Paxlovid to bring on trip
#31
Join Date: May 2001
Location: San Diego, CA
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Paxlovid and quarantine
Next week I'm going to Latvia and then Italy. Last year when I was in Paris, my traveling companion came down with Covid, so I'm now fairly paranoid about the way it can potentially screw up travel plans. My friend did not get Paxlovid, and she mostly stayed in her hotel rooms for the next five days, but we also (both double masked) took a train to italy the day after she first tested positive. My friend did not want to be forced to stay in a particular place for a particular time, and I share that desire -- but I also think I might like to control my symptoms with Paxlovid if I were infected. My question: if you do obtain Paxlovid, and therefore make yourself known to the authorities, what -- especially given the new WHO designation -- are the current policies and regulations around quarantine?
#32
Community Director
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Norwich, UK
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As you'll see from the various contributions to this thread you won't routinely be able to obtain Paxlovid in Europe because most cases simply don't require it, so you won't be drawing anyone's attention to yourself.
Any requirement to quarantine is down to country-specific laws and your personal moral compass in terms of the risk of infecting others. I'm not aware of any country in Europe that mandates quarantine. Given that almost no-one is now testing, so there will be thousands of people out-and-about blissfully unaware they have Covid, any different approach would be something of a nonsense anyway.
Any requirement to quarantine is down to country-specific laws and your personal moral compass in terms of the risk of infecting others. I'm not aware of any country in Europe that mandates quarantine. Given that almost no-one is now testing, so there will be thousands of people out-and-about blissfully unaware they have Covid, any different approach would be something of a nonsense anyway.
#33
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
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My friend did not want to be forced to stay in a particular place for a particular time, and I share that desire -- but I also think I might like to control my symptoms with Paxlovid if I were infected. My question: if you do obtain Paxlovid, and therefore make yourself known to the authorities, what -- especially given the new WHO designation -- are the current policies and regulations around quarantine?
To answer the question as posed, you are not required to quarantine, but at least in the UK you would almost certainly be under active clinical management, often in a hospital or hospice setting. I would say the median age for patients is early 90s.
#35
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Join Date: Aug 2014
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My guess is that you won't even be able to get Paxlovid in most countries, unless you are 60-65+ and/or very vulnerable, or are not vaccinated. The US probably has the most lax criteria in prescribing it.