Covid test availability?

I've not traveled to Ireland or Northern Ireland since Covid but I have traveled to France, England, Scotland, Italy and Netherlands. I pick up the package of 5 from my local pharmacy and just pack them with me.

I agree with Pam. Her plan is good and this is why: it’s not something we think about anymore in Europe. Some people are still getting variations of the virus, some people still get vaccinated, but it’s not on our minds. I’m sure that if someone were to show up at a hospital very ill, that person would be tested. But I’m not sure many pharmacies still have home tests.
So, in your case, Pam has a good plan.

Paxlovid was never in the same widespread use here as in the U.S.

You'd have to be quite ill to get such treatment.

I doubt you will easily find tests. Covid just isn't at the forefront of people's minds here now and vaccines are not widely available. I received an advisory message earlier in the week from a venue in very rural WA state that several people had tested Covid positive after a weekend event there.

I can't imagine that happening in the UK or Ireland, either the testing or the advisory.

We'd assume it was a cold or something similar, and just carry on.

My friend just had Covid and paid $1100 for Paxlovid. It would have been about $400 more, but our annual out-of-pocket max is $1100.

mnannie, I assume your friend had this experience in the US. A friend of mine just paid about $670 for Paxlovid, which we already thought was outrageous. But then we discovered that was after Medicare Part D had already paid $600. Full price is close to $1400. I'll say no more, lest I start ranting. For the purposes of this thread, I decided to take masks and some tests with me, be careful, and trust to luck and vaccination.

mnannie, I assume your friend had this experience in the US.

Yes, it was. At that price I am surprised that the pharmacy in rural Minnesota had it on-hand. We tried it the one time we had Covid back on Christmas Day 2022, and the side effects were so bad that we both quit taking it on day 2. We kept the extra pills for a long time and packed them when we traveled to Europe, but I would have had to have been very desperate to try them a second time.

Hi Michelle,

I got Covid in Ireland in 2023. My husband went on a resource and fact finding explore. He went from the TI, to a clinic to a chemist and the information he got was: no tests available, sorry, no Paxlovid, only for those who are "terminal" (not those of us over 70 with co-existing conditions), just take paracetamol and go on with your trip, no need to isolate.

I was quite surprised, coming from a very different approach in California where my rheumatologist had told me: you should be able to get Paxlovid anywhere in Europe.

Wow, disturbing to find the antiviral treatment is only available in the most dire cases. Doctors here aren't supposed to prescribe it proactively, so I won't be taking it with me. I've had Paxlovid before and it worked really well in getting me healthy quickly. Fortunately the only side effect I had was that bad taste that it gives you. Well, hoping for the best.