Positive Covid test result in France - question

I believe that if you present them with a negative test, you will be able to board. If not, you might want to review the guidelines in Carol's recent post: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/covid19/getting-documentation-of-recovery-if-you-test-positive-while-overseas

A negative test gets you home on the day you get it. You qualify for a certificate of recovery 5 days after an official positive test (documented, not just a home test) if you are asymptomatic or have decreasing symptoms. France may also have a minimum quarantine or isolation period before you fly if not testing negative. Your airline may also have rules on this.

I am sorry you are going through this. It is the one thing we all dread happening to us as we travel. Do contact the airlines as well as your travel insurance to alert them to a claim.

I would suggest three things:

1. Contact your travel insurance company right away. Call their emergency number. Ask for help and start a claim.
2.Head to a pharmacy and ask for help. When we were testing in London last week I asked the pharmacist and he gave me a whole protocol they do, which involved getting either a PCR to confirm or an antibody blood test and referral to doctor they have on list to get a letter.

3. See if there is anything on the US embassy page in terms of directions in order to get doctor letter.

A section of the CDC site regarding traveling if positive.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/index.html#do-not-travel

Do NOT travel if…

You feel sick or have COVID-19 symptoms, even if you recovered from COVID-19 within the past 90 days or are up to date with your COVID-19 vaccines.

You tested positive for COVID-19.
Do not travel until a full 10 days after your symptoms started or the date your positive test was taken if you had no symptoms.

So unless you test negative, you are stuck for 10 days minimum even if you can get a certificate of recovery sooner.

Misshkitty I feel the pain. My husband and I just went through the same issue. We tested postive on 4/7 in Paris as part if our rapid antigen test for our return flight to DC on 4/8. We just returned home on 4/16. This is a link to my posting on what we just experieneced: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france/testing-postive-woes-any-advice

A few comments to add to above:
I also called the US Embassy in France (I googled the number) and when you get to the operator mention your situation; they will connect you with people to answer any questions and they put you on a contact list just in case any rules change during that time you are waiting to return. They also emailed some info to me.

Quickest way back is a negative test. We finally hit it on our 8th day after 1st testing positive. It was our 3rd testing attempt.

Though it is true you can qualify for a certificate for recovery in 5 days via a doctor appointment we were told by United that we still could not fly with them until 10 days after the first postive test even with the certificate. I do not know if that means that there may be differing rules on the certificate between carriers. We actually had telehealth appointments scheduled later on the day we finally tested negative. I had these as a backup since we were nearing 10 days and we were also coming onto the Easter weekend and not sure how busy the telehealth people would be if we waited longer and didn't have an appointment. We had to still pay for the appointment part regardless but we didn't need to pay for the Certificate cost.

We were required to isolate for 7 days after the first postive test per French rules. We were allowed to do this in our existing hotel room so we set this up as soon we knew we found out our postive. We were allowed to only go out on the 5th day to test again which for us was again a positive so we went back into isolation. We ordered room service and Uber Eats for foid which was left at our door by the desk staff. After 7 days we were allowed to leave our isolation because we were vaxxed plus a booster. We could have retested that day but chose to wait one more day.

We used a nearby pharmacy for all our tests. We didn't need an appointment. It was quick and I knew that the results would be accepted. We didn't have any self testing kits with us so I can't speak on using the pharmacy vs a proctored self test.

Unfortunately, getting a negative test can vary from person to person. Two friends have had it in the past 3 weeks. One was negative after 8 days whilst the other was 12 days.

You can travel as soon as you are clear, but it’s unlikely to be tomorrow if you have just become positive.

Thank you all for your advice. My only symptoms were allergy like (which I suffer year round) and I believed they were due to all of the cigarette smoke surrounding me daily. My family left Paris a few days before my scheduled flight and they are both thankfully negative still. I will contact the US Embassy to seek more information.

2.Head to a pharmacy and ask for help. When we were testing in London last week I asked the pharmacist and he gave me a whole protocol they do, which involved getting either a PCR to confirm or an antibody blood test and referral to doctor they have on list to get a letter.

Antibody tests? I think you mean ‘antigen’ test.

The symptoms that my husband and I had were also what I would consider mild. We didn't have any fever or breathing issues just what I would consider similar to a head cold. There was one strange symptom I had but my husband did not and that was I had some sharp stabbing pains in my stomach area before I knew that I had tested positive. They didn't last real long. Most of our symptoms were coughing and congestion.

In regard to the "10 days", you will note that it gives a choice of 10 days after the first symptoms or 10 days after your positive test. It sounds like you had some symptoms which you thought were allergies. I think you should count when those started as the start of your "10 days" if this becomes an issue.

Any information on this website is general and reflects the best of everyone's individual knowledge or experience. You will want to contact a physician, your airline, and know the requirements for the country you are visiting to get the answers for your specific situation.

You no longer need a PCR to confirm in France. Your positive antigen suffices. You don't need a blood test either. The French healthcare system will call you to go over procedure.

We are in France after a RS tour stuck in a hotel. Our eMed test came back positive I didn’t find anything saying PCR is no longer required so we trotted out and did it. Still positive.
United airlines wouldn’t rebook anything closer than eleven days.

US Embassy literature indicated some folks were able to have personal physician do the Documentsion of Recovery letter but not sure how that works long distance.
French Healthcare system hasn’t called us either.

We also thought we had allergies a few others had similar but tested neg.
“ Posted by Bets
Deep in the US and France
04/18/22 11:14 PM
8189 posts
You no longer need a PCR to confirm in France. Your positive antigen suffices. You don't need a blood test either. The French healthcare system will call you to go over procedure.”

And after some stories of earlier release We got lucky and retested yesterday negative! United was happy to book us that afternoon for a flight out today. We are cross eyed tired but happy to be home.

"'...or an antibody blood test and referral to doctor they have on list to get a letter.'
'Antibody tests? I think you mean ‘antigen’ test.'"

You can get a positive antibody test, which would show that you have had Covid, and then get a letter of recovery that way. Maybe thats what they meant.

Friends were able to come home on time from Germany BECAUSe they did a PCR. Hubby tested positive on quick antigen. Wife tested neg. They were able to get a free pcr for hubby which tested negative and voi la! Did not miss their flight home.

So it’s worth a try for sure.