Quarantine clarification--what is meant by "traveling party"

It would be up to the local authorities to determine that based on your level of contact. Depending where you are at, the quarantine may be monitored and some level of contact tracing done. Your husband would certainly be required to quarantine with you, unless he can test as recovered, or possibly even just negative, and if by traveling together you mean rental cars, buses, and other confined group settings, then very possibly at least part of the group, or they would at the minimum be required to test.

Don’t know if this is correct, but, wouldn’t your travel party be the people you list on your Personal Location Form? We are traveling with 4 other adults but we have different fly dates. I looked over the PLF and only plan on putting myself and my husband as our traveling party.

Our (vaccinated) daughter tested positive recently and had to list everyone she had been in close/extended contact with for the week prior to testing. This included everyone who had been at work in her department, not just those sitting nearby. And all of those people had to be tested.

Where did you read about "traveling party"? We will be in Greece from Sept 19 thru Oct 9. I just assumed that if my wife OR I tested positive, the other would go home. The logic being, at least get one of us home instead of taking the chance of testing positive later and extending the quarantine even further. So are we saying that you may need to quarantine even if you test negative? That sounds crazy to me. My feeling is, if Greece is letting me in with my US CDC card, the US should let me back in with my US CDC card. But it really doesn't matter at this point. Has anyone known of, or heard of a US traveler who tested positive and had to quarantine since the travel ban was lifted? I have not heard of anyone, so I'm wondering if this ever happened. I'd hate to be the first one!!!!!!

Jimmy 666.----In various places I have read about whether "you or someone in your traveling party" test positive, you need to quarantine. (https://gr.usembassy.gov/faq-on-positive-covid-19-tests-and-quarantine-in-greece/). The inference was that whoever was deemed to have had close contact with the positive party would quarantine as well. (https://greecehealthfirst.gr/)

Here is a recent NYT article talking about the same with an anecdote leading off the story about a couple from SC who got the email announcing positive results as they were standing in line at the airport to return to the US. 10 min later the authorities called with instructions to await transfer to a quarantine hospital. ( https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/18/travel/blindsided-abroad-vaccinated-but-testing-positive-on-a-trip-to-europe.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=Travel).

I may be reading too much into this...but maybe not. I'm assuming that if i or my husband got a positive results for the necessary test to come back to US, both of us would be impacted. And then I was wondering if we would get roped in to a return delay if anyone else in our group of 22 tested positive. What a headache.

Laura B---Just to clarify, was your daughter visiting in Greece when she was sick? Or is she living and working there and you are describing the contact tracing for a resident vs what they do for a tourist. Thanks.

Sorry, no -- this was in the U.S. but contact tracing is probably the same everywhere since the virus is the same.

RS has a forum specifically on COVID Travel, which might have your answers: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/covid19

I would imagine it is everyone on your PLF.

I just assumed that if my wife OR I tested positive, the other would
go home. The logic being, at least get one of us home instead of
taking the chance of testing positive later and extending the
quarantine even further.

I can't speak for all of Europe of course, but at least for the way it is handled here I can definitely say: absolutely not.

If your wife is tested positive, you are certainly not going anywhere. If you are lucky, maybe you get to choose if you want to go into quarantine together or each one of you by themselves, so as to minimize your risk of catching it.

Many tests don't really say much except that you are not contagious at the time of testing. They do not tell you if you have already caught it and will be tested positive within a few days (incubation period). If you were to go home after being in close touch with an infected person, you might be carrying the virus home with you, spreading it to everyone on your way and at your home.