Strictness of COVID precautions & flying [on DL]
 

Have a flight today, but have a pretty severe cough. 90% sure it’s just a sinus infection or cold, as I had a C19 rapid test on Friday that was negative. No fever as of this AM. But the cough is certainly alarming to anyone who hears it.

I’m wondering if Delta is even going to let me fly, to be honest. Any experience or thoughts? I would just bail myself but this trip is really important and I want to exhaust any possibility before I bail.

Guessing no one will say anything. But you should think about whether you want to expose people when you admit there’s a 10 percent chance it’s covid. So much of this comes down to personal behavior.

And also testing negative yesterday or a few days before doesn't mean the OP won't be positive tomorrow as the virus doesn't always show up right away on tests...

The high fever for a couple days is more telling for CV19 than a cough. Unless you're taking something like Tylenol (anything with acetaminophen in it) or steroids which reduce a fever you should be good.

It's a risk-reward assessment.

1,. You are not shedding C-19. No problem.
2. You are shedding C-19.
A. You infect others who may get sick in varying degrees.
B. You yourself get sicker because you are untreated.

Seems that another rapid test is the way to go.

Ignoring CV-19 for a moment, even if you have a sinus infection or cold, I would highly recommend you don't fly for your own personal comfort.

I flew with a sinus infection years ago and while going up in altitude was no big deal, coming back down was extremely painful due to my congestion and my ears being unable to equalize. Unfortunately this was a 10+ day business trip and I was miserable the entire time, even after trying numerous decongestants I could not get my ears to equalize. The only relief I got was flying back home and going up in altitude again to a lower pressure, but yet again on arrival the same problem happened. It took about two more weeks for things to finally clear up and return to normal for me after almost a month of pretty nagging discomfort.

If you have a sinus infection/congestion and must fly, take the maximum recommended dosage of a strong decongestant about 20 minutes before you begin descent to help keep things clear to re-equalize. If at all possible though, I'd consider an alternative form of transportation if possible.

As others have noted, you should take another rapid COVID-19 test. More and more airports are starting to offer this but as of right now most still don't, so you may need to do it before you go. A negative test on Friday means nothing for a flight on Tuesday - especially with active symptoms. Even then, rapid tests are not 100% accurate so just know you are still potentially exposing others.

I too have had a miserable descent - I distinctly remember a United flight to Houston on a very quick to descend RJ - felt like an icepick being hammered into my skull repeatedly. One of the worst pains I've ever felt in my life (if not the worst). I've learned to be careful and always take decongestants if stuffed up too.. based on my experience I'd recommend taking a dose about 45-60 minutes before descent. 20 minutes is not enough to both absorb the drug (assuming it is in pill form) and actually work. Similarly, you should take one about an hour before liftoff as well (I would typically take it as soon as the boarding call starts).

I recommend Sufafed with pseudoephedrine - unfortunately in most (all?) states you have to get it from the pharmacy. You don't need a prescription but it is no longer available on store shelves so you have to ask for it. The over the counter stuff that uses phenylephrine doesn't work anywhere near as well.

You will probably get a lot of uncomfortable looks and maybe some snide remarks from people if you are constantly, severely coughing.
A cough here or there or whatever, a lot of people have those, but when even when you say its severe that means you are sick with something. And the big bogeyman COVID is in the room and always in the back of everyone's minds.

People constantly hacking in-flight in the pre-covid era where annoying, now there just isn't going to be a lot of tolerance from others.

I have probably experience this 50+ times (the icepick always felt like it was attacking my right eye/temple area), but it is happening less these days. The DC9 was a particularly rough descent for me, in addition to turbo-props - luckily I'm on neither of those these days.
In addition to the Sudafed, since I never figured that out, I found I could relieve some of the pain by rubbing my temples.

If this all happens, e.g. at the gate or before departure, some number of passengers may well as that you be offloaded. This isn't about whether you've got the right color shirt.

I had a sinus infection go acute on a transatlantic flight complete with the ice pick going into my cheekbone 'sensation' and apparently looked miserable enough that the FA asked me if I wanted him to try to find me a doctor. I politely declined and planned to just suffer along but my husband fortunately remembered he had what we call the Magic German Nose Spray in his bag- he'd picked it up at the pharmacy in the Munich airport about a week before when he'd been fighting that same bug and I don't remember what the formula was, but whatever you can buy OTC in German for that is way, way better than Afrin

Yes, I spent the rest of the flight feeling like I'd just slammed six espressos, but that stuff drained my sinuses totally in like five minutes (I filled an air sickness bag full of used tissues in the process) and the awful pain was gone within ten minutes.

So y'all when Germany reopens to the world, figure out what that stuff is, buy some at a pharmacy there, and keep it in your first aid kit because it really is total magic.

I really think you are going to make many, many other passengers extremely uncomfortable if you're coughing for the whole flight.

I know it's hard to cancel a trip, but I think this is one of those times where you just have to do it.

Around 50% of Covid cases do not present with a fever. Many eventually develop a fever, but they tested positive with normal body temp (no anti-pyretics). Temp scanning can be useful but is not definitive.

The check in questions ask if you have symptoms of COVID including a cough. If you answer honestly I doubt they will let you fly. Do you really want to lie about it?

If you have anything that looks like a possible symptom of COVID, STAY HOME. Period. Don't even think about going anywhere until those symptoms subside. You don't want to be a super spreader.