Eric Bowman | February 01, 2021 4:48 PM ET
Bowman’s Travel Brief: My Wild, Rare COVID-19 Test Experience
I was supposed to be landing in the beautiful paradise of Jamaica today to tour Sandals South Coast for work.
Instead, I spent this morning still in quarantine, waiting to find out how a second COVID-19 test would turn out.
Jamaica’s entry rules require travelers to provide a negative COVID test on arrival. I scheduled mine on Tuesday last week, and two days later I received what nobody wants to see – a positive result.
Immediately I sank. I thought about every place I had been in the last week, which was the grocery store, the Chick-Fil-A curbside pickup and to host family for our daughter’s first birthday.
Given I have no symptoms, I wondered if this could be a potential false positive. The clinic was quite adamant that I was positive though because “the PCR test is very accurate and able to detect it without you having symptoms. There really aren't false positives on the PCR test since it's a molecular test,” they told me after I inquired about the chances this could be a false positive.
Whether it was or wasn’t though didn’t matter anymore to me, the Jamaica trip had to be canceled. Even if setting up a second test at another location resulted in a negative test, I wasn’t about to risk traveling anywhere. It wouldn’t be responsible of me to do that.
The family I had recently been in contact with all set appointments to get tested and thankfully all of their results came back negative.
Then my COVID story turned a bit rare. On Saturday, I woke up to another lab result email, only this time it said COVID-19 “not detected.” I had not taken a second test, and this result was coming from the initial test.
So perhaps it was indeed a false positive after all? Confused, I contacted the clinic and they had me come in to take a second test.
On Sunday, I received a call from the lab informing of what happened. It turns out, my test appeared abnormal and paired with the unusual number of positives in the time frame, the lab sent all the positive tests from that day to a different lab for additional screening. Of the 97 positive tests, only two came back as now showing negative. I was one of those two.
The lab tech I spoke with said this whole ordeal was quite unusual.
Mom always did say I was special.
Thankfully, the results of the second test just came back negative. So, it may have been a false positive all along or I was “at the tail end of having it” according to the lab tech.
The entire experience just reiterated how important it is to get tested before you travel. You might think you’re good, but you really don’t know unless you get a test. And despite this wild experience, I still believe testing it key to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
With new variants of the virus out there, it’s imperative that if you plan to travel, you do so responsibly. And if you do get a positive test result, be sure to quarantine – even if you’re not showing symptoms.
Get tested before you go, wear your mask, wash your hands frequently, stay socially distant and stay safe.
Has COVID-19 impacted your travel plans at all? Let me know on Twitter and Instagram: @EricBowman_
Get Caught Up
In case you missed it:
US considers mandatory COVID-19 tests for domestic flights.
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Canada sets heavy travel restrictions.
TSA workers granted authority to enforce Biden Administration’s mask mandate.
Delta adds new digital tools to help customers with COVID travel requirements.
Worst case scenario is that cruising returns in July.
Considering travel to Cancun? Here’s what you need to know to stay safe.
These were the key travel advisories issued by the US this past January.
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