Travelling on a positive PCR test: How to jet away after recovering from COVID-19
Fully vaccinated Canadian travellers who have recently recovered from COVID-19 are feeling more confident about travelling internationally, but some are learning the hard way that they can test positive on a PCR test weeks or months after getting over their infection.
A Surrey woman and her husband who had booked a trip to India for a colleague’s wedding worried their positive rapid antigen test before Christmas could scuttle their plans to fly on Jan. 8. But they had minor symptoms and recovered quickly.
“I was positive, recovered, negative, and figured, ‘Hey, we are good to go,’” said Jacquie Baron. “It was quite a few weeks previous to when we were travelling, so I thought there were going to be no issues.”
But she and her husband both tested positive on a mandatory pre-flight PCR test, and had to cancel their trip to India at the last minute.
“Of course, we were very upset,” said Baron, who had no idea they could still test positive on a molecular test so long after recovering from COVID-19.
She also learned that because molecular tests can detect an old COVID infection, the Canadian government allows citizens to return without re-testing if they have a positive PCR test that’s between 11 and 180 days old. So she and her husband went to Mexico instead.
“COVID-free, but with a positive PCR test,” said Baron. “We were asked to see that positive PCR coming back from Mexico, and easy peasy, on the plane we got.”
The vast majority of British Columbians don’t qualify for government-funded PCR tests anymore. So Baron is recommending anyone who tests positive on an at-home rapid antigen test and wants to travel within the next six months pay for a private PCR test after their five-day COVID-19 isolation period is over.
“It’s worth going and getting a private test, having a positive test so you have no anxiety, no issues travelling,” said Baron.
While private tests can be expensive, travellers would have to pay for a PCR test before returning to Canada anyway, and having a previous positive test eliminates that requirement.
A doctor’s note will not suffice, said Vancouver family physician Dr. Anna Wolak.
“A lot of us are getting requests from patients saying, ‘I think I had COVID. I took a rapid test. I think its going to test positive on PCR. I need you to write me a note,’ but we can’t,” she said.
With a positive PCR test that allows her to return to Canada without re-testing until the summer, Baron is already planning another trip to Mexico with her family in May.
“I’ll be golden, my husband will be golden,” she said of their positive paperwork.
“The kids may not be because they haven’t had COVID. So hopefully they test negative coming back, or maybe even the restrictions would have been lifted.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Pilot reported fire onboard plane carrying fuel, attempted to return to Fairbanks just before crash
One of the two pilots aboard an airplane carrying fuel reported there was a fire on the airplane shortly before it crashed and burned outside Fairbanks, killing both people on board, a federal aviation official said Wednesday.