Bdsm

How many times have you been tested for Covid-19?

ffay005

Once. Oh, and I recently took an antibody test, too.

miamiflyer8

0.

mpkz

Not to go too far off topic but this I simply do not understand. The test is free and easy for arrivals in HEL. Even if you are 99.9% sure you are not infected, it is so easy (even with a line) that it makes it worth it for the 0.1% chance of infecting an elderly relative or someone you pass by.

cistavoda

They're not giving out free buckets so why bother

Courmisch

But they give you a free disposable surgical mask!

Courmisch

I (re)entered Finland for the first time since August, and I ended up taking the test. There was hardly a queue to speak of. I received the results within 15 hours.

I have heard horror stories of 2-hour waits for my fellow country(wo)men though.

Getting off-topic, but the overall scheme does not quite seem to work (surprise surprise). You're supposed to get tested again no earlier than 72 hours after the arrival test (assuming it came negative), but Omaolo.fi does not seem to fancy people getting tested without symptoms other than "I have been abroad in the past 14 days".

on22cz

It's not the scheme not working, rather your misunderstanding of options. The second test is your opportunity to cut the recommended quarantine time, not any sort of voluntary demand from the government / THL. Should you wish to use the opportunity, it would be at your cost.

Another question is whether you need to be 100% honest with Omaolo if you want a free test.

Courmisch

Under the current scheme, the free test at arrival is pointless if it is not followed by another test: you get 10 days of voluntary quarantine either way, with or without the first test. Not only that, but it is nowhere stated on the THL documentation how to "get" the second test. Explanations on the other leaflet and by the airport staff to the effect that you can find / will get further instructions with the results of the first test make it worse. In reality, all you actually get is a boolean result; it does not even show on kanta.fi as far as I can tell.

Yes, I suppose that's how it's meant to be. But it just makes no sense to me. Even the first test is also only merely recommended, and the quarantine periods are voluntary. Why would somebody pay ~200€ to get a second test then?

It feels to me like begging for people to ignore the recommendations (as some evidently do here), and ultimately makes the airport arrival test a waste of healthcare capacity and tax-euros.

I wouldn't need to lie. Running nose and sore throat are all about where you draw the line

avermat

Company policy. You get back to work by taking the second test and waiving the voluntary isolation recommendation.

Courmisch

You mean that some employers would pay for it so their staff can get back to work faster? I can't imagine that an employer could legally require an employee to pay for the test.

Mine just bans foreign travelers from the premises for 14 days, so getting the second (or indeed the first) test makes no difference...

mpkz

It is only pointless if you think about it only from your perspective. I do not get the test to evade voluntary quarantine, I get the test to get (some) peace of mind before visiting my parents and my friends and to protect others. THL had some modelling (admittedly very rudimentary back-of-the-envelope but it seemed reasonable) on the risk reduction of an airport test vs. a 10 day quarantine and it was somewhere in the order of 50% as effective, which is pretty good given that few obey the quarantine (essentially airport test = will catch almost all infections prior to maybe 3-4 days before your flight, so if you self-quarantine those days and are careful at the airport, you should be quite safe)



Because they want to protect their loved ones and others? Everyone makes their own decision about this but having a pro-social motive is not weird, what would be weird is NOT having a pro-social motive. I guess most would just fake a symptom rather than pay btw.

It's the same reason 80% or so of travelers line up to get a non-mandatory test. It's easy and helps you protect others. 200e is not that easy any more but saying you have a headache is..

cistavoda

And as a reminder: It's also pointless to take the test after back to back flights. Quick googling tells me that it takes up to five days after exposure for the test to show positive.

Off to Arlanda then -->

ffay005

Trevlig resa! Let's hope the Norrsken lounge is still open.

miamiflyer8

It certainly was open during my visit on Dec 19th when flying BA, breakfast was full service best I could tell, never visited it before.