‘Red List’ scrapped – but pre- and post-travel testing to remain

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• RG1X says:

  14 Dec14 December 15:43

  I’m cancelling trips in January and February as I just can’t be bothered dealing with the hassle / stress / cost of the testing.

  • Aliks says:

    14 Dec14 December 16:32

    I’m just about at that point myself.

    What is Bognor like in January?

  • Thywillbedone says:

    14 Dec14 December 19:00

    Already binned a Thailand December family holiday …felt like I was planning the Normandy landings …was actually relieved when I finally cancelled everything.

    • Rob says:

      14 Dec14 December 19:01

      Sinead should be landing in a few hours!

      • Track says:

        15 Dec15 December 00:51

        @Rob Sinead’s travel is not an example. Single or couple travelling can handle inconveniences and worst things, can do 10 days quarantine/recovery quietly in a hotel room.

        Things are not the same with a family, and the costs amplify x4 or more for everything that goes wrong.

        • Alan says:

          15 Dec15 December 01:34

          Plus presumably she could still work from quarantine? A bit different if your job requires F2F work.

        • Rob says:

          15 Dec15 December 09:07

          Er, Sinead has gone with a 10 month old baby and her hubby.

  • Alan says:

    15 Dec15 December 01:33

    Yep, not been abroad since March 2020. Too much risk of rule changes and having to self isolate and be off work, don’t want to make things busier for my colleagues.

• Lady London says:

  14 Dec14 December 15:52

  So the government decided in favour of keeping their cronies well fed with higher test costs than Europe, whilst opening the door to what just last week were the red devil countries.

  Where is the competence and intelligence here?

  • Iain says:

    14 Dec14 December 16:05

    The opposition, left, Remainers and anyone with a dislike of Johnson demanded testing (not to mention quarantine hotels) for a long time before the Tories implemented them.
    The also complained bitterly about the government supposedly acting to late more than once.

    Testing is more on them than the government.

    • meta says:

      14 Dec14 December 16:58

      It’s absolutely on the government. They could have set a cap on pricing which everyone else told them to do or even offer it for free. They chose not to, to fill their pockets.

      • JDB says:

        14 Dec14 December 17:12

        Why on earth should the government regulate prices in this sort of private market, particularly when it relates to the very small and privileged number people on leisure trips? We did away with price regulation in virtually every sector years ago. Also, look at the price of private tests in the US! If you object to anyone making money i.e. capitalism or supply meeting a demand, so be it. Perhaps they should regulate the cost of food at events/festivals, London theatre tickets, flights to your preferred destinations etc. while they are at it.

        I am a happy investor in Roche, Illumina and Siemens Healthineers who are the ones making proper money in both absolute and relative terms out of testing.

        • meta says:

          14 Dec14 December 17:32

          Because the government imposed this in the first place! This wasn’t introduced by someone else. Government does not impose the organisation of food festivals, London theatres, flights, etc so your analogy doesn’t work.

        • JDB says:

          14 Dec14 December 17:43

          Well it feels quite grotesque that you complain about the £5/£10 or whatever extra price per test you think you are paying above the cap you desire when you are posting/boasting about stays (even if not quite up to scratch) at say SSDV. The vast majority of people can’t afford to travel abroad at all, so for you to feel hard done by these alleged profiteers is quite incredibly out of touch with the real world. It’s just another travel cost and feels like champagne socialism at its very worst. As for the wholly unsubstantiated allegation that it is government cronies who are benefitting, that is just a lazy trope.

        • meta says:

          14 Dec14 December 19:25

          @JDB Well, as demonstrated you can only do ad hominem attacks when you have no arguments.

          In any case, I am actually advocating for free tests as that is benefiting everyone. We are after all paying a lot of taxes so they could do it.

• Iain says:

  14 Dec14 December 15:54

  I presume this is a concession to the 70+ who are going to vote against the government this evening.
  Either way…good news.

  • blenz101 says:

    14 Dec14 December 16:15

    When they make things up as they go along against the advice of the WHO it makes it harder to then fall back on the science when they want to introduce new restrictions.

    WHO said no border closures but because it was Africa they did it anyway. Had it been the USA I’m certain the border would have remained open but the appropriate testing.

    • Catalan says:

      14 Dec14 December 17:18

      Exactly!

      Meanwhile China, the source of all of this, keeps silent and no restrictions placed on them!

• aviosnewbie says:

  14 Dec14 December 16:31

  Planning to travel to the US over Christmas. Have had both jabs and also the booster. But just on the chance that I get covid in the US and the pre-departure antigen tests positive, does anyone know what’ll happen? Also, how long after a possible positive test will the next one be negative? I assume as per the rules, there needs to be a negative test and there’s nothing like ‘ok to board if self isolated for 10 days’?

  • Dayle says:

    14 Dec14 December 16:53

    Just don’t actually swab the lat flow and you’ll be fine, if you want to show a negative, just use the liquid in the pack

    Positive test surely = can’t leave

• HarryHolden68 says:

  14 Dec14 December 16:38

  The tests are not that much of a hassle or cost to be honest. It’s more that in the coming weeks or months, there will be another variant somewhere in the world. I hope the government response is more considered than putting pencils up their nose and wearing pants on their head.

  Otherwise, nobody will ever be able to plan anything or even look forward to planned breaks without the constant fear of disruption.

  • Tom says:

    14 Dec14 December 16:46

    In your opinion. To go most places outside Europe you are looking at two PCRs and then a lateral flow at a minimum, it is not just the hassle but also the fact I have spent a sum well into four figures now propping up utterly shit companies (and have tested negative about 50 times). I’m fine with it when cases in the U.K. are low but right now it’s a pointless political concession so the government can distract people from the domestic measures they should be taking but aren’t.

  • RG1X says:

    14 Dec14 December 18:34

    For you, maybe not. But I found the stress of worrying about failing the test spoiled my last holiday. Testing positive beforehand means cancellation which is bad enough, testing positive whilst I’m out there would cost me thousands (loss of work / quarantining) that I just don’t have.

    Ignoring the ~£200 per person (depending on destination) to take all the tests.

• Aston100 says:

  14 Dec14 December 17:06

  I’m thinking I may as well go ahead and book my day 2 PCR tests (1st week of Jan) as it is now very unlikely they will be changed to something cheaper.

  One of us needs to go to work 24 hours after landing, so I guess the Halo test at the Sofitel is the most appropriate one, and the other traveller can do the Amazon test.

  Is that pretty much correct? or is there a better (but legal) way?
  Thanks.

• Boi says:

  14 Dec14 December 17:24

  What happens to those who had booked quarantine hotel but no longer needs it?

  A friend had booked as she was due to fly from South Africa tomorrow (arriving Thursday). She has been told no automatic refund.

  • meta says:

    14 Dec14 December 19:51

    Hm. Possibly the contract has been frustrated. If paid on the credit card, she could possibly invoke S75 on that basis. Although, it’s going to be difficult to argue. It also depends on the exact terms and conditions of the provider. I would wait a bit as Sajid Javid stated that the government will look at refunding those who had it booked and those who are still in quarantine and would now be leaving early.

• can says:

  14 Dec14 December 17:54

  I have a feeling soon these torries will put England in englands red list

  • CH says:

    14 Dec14 December 20:49

    Quarantine hotel for everyone who leaves home without a COVID passport!

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