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Regarding the Airport Rapid Antigen Tests

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Last Post by alan 12 months ago

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Hank_2021

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Topic starter

Sep 05, 2021 5:43 am

(@hank_2021)

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Joined: 2 years ago

Hi guys,

Came across some information and thought I'd share.

I was on the US consulate's website and they are reporting that people who take the rapid antigen tests at the airport are coming up positive. This applies to unvaccinated people, but as well as asymptomatic vaccinated people.

When you show positive, they immediately detain you. Sometimes for hours and then transport you to a facility, via ambulance, where you will be quarantined for up to 10 days.

This will be done at your expense.

Source:

https://pt.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/

and

https://pt.usembassy.gov/27-aug-travel-advisory-enhanced-mandatory-quarantines-for-travels-27-august-2021/

They're not f'ing around, it appears.

4 Replies

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alan

VIP Member

Sep 05, 2021 10:55 am

(@alan)

Member

Joined: 17 years ago

The same applies to visitors from the UK, The UK vaccine certificate is not accepted at the airport and you will need a test, which you will have to pay for.

On the other hand Spain is one of the few EU countries accepting UK vaccine certificates, and you are unlikely to be stopped at the Portuguese land border.

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aspidistra

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(@aspidistra)

Joined: 1 year ago

Member

Posts: 459

Sep 05, 2021 7:39 pm

Reply to

alan

@alan but if you came in via Spain without having had a covid test, presumably you risk bringing covid into Portugal, even if you are vaccinated?

I resent the high costs of the tests for UK travellers going out and coming back but I think the concept of doing the tests is there for a reason.

I was impressed with mask wearing and other precautions being generally abided by in Portugal. At Birmingham airport in the UK, despite rules that you must be masked, there were quite a few people at the flight gate with masks below their chins, some whole families and not of course doing any social distancing.

These were more than the percentage who might have genuine reasons not to wear them and alongside them were people wearing their masks under their noses. Ryanair has probably decided not to police mask wearing at their airport hubs or on the planes but depressed me that people couldn’t abide by the simple rules to help others.

alan

VIP Member

(@alan)

Joined: 17 years ago

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Posts: 1693

Sep 05, 2021 10:15 pm

Reply to

aspidistra

@aspidistra My point is that Spain is accepting UK vaccination certificates. As yet, Portugal and most other EU states, are not.

Much depends upon how much trust we should put in the vaccination certificates. As the certificates are not being checked at land borders, this seriously weakens the main case for their existence.

We had a very noticeable peak of new cases in this area during August. I surmise that this was due to Portuguese emigrants returning via the land borders for annual holidays with their families, but do not have any hard data to back this up.

Michael O´Leary is only interested in filling his aircraft.

All we can do is to continue taking our own precautions (masks, hand-washing, social distancing etc) even when they are no longer obligatory and others are relaxing their guard.

Posts: 132

tdn

Community Member

Sep 05, 2021 5:51 pm

(@tdn)

Member

Joined: 2 years ago

Good point, if you do not want any surprises at the airport.

Much safer, if the test is done prior to coming to the airport, I would say. There are so many testing locations around, so it should be quite easy to get it done 24-48 hrs in advance.
We have just recently visited the Netherlands and came back to Portugal. Prior to the flight back to Portugal we have had rapid tests done. got results in less than 1 hour. Negative.
Our friends who had tests done at the airport also had negative results.

Rapid tests are the least $, yet with a quick turn around and are accepted at the many airports/airlines. No need to be afraid of taking them, just try to do it at local sites in advance.

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