Covid travel question/testing

[Loowit]

My ILs decided to take a trip to help a friend who was moving.  They drove through a number of states with high Covid case numbers.  They stayed in hotels on their trip, but took their own food.  They stopped at gas stations and public restrooms, and then visited with some family on the way home.  In all they traveled through eight or nine other states. MIL posted a number of pictures on social media of them visiting with people with no social distancing and no masks.

We (DH and I) had decided together that we would wouldn't visit with them in person until they had been back for 2 weeks.  They had told us that they were going to get tested at their doctor's office.  However, their doctor told them that if they had contracted Covid they would be showing symptoms by now.  He would not do a test and told them they were safe to be around people.  They have been back for less than a week.  DH, without talking to me, decided that if a doctor said that then it must be safe, and he let them stop by last night to drop off a few things they had borrowed for the trip.  I was livid.  The stuff is now residing in the garage to decontaminate.  It is important to me that we stay as safe as possible because of DH being such high risk due to medical factors.  So far he has been doing pretty well, but I don't think he has spent as much time studying about symptoms, quarantine, and such like I have.  I told him that I wish he would have talked to me first before doing something against our agreement.

So am I missing something? I thought that you had to quarantine for 2 weeks before you could say for fairly sure that you didn't get Covid.

[catz]

This hard to get  a  test thing is going to be a big reason this will just keep spreading spreading spreading.  The doctor is wrong.   The average incubation period to symptoms is 5-6 days  and 97.5% (or something like that) present by 11 days.   So I personally would be comfortable with 11-12 days, but 14 day quarantine is standard.  

That said, if they just passed something off outdoors without close contact, I would not be too annoyed.   Letting something sit in your garage for a few days should be fine.  It's looking like surface transmission is less likely. 

If he had them in the house chatting for more than a few minutes, I would be very annoyed.  

As an aside, just yesterday my mom contacted me that an in law was covid tested after being exposed at a house party.   So my mom cancelled her plans on the 4th with them. They had no intentions on cancelling and will probably be out milling with neighbors.  People are dumb.  🙄

 

Edited July 3, 2020 by FuzzyCatz

[mlktwins]

@FuzzyCatz People are dumb 😔!

So...a medical doctor is not aware that people can be positive and asymptomatic?  If that is true, then we are in bigger trouble than I already thought we were 😬!

[prairiewindmomma]

They are reserving tests again for only the symptomatic in our area and for high risk people. It’s those who are symptomatic by day 8ish who are most likely to have complications.

One can absolutely have covid and be asymptomatic and be giving it to everyone around them. 
 

I wish those “in charge” would just be freaking honest with us.
 

N95s are best, we are saving those for health care workers. Stay the heck home and do the best you can with a cloth mask when you go out.

We don’t have enough testing swabs or reagent. We are either going to need to pool tests or reserve testing.

The likelihood of us having an effective vaccine in the next two years is low. Because we can’t test wisely and people aren’t sharing their info for contact tracing, we probwbly aren’t going to get this under control any time soon.

We would do well to have honest, competent leaders.

 

[QueenCat]

They need a new doctor. 

[MEmama]

34 minutes ago, mlktwins said:

@FuzzyCatz People are dumb 😔!

So...a medical doctor is not aware that people can be positive and asymptomatic?  If that is true, then we are in bigger trouble than I already thought we were 😬!

When I took my DS in to the doctor for his Covid toes (was getting worse), he determined that nothing was wrong because DS wasn’t coughing. ARGH!!! I soooo wanted to teach him a few things right there in his office.

I agree, OP, they need a new doctor. One who pays attention. 🙄

[Alice]

I’m a doctor and I wouldn’t have tested either but not for the reasons given. It’s true that you can be asymptomatic and have Covid, but it’s also true that it’s less likely that you’ll have a viral load high enough for a negative test to be truly meaningful. A negative test in this situation shouldn’t change your behavior, so it’s somewhat pointless to do the test. If you have high risk family members and have been traveling and not social distancing, I would advise people to stay away from the high risk people for 14 days, regardless of test. If their exposure was simply going through an area that has more cases and not a known close exposure to someone with symptoms or a positive test, I would also have said it was safe to go out...but that they should practice normal social distancing and wear masks just like everyone else. It’s possible they didn’t specifically mention or ask about someone who is high risk. 

We’ve heard from people high up that there will be a nationwide shortage of the reagent used for testing again. We’re testing a wider number of people than we were in the spring (anyone with any possible symptoms regardless of cough or fever and anyone who has any kind of significant exposure) but we aren’t testing everyone that wants a test. If we did, we’d run out of tests very quickly. We’re expecting to be in a really hard place again as far as testing this winter. 

[ElizabethB]

Their doctor may have had a more nuanced informed answer that was poorly translated by your ILs, that is also a possibility.

[ktgrok]

3 hours ago, MEmama said:

When I took my DS in to the doctor for his Covid toes (was getting worse), he determined that nothing was wrong because DS wasn’t coughing. ARGH!!! I soooo wanted to teach him a few things right there in his office.

 

Yup, doctors here seem to have no clue that GI symptoms, and brusing/clotting issues are symptoms of Covid. My friend with toes turning blue off and on, unexplained marks on her arms that look like clotting issue, and GI symptoms for days, and feeling light headed and vertigo with nystagmus  was NOT given a test, despite asking, and told she didn't have any Covid symptoms (at the better hospital). Also didn't run a panel looking for genetic clotting deficiencies, etc despite asking. So, yeah. 

At this point, if I could see a vet instead, i might. 

[ktgrok]

I bet they didn't tell doctor they were not social distancing, not wearing masks, etc AND that they didn't tell doctor that "not quarantining" means socializing without distancing or wearing a mask. 

Had they been responsible on their trip, and were responsible around you and DH, yeah, I'd agree with doctor. But that's not the case. 

[Loowit]

Thank you for all the replies.

If it had just been MIL I would have guessed perhaps a miscommunication, but FIL is pretty sharp about things.  I was actually surprised that they figured they could just go get testing.  It seems to be pretty hard to get around here still. And I wouldn't have trusted a negative test that soon after getting back anyway.  I really wanted the 2 weeks of no contact.  The lock down has been very hard on MIL who is a very social person, but I know she wouldn't knowingly put DH in danger.

[TravelingChris]

6 hours ago, mlktwins said:

@FuzzyCatz People are dumb 😔!

So...a medical doctor is not aware that people can be positive and asymptomatic?  If that is true, then we are in bigger trouble than I already thought we were 😬!

You have no idea how many doctors I have found who spout wrong information.  My best example is the pulmonologist (not mine but one in a hospital) who insisted that the only people who get vasculitis are children.  By far, almost all of the cases of vasculities (nothing to do with COVID, this was about 6 years ago)  are in adults.  The condition can occur for many reasons including a lot of different autoimmune conditions and cancers.