
[Edited on 1-14-2022 by JZ]
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JDCanuck
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PaulDavid: Seems to me the biggest issue you MIGHT face is finding accommodation for that additional week if someone did test positive just before
flying out. If you were in our neck of the woods, I'd offer you our place as backup, but that not being the case, is there anyone you know near Todos
Santos that might be willing to offer the same? Before you did that tho, I would definitely contact the casita owner and try to work out either
partial refunds and just rebook for a later time or get some assurances from them they would help you find alternative accommodations.
[Edited on 1-14-2022 by JDCanuck]
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pauldavidmena
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Posts: 1692
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Location: Centerville, MA, USA
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| Quote: Originally posted by JZ | Definitely book travel through airlines like Delta and Alaska moving forward. Both have eliminated change fees. They also give you the option to
make the tickets fully refundable (you get the cash back immediately), but worst case they give you a credit.
Airlines like American and United don't give two sh#ts about their customers. Hell, they were basically the only two airlines not block the middle
seat on flights in 2020.
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Unfortunately American seems to have a majority of same-day flights between Boston and Cabo (usually through Dallas or Phoenix). We may have taken
United and Delta one time each, but most of the time we've been locked into American. If we didn't mind breaking up our travel each way over 2 days,
we would have more options, but with both of us working, we've never been able to take more than a week or too off. I'm hoping to retire within a year
or so, which would remove that obstacle.
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pauldavidmena
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| Quote: Originally posted by JDCanuck | | PaulDavid: Seems to me the biggest issue you MIGHT face is finding accommodation for that additional week if someone did test positive just before
flying out. If you were in our neck of the woods, I'd offer you our place as backup, but that not being the case, is there anyone you know near Todos
Santos that might be willing to offer the same? |
That's a good question. We know a few people in Todos Santos / Pescadero, but haven't thought to presume ourselves upon them in an emergency
situation. We may make some inquiries this weekend, hoping to secure the proverbial unused umbrella.
Thank you for the offer, by the way. If you ever find yourself marooned in Cape Cod, we've got plenty of room. - Paul
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JDCanuck
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Visiting Baja is always an adventure for us, sudden changes in plans seem to be the norm. I myself would enjoy camping out for a time if that became
necessary and just add it to the list of adventures provided.
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pauldavidmena
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Location: Centerville, MA, USA
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| Quote: Originally posted by JDCanuck | | Visiting Baja is always an adventure for us, sudden changes in plans seem to be the norm. I myself would enjoy camping out for a time if that became
necessary and just add it to the list of adventures provided. |
If we had an RV, there is an unofficial camping area not too far from where we'll be staying. I say "unofficial" because it's really just a parking
lot for the beach near the turtle sanctuary. Lately the locals - with help from local authorities - have been closing it off because of the
proliferation of overnight campers. "This is why we can't have nice things".
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