It’s one thing to test positive for COVID whilst in your home country, quite another to test positive whilst abroad.
I am double jabbed and I also have my booster shot so when I recently went to the UK to attend a funeral and a user conference I was fairly confident that I would have no issues with COVID tests. On arrival in the UK, you have to do a test on day 2 which was fine and I was negative. The rest of the visit was uneventful and since it is mandatory to have a negative PCR test to fly back to Barbados I did a Fit-to-Fly test three days before I was expected to return. As things would have it this test returned a positive result. Then the NHS contacted me with their track and trace and I had to isolate for 10 days. At this time I had no recognizable symptoms though on my second day of isolation my nose was totally blocked and I had a very nasal voice. This was probably my worst day.
But in between all of this, I contacted everyone that I had been in personal contact with and notified them - mind you the NHS also followed up and they also made contact with the same individuals. The biggest challenges was telling my wife, who was not a happy camper, and was very upset (which is understandable), and then re-organizing my stay. Flights had to be changed, car rental adjusted, airport hotel changed without knowing when I would be able to fly back since I had to get a negative PCR test. Luckily for me , the B&B I was staying at was free for 11 days so my immediate accommodation challenges were resolved. The next was food. The hostess at the B& was great and allowed me to come down and have breakfast so all I had to do was sort out lunches and dinner. Since I was staying near my sons and daughter-in-law they supplied me with pre-cooked meals from Marks and Spencer and Sainsbury’s that only had to be warmed in a microwave. So I was all set.
On my eighth day of isolation I started doing lateral flow tests which were negative so once my isolation was ended, day 11, I decided to do three tests plus a lateral flow test. There was an NHS drive-thru test which I did in the morning which was free. I went back to the same pharmacy and got the same individual and did my Fit-to-Fly test and then I did an NHS home test, which was also free, and mailed the results in.
The lateral flow test was again negative - so that was 4 days in a row I had a negative lateral flow test. The drive-through test was a no result. The Fit-to-Fly test was again positive which was really depressing. Since I went to the same pharmacy and had the same lady do my tests I figured maybe something was wrong with either the individual or the pharmacy so I decided to do another test the subsequent day at a different pharmacy. The next day I got these results back along with the NHS home test. The initial NHS home PCR test that I did returned a negative result and my subsequent Fit-to-fly test came back with a negative result. Relief. Now I could finalize my return date and re-organize my flight back and the car rental.
For my later days, day 11 to day 14 I stayed with my son and daughter-in-law so from an accommodation perspective I managed to save some money but the additional days for the B&B and the car rental added up to around £600, with most of that being the car rental, plus around £100 for lunches, dinner, and snacks.
Nevertheless, since I had tested positive again, the NHS contacted me telling me that I have to isolate again which was absolutely stupid since they never linked my test together even though I used the same telephone number and e-mail. If they had, they would have realized that I had one positive test and two negative tests, but instead, they treat each test, for a visitor, as a new individual. Prior to doing my last set of tests, I tried contacting the NHS to see what I could do to return home and they were of absolutely no help to me at all. The NHS system is great for people who live or are resident in the UK, but if you are a visitor forget it - they just don’t understand your situation. When they contact you they follow a script and any questions off script they just don’t know. When I went to my drive-thru test the guy asked me why I was here since I was doubled jabbed and also had a booster shot. He said I was not contagious but could not give me any advice on what to do should I not get a negative test. I have subsequently written a letter of complaint to the NHS over their support and advice for people who visit the UK.
Anyway made it back so my wife is happy.
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