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I have just returned from spending two weeks at the Hilton La Romana in the Dominican Republic. The resort is breathtakingly beautiful and one of the best cared for places I have ever been and I will have a full review of my stay and the use of a large amount of Hilton points earned from a number of Hilton Amex cards.
One of the things that did bother me as we were about to depart was the COVID testing provided free of charge from the hotel. Unlike the NCL cruise I was on in September where there was on-site testing with rapid results the hotel took samples on-site then sent them out to a lab..
Here is where it got weird.
My first concern came in the form of a form letter under our hotel room door. It said, get this, that we were to test 2 days before our departure from the hotel.
Confused? Yeah, me too.
After all the United States government has decreed that travelers are to test 1 day before you fly home and provide a negative test. They do NOT say you can test 2 or more days before you fly. So how does the Hilton La Romana get around this?
The lab simply changes the date / time of your test.
Wait – what – really?
Yep really!
Now I was not going to stand for this so we scheduled and went for our test 1 day before our flight. Our tests were marked “expedite” and while our official sample was taken at 9:30 AM our test time, on the certificate, said 5:08PM (the hotel did ask for the flight date and departure time).
So they are simply making stuff up it seems.
I did ask someone at the hotel about this and was told logistically it was simply not possible to comply with the US regulations so they do it this way.
OK then…
I also had paid, when we arrived, $29.99 per person for on-site insurance in case we tested positive to have our 10 days of quarantine covered by the hotel (all meals etc. included and brought to our room). During my conversation with the hotel person I asked just how many had tested positive the week before.
The answer – ONLY ONE!
Think on this for a moment. In the middle of exploding Omicron variant and almost as contagious Delta at a resort with 418 rooms on the family side connected to the adults only side with 356 rooms and an estimated 2000 guests at the resort the week before resulted in a positively rate around 0.0005!
Astonishing results (considering likely many guests were unvaccinated).
Now one of the reasons we went to this resort during the pandemic is outdoor dining. Almost everything was either outside or open air (no doors and wide open air flow). I get that with distancing and that much air it is much harder to get COVID. But there are three restaurants with indoor dining and they were packed each night.
This brings me to my question to you my dear readers – can the US really trust developing countries to provide accurate COVID tests before flight? Clearly the Hilton is providing altered testing info that the airport accepts. Once you are cleared to fly it is not like you ever have to provide anything again once you arrive in the US.
I mean what is the benefit of all of this at this point? Beyond that I personally think it is a major “FAIL” that the US does not exempt fully vaccinated folks from testing. If you did this, IMO, it would be a driving factor to get folks to get vaccinated to forego the ridiculousness of testing before returning home to the US.
Please let me know what you think of all of this in the comments section below*! – René
*AntiVax or false vaccination comments will not be allowed and will be removed. Get the shot folks!
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The entire Covid monopoly is like the TSA – it’s just public health theater.
No reason, no data that it does anything. Certainly no basis in reality or science.
Just like TSA.
—
If you don’t have symptoms, why are you ‘sick’?
If you aren’t sick, why get a test?
The Atlantic calls Omicron ‘a pandemic of the vaccinated’
So, it’s best to not be vaccinated these days.
Anyone who still believes the State, or the CDC, or WHO, have your best interests in mind…
I have a bridge to the Dominican Republic to sell you.
I don’t agree with conspiracy theories but I do agree with you that nobody should be tested unless they have symptoms (just like with other sicknesses, most of which are just as dangerous for a vaccinated person). Thus my reaction to the headline was “No, and it doesn’t matter.”.
1 positive case out of 2,000 guests is a positivity rate of 0.05% (equivalent in decimal terms to 0.0005), not 0.0005%.
@Derek – % sign removed. Thanks!
This is so absurd! So you see cruise ships having Covid + cases and it is splashed all over the news when positivity rate is no different that in many larger cities now with Omicrom, ugh! I do trust the cruise lines so much more that we have 2 cruises scheduled this winter. I refuse to go to the DR or Mexico especially the all-inclusive for the fact that there are large number of unvaccinated and the unreliable testing. Glad you had a good time, but not for me! I also would wish vaccinated would be exempt from testing unless symptomatic to get back to US.
What we should be asking is “why are we requiring testing of asymptomatic people at all?” It’s not like preventing 10, 100, 1000 people from bringing omicron to the US will matter at this point anyway. They should scrap all travel testing everywhere and just worry about protecting vulnerable people in nursing homes, etc.
Your math is wrong. While low, it is 1/2000 is not 0.0005%. Also, you base your accusation on an assumption that “date time req” means the time the sample is taken as opposed when the lab’s testing was “requested” (i.e., perhaps when the lab logged it in), in which case the only flaw here is not recording the time of collection as it should also do.
Not saying it is all on the up and up – I have no idea.
@Jeff – The hotel staff, and the paper work, tell you to test 2 days before flight. Any more questions?
@Jeff – We spoke to some guests who were tested 2 days out. Their tests showed a negative result less than 24 hours before their flight.
Problem is real, but title is way over the line. There are plenty developing countries that do more than US, not only on testing, but also on entry control.
Let’s be honest, USA is the biggest virus exporter right now. The bigger question is if other country can trust USA’s test and control.
I am hearing stories of Mexico purposely reporting negative tourists as falsely testing positive just so they can keep someone stuck paying for accommodation and meals for an additional 14 days.
Rene, we have friends who have gone to Mexican resorts twice where part of the deal is a “free” COVID test to return to the United States. Both times their COVID test with certificate was completed in 2-3 minutes. You don’t have to be a doctor to know the whole was fake. I don’t know how the US fixes this.
Agreed that there is so much fraud around testing. But, in reality, as Omicron comes on a day or two before the antigen tests pick it up and its infection easily breaks through the Vaccines (with the possible exception of AZ which seems more resilient), the whole vaccine and testing rules are no longer fit for purpose. So it probably doesn’t matter if people cheat.
You are upset that this hotel/country is not testing properly, or “adjusting” the results. Then you state that they should just let the vaccinated come in untested when it is a fact that the vaccine, while preventing serious cases of COVID, is doing nothing about preventing folks from getting it. You can’t have it both ways.
@Patrick – The vaccine, while not 100% effective, does help prevent you from getting it. Do not spread false info here.
Thank you @Rene for saying that.
@Rene, what if the whole world was 100% vaccinated and boosted? Who would you blame then?
@Bob – We can only hope that day does come soon!
Then hopefully everyone would stop panicking when they get COVID and would start treating it like regular virus, as they ought to when they are vaccinated and boosted.
@Barry – When 100%, yes. Due to unvaxed – can’t!
We’re never going to get to 100% so we might as well stop panicking now, as is the case with people I know are vaccinated and unfortunately do catch COVID.
So you need a covid test to fly into the USA but not to enter via the southern border? make s perfect sense to me. Follow the science, right?
@rjb – Agree that is one of the dumbest things ever. On my last cruise a group next to me was talking about a friend who tested positive so they could not fly to USA. So, they flew to Mexico (where they did not seem to need a test at the time) and walked across. Then, booked a flight from the nearest airport and flew home (all while COVID positive). I was simply shocked they were openly talking about this heartless act.
The one day requirement was initially established as a “punishment” for the unvaccinated. But now, we are all being punished equally. As far as I can tell, the US is the only country with a one day rule. Heck, I can enter Russia with a negative test within 3 days!
Fake test results can be found in any country. I had a rapid antigen test at a pharmacy in Paris. The pharmacist was printing my negative test result as I was walking out of the collection room. A result in one minute? It’s a commercial transaction. I get what I want, a negative test to fly home, and the pharmacy gets €25.
It could be worse. There are some countries that won’t let you in at all unless you are a citizen, including one that I’m very attached to.
Same in the UK with the testing at Heathrow. Kids employed to staff the testing sites and a wave of the swab near your nostril or a 15 second swirl in the nose that took 1 second. We flew to Scotland for Christmas and our 2 day tests that were required (and ordered on Dec. 10) arrived at our residence 5 days after our arrival. I called Scotland Heath and they were unconcerned about when we got tested. We just did outdoor stuff (hiking, etc) but would hate to have planned a bunch of indoor activities and not been able to be tested. Vaxxed and Boosted. So, it just made our trip more expensive.
This behavior of changing tests is not happening because they are a developing country, it’s because they are human beings. There are plenty of people in the USA that would do the same and I’m not sure that it wouldn’t be possible to get away with it here too. That having been said, I still don’t think that people should be required to test if asymptomatic unless the mask mandate is removed. Testing people without relaxing restrictions for a negative test is a complete waste of time and resources, we didn’t have all this testing last year when we didn’t have most of the population vaccinated. To have the testing now when we do just doesn’t make sense. It seems that the amount of caution exercised against COVID is inversely proportional to the risk associated with it.
I also agree with your statement that vaccinated people should not need to be tested.
Several years ago, my boss was trying to enter an African country (sorry, I can’t remember which one) and she did not have the required vaccine to enter. They offered to vaccinate her at the border, but she didn’t trust the cleanliness of the needles. So, she offered a bribe to the border agent, which was accepted and she said she went on her merry way. So, assuming her story is true (I have no reason to doubt her account), do I trust developing countries? No, I really don’t. However, as counterintuitive as this may seem, I also don’t trust the rich and powerful from industrialized nations either. Why? Because, if they feel the need to be somewhere, maybe to close a deal, they will be there..laws about public health be damned. They will find a way to have their personal resources to do the speaking for them, no matter who it may hurt. I personally know 6 seemingly healthy people (through work) who passed away due it the virus. As such, my assumption is everyone has it-rich or poor, from the first world or the third. I’m not a zealot…I take proper precautions, the same way I would if the weatherman said a tornado warning had been issued in my vicinity, but I listen to doctors (sometimes they are right, sometimes wrong), live my life and pray for the best.
I’d be interested in hearing about how international airports are faring with customs in and out. Seeing insane pictures of Mexico and Turks and Caicos of people wall to wall waiting for hours? Any chance you have data on wait times? we have a trip to Cancun in February and are considering cancelling and staying stateside.
I don’t. But if I see or hear anything, I’ll email you and post something in the comments.