Paxlovid to bring on trip

 
Old May 5, 2023, 12:32 pm
  #31  
 
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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?
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Old May 6, 2023, 12:08 am
  #32  
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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.
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Old May 6, 2023, 1:51 am
  #33  
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Originally Posted by Lindsy
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?
You need to talk to your primary care doctor about this. Paxlovid does not shorten infectivity or necessarily ease the infection, but if you are clinically highly vulnerable to COVID-19 it may stop you dying and reduce the risk of Long Covid. The side effects, notably diarrhoea and vomiting, are worse, in most cases, to the immediate symptoms of COVID-19 in its current form. It's a life-saver, but taking the medicine is non trivial and could impact travel plans just as much as the virus itself. You have to take the medicine for 5, 6 or 7 days, depending on your vulnerabilities,whereas most current cases of COVID-19 have 2 rough days and that's it. There isn't much difference here with influenza, other than COVID remains more lethal for some and is remains highly infectious.

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.
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Old May 6, 2023, 3:05 am
  #34  
 
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What I Take

Originally Posted by nk15
And these are just your average countries and scenarios...
Yes I know this and left it home for those places
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Old May 6, 2023, 7:54 am
  #35  
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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.
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