Traveling in the time of covid: my experience with self-testing in New Zealand

Australia and New Zealand have been among the most restrictive nations on travel, And not only for the nonessential ones. Just think of the Americas Cup last year or the Melbourne Open with the Novak Djokovic controversy.

Now things have changed a lot, theAustralia (for the vaccinated) lifted all restrictions, even the simple requirement to fill out the Digital Health Pass. New Zealand has done the same. that however Still maintains some measures For those intent on reaching the land of the All Blacks.

While controversy is erupting in Italy about those who perform rapid tests on their own to avoid ending up in quarantine, continuing to leave despite being positive, in New Zealand, the government forces travelers to take two tests on their own, And possibly to self-report.

What you need to go to New Zealand today, July 13

E' travel pass required, in addition to the NZeSTA, in order to board the plane to New Zealand. Without these documents, boarding will be denied, no matter how much you cry in front of the check-in counters.

Both permits are obtained online in no time. The travel pass is virtually immediate, while the NZeTA takes at most a couple of hours.

Just a few days before my world tour, Australia had removed the PLF while New Zealand eliminated the pre-start test.

At the airport the delivery of the test

The penultimate step, before you can leave the airport., is the one where all passengers arriving from an international flight must pick up their kit to take the legally required swabs.

All passengers must complete two tests independently: the first within 24 hours of arrival and the second by the 5th day. The packages are at the end of a serpentine: you take your own box, check with an attendant your Travel Pass, and stop.

My test

In these two pandemic years, from December 2020 when I took my first trip outside of Italy To date, I have done more than 80 swabs, there have been trips where between going and coming back I have taken as many as 7 tests. Today fortunately they are increasingly rare, even Now that the U.S. has removed the pre-departure buffer, everything became easier.

Early in the afternoon today, I received an email in which I was reminded of the 24-hour deadline. I admit, I had completely forgotten to take the swab.

In the kit is everything you need to perform 4 swabs, there are instructions on how to do it and how to handle the result phase.

Since New Zealand is definitely a more "civilized" country than many other nations, including Italy, then asks the patient to report the test result by email or phone. A phone call is enough to confirm the data and tell the attendant the test result. Obviously, there is no quarantine pending notification and, as mentioned, the test can be done within 24 hours of arrival.

In conclusion

I wonder if Italy did the same thing, what percentage of positives would self-report. Given what you read around, I would say very few (or none).

• round the world tour

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