I've seen many reports on the forums of people getting COVID while traveling. Some say they were masked up the whole time. I'm currently 2/3 of the way through a 2 month trip across Europe and my family has been lucky to avoid getting COVID so far.
Curious if anyone that got COVID while traveling has an idea how they may have gotten it?
Not sure how anyone would know. They'd just be making wild guesses. High quality masks, properly worn, are remarkably effective but not 100%. Transmission still seems to be predominantly aerosols but there are some other ways to become infected. You do what you can: pay attention, be smart, wash your hands, avoid the numbskulls, wear your mask.
We wore our masks religiously, but when one sits down to eat, you never know when a waiter will come in too close. I asked a waiter a question, and he came within 6 inches of my face to answer. I joked with my husband, well, that's my covid exposure! I was fortunate, and tested negative, and did not get covid. However, you just can't control all the variables!
i got it last month in Italy and have guessed it was from eating in a restaurant. i was sitting at the bar and talking to people so maybe was more exposed that way. But i was also walking through crowds outside without a mask, so who knows!
It could be that in your hotel a room opposite or adjacent to yours had covid positive people - if you both opened your doors for about 30sec but didn't step into the corridor you may have got it.
There have been several cases in NZ when we were isolating everyone coming back into the country for 14 days - and there was cross contamination during room service. That was picked up with multiple testing throughout the isolation period.
In other words you'll never really know
Yes, I remember cases like LIssie's. And they were back much earlier in the pandemic, when we were dealing with much less contagious variants--though the average person wasn't as well-vaccinated as is the case now.
People touch stuff and then touch their faces unconsciously. I see it all the time. My last trip I observed a person at the boarding gate with mask down looking at a phone chewing on what was left of their fingernails and then talking to others with their masks down.
We are among those who got covid while traveling internationally, but have no idea how we got it. We think we may have first been exposed at the airport when we left. We were all fully vaccinated and boosted. We were extremely careful for the few weeks prior to leaving. We had our masks on the entire time, except for about 20 minutes while eating a morning snack at the airport. We will never know how/where we were exposed and, unfortunately, one person in our party started with symptoms during our trip and then, the rest of us eventually tested positive. We all had mild cases and are doing fine now, but it was very stressful when 3 of our party were delayed getting in the US due to their positive tests. We won’t travel internationally until the test requirement is removed. Although I completely endorse being cautious and continue to wear my mask shopping and at indoor gatherings, I think the “test to return to US” doesn’t make sense. People are flying all over the US without this requirement. You can also drive into the US without having proof of a negative test. We don’t know what lies ahead, but for now, challenges continue with traveling in the time of covid. We have soon be taking a flight within the US and will wear our masks at the airport and during our flight.
