Quarantine before return to US

After a bit of a search I found this. https://www.bag.admin.ch/bag/en/home/krankheiten/ausbrueche-epidemien-pandemien/aktuelle-ausbrueche-epidemien/novel-cov/isolation-und-quarantaene.html

Might help you understand their rules. AFAIK you are responsible for securing a place and following the rules and you may be checked on as in many countries.

I also have not found anything that applies specifically to tourists. My traveling companions and I will be doing the home tests and plan to bring extras in case one of us tests positive. Our plan is to quarantine and keep testing until we are all negative. Hopefully, that would be a lot shorter than 10 days.

When I confirm my reservation with the hotel of my final stay, I plan to ask them if there are rooms available if we need to extend our stay due to a positive test and if they would allow us to stay. I’ll let you know if the hotel provides me with any info. specific to quarantining tourists.

Enjoy your trip!! I leave on Sept. 2nd and am super excited!!!!

Thank you both for the replies. We fly out of Zurich so there are many hotel price-point options. Bringing extra at-home tests is a good idea for getting out of quarantine.

PHJ, who are you flying with? all of our Zurich connections have been now canceled by British Airways.
The so much!

We're on United. Fingers crossed.

While I do not have much concern of a positive test, I have been asked by my wife to make sure that our last hotel in Rome has a balcony, and I was going to at least inquire about the eventuality.

I guess the end advice is to assure your last stop is both comfortable and within your budget, as well as some good delivery/takeout places nearby.

Not sure if I would want an expensive hotel by the airport with modern sealed windows, limited to room service from the in-house kitchen.

It's all so vague! This link (file:///Users/mcbridej/Downloads/covid-19instructionsisolation.pdf) gives good instructions, but doesn't say what happens when you have a positive test result, but no symptoms. Do you wait 24hrs then retest? Ugh.

In the unlikely and unfortunate event that my husband or I test positive before heading home, I'm going to call the US embassy and ask them what to do. I've been stressing about this so much and can't find any info, so really, it's on them to tell us what to do. What an oversight this all is, honestly.

*I just called the embassy and the hotline number they give is not in service. LOL

I am really confused how anyone responding here thinks that a self-test/home test would be even looked at by the Swiss authorities, much less used as proof for getting out of quarantine...

I guess I can't speak to the Swiss protocols, but for Italy, you can perform a self test, proctored by an official via video (phone or computer), and a report is emailed/messaged to your phone. You can also just do the self test yourself, unofficial, for your own information, to know when to do an "Official" test.

Yes, the at home tests which are done through an app with video where samples are sent off to a lab are also a thing in Austria, but this is entirely a different thing that these self-tests that look like a pregnancy test which does not involve a lab. These tests I am referring to are also only for residents of Austria, not tourists.

In the Italian example, this is the "pregnancy" type rapid test, the proctor is visually verifying the result. This rapid Antigen test is allowable for re-entry to the US. Again, can't address what is allowed or done in Switzerland, or Austria.

Paul - so in this example, what does the person show at the airport to board the plane?

Emily, we (US tourists) need to show our proof of a negative test to the airline prior to returning to the US. That is who is looking at our test results, not the Swiss government. The home/self test that is approved to return to the US (done over video) will provide you with your test results with all the relevant info. that you show to whoever is checking at the airport. You can show the result on your phone or print out a hard copy. I can’t add a screenshot here, but if you’re interested, you can google “navica covid test results” and see what the image looks like on the app.

Many US airlines are offering the home test via their websites, so clearly they will accept them. Lufthansa mentions the self-tests on their website and notes they are accepted for entry into German, Austria, and the US.

https://www.lufthansa.com/ee/en/corona-tests.html

The point of quarantine is that you do not come into contact with people, so getting a hotel would be pointless unless you were already at that hotel, you will not be able to travel.

If you are ordered to quarantine, you can expect that there will be more than just you and you can expect it will be at the location you are at at the time.

Carrie, could you tell me how one gets a proctor to view you when completing the Abbott BinaxNow Covid-19 home test? I must have left the directions at home as I have an account but I don't know/can't see how to get the proctor online.
Thanks!

Hi Judith, the first thing to do is get the Navica app and create a Navica account if you haven’t already done so. If you have that done, you go to emed.com and at the top right you will see where it says “start a test” click on that and it will prompt you to log in with your Navica account—email and password. Then I believe you are put into a waiting room until the proctor appears.

Thanks Carrie! I completely missed the connection between the emed.com and the Abbott Covid test.

BTW [because of the above] For those of you leaving from Zurich Switzerland.... I went to the Zurich airport today and had a PCR test (saliva sample) done there. I went to the Test center at Terminal 2; I did register online [https://checkport.info/covid-testcenter-flughafen-zuerich-2] this morning before going to the airport and received an email with a QR code but you can fill out the paper work there to register. And for some reason my QR code didn't show up at the airport but the numbers and letters below the code were there in the email and that was all that was needed. So if this happens to you, don't panic.

It's a very well organized site with staff who speak excellent English and are very helpful. I thought I would be given a nasal swab PCR test so I was surprised about the saliva part but as I said, the staff showed you exactly what you needed to do.
About 6 hours later I had my report but they did say it could take up to 7 hours for PCR, less for antigen.

Good luck everyone!

Thanks, all, for the info. Judith, did the folks at the airport testing site say what they would do if an American scheduled to fly out tested positive?

Carrie - I am a US citizen and just flew from Chicago to Vienna yesterday. The airline tailors its rules for each flight according to the destination of the flight. Everyone, not just US citizens, needs to show COVID evidence before boarding a flight from Europe to the US.

Hi Emily, I apologize if I misread your queries. I read them as you questioning the legitimacy of a home/self test to return to the US and asking what you would show to the airline to board the plane to the US. I included the link to Lufthansa so you could see that yes, airlines are accepting these kinds of tests. And like you stated, when you are flying to X country, you need to follow the entry requirements for that particular country.

When flying to the US there are certain home tests that are approved and they do not involve sending anything to a lab. You do the test over an app with someone watching and have your results in 15 minutes. These particular tests must be purchased in the US prior to leaving the country.

You can find the info. on the types of tests approved by the CDC on their website here:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/testing-international-air-travelers.html

These rules of course only apply for entry into the US.

If I am again misreading what you were asking about, please let me know and I’d be happy to try again. 😊

PHJ, I did not ask specifically but that is something that you might want to ask [and something I should have asked as I spent a rather tense/nervous 6 hours waiting for my result. The covid rate is increasing each day here but not everyone on Swiss trains where it is mandatory to wear masks wears masks or do not wear masks properly. I had 2 times when I was concerned about those around me and I put on 2 masks for one occasion.]

You are given a handout which has your code to check your results and this code is also needed to print your negative result for the airline.

The header on this handout is the following: "What to do in the event of a positive test result"; there is QR code which has instructions provided by the Federal Office of Public Health (the organization we needed to fill out information for when we entered Switzerland).

It goes on to say:
"People who have tested positive for the coronavirus must go into isolation. People who have been in close contact with a person who has tested positive must go into quarantine.
Follow the instructions on isolation and avoid all contact with other people.
Contact your doctor if your symptoms of illness worsen or are concerning you.
If you have a positive test result for your Antigen test, you re required to take a PCR test to confirm or negate this result."

The handout then gives a government hotline if you have questions. Also a phone number to book a PCR test.

There is also a phone number (CHF 2.50/minute) and an email address zrh.testcenter@checkport.info to use if you have questions about the test result or other inquiries.
Lastly a URL for more information or updates.

Nothing on it though differentiates between us tourists and Swiss citizens.
Hope this helps.

Thank you, Judith. Maybe as more people travel home we'll get updated information.