A Real-Life Would You Rather: Decided For Us!

[auntlynne]

And changing your cruise date is not an option?

 

[iivye]

I got covid the Christmas week and it was a relief since our cruise is 2/5. I don't have a regular physician so I'm concerned about trying to get the 90 day recovery letter but I saw that you can do a tele visit with Quick MD online for the letter so that is the route I'll probably take.

 

[MomOTwins]

Update 3: Fascinatingly, I got pushback from my daughters pediatrician on writing the letter. She said it was a “public health” issue… I sent her the CDC orders that originated the policy and the Safe Passage message and she asked if she would get back to me after the holiday (Monday is MLK day in the US) so she could educate herself.
She was completely unaware. Haha! Glad to help!

Just to explain, your doctor us not bound by any rules to agree with the CDC or DCL, and there is a lot of chatter in the medical community that the concept of 90 day immunity is really behind the times. People have had had separate active infections within a three month span with the new variant. This will probably get me points or this thread shut down or whatever but I do think it is important for people planning on the “90 day exemption” to understand that while DCL currently will accept a positive test and doctor’s note, doctors may be unwilling to provide one and have every right to do so because writing such a note is a matter if medical judgment.

 

[RedHead0186]

Apparently many are finding doctors unwilling to write "fit to travel" letters. Just some random thoughts that I could hear my doctor saying...

• I don't recommend anyone travel at this time so no I won't write a letter saying I'm ok with it.
• This virus tends to linger in some people. I can't say yet whether you are fully recovered. Let's check again in a month. Call me before then if anything new develops.
• Your cruise isn't until March? I can't write a letter now saying you are cleared to travel in March. You could be sick again then.

Also, I would guess, a bit of a liability thing too (especially when you consider your second and third bullet points). If a doctor writes a note stating you're "clear to travel," and then you travel and have COVID and unknowingly spread it, the doctor could be on the hook a bit for saying you were clear when you weren't. A long shot, sure, but doctors are very worried about liability and I could see some would be hesitant to put something like that in writing with their name on it.

 

[MNMomof3]

Does it need to be a doctor? My primary physician is a nurse practitioner… could she write the note?

 

[Lumpy1106]

DS in college got the Omi from his Dorm mate exactly a week ago. He's already recovered. He had a fever for about 24-48 hours - that was it. Keep in mind, he's on the LAX team and is in great shape, VAXed and boosted. YMMV, but there's the only data point I have.

Edited because I just remembered that for some reason you can't get re-tested if you have recently recovered. DS was told 90 days I believe. I think it's because it will just give you a false positive? No idea - I still have never even been tested myself...

 

[RedHead0186]

Does it need to be a doctor? My primary physician is a nurse practitioner… could she write the note?

This is what the CDC website says (I would assume Safe Passage would follow this, but no guarantees, of course):

"If you recently recovered from COVID-19, you may instead travel with documentation of recovery from COVID-19 (i.e., your positive COVID-19 viral test result on a sample taken no more than 90 days before the flight’s departure from a foreign country and a letter from a licensed healthcare provider or a public health official stating that you were cleared to travel). "

Since an NP is a licensed healthcare provider, based on this yes she could write the note.

 

[BAIC03]

And changing your cruise date is not an option?

We can. We are choosing not to. Our lives are crazy to plan and control, and things like time off are hard to come by. There’s no guarantee that if we moved it to another month we would get the time off. We’re just rolling to Plan B.

 

[zuzu310]

I got covid the Christmas week and it was a relief since our cruise is 2/5. I don't have a regular physician so I'm concerned about trying to get the 90 day recovery letter but I saw that you can do a tele visit with Quick MD online for the letter so that is the route I'll probably take.

Did you ever get the recovery letter from QuickMD? I am in the same boat and plan on doing this also. My PCP refused to write "cleared for travel" in her letter for liability reasons...

 

[iivye]

Did you ever get the recovery letter from QuickMD? I am in the same boat and plan on doing this also. My PCP refused to write "cleared for travel" in her letter for liability reasons...

I haven't yet. My cruise doesn't leave until Feb 5. My husband thinks I should just test at the port since I had Covid around Christmas but I can't decide.

 

[IcedCoffee52]

Did anyone end up using Quick MD? I made appts with them to get recovery letters for my family on Sunday for our 2/25 cruise. Hoping it's a smooth process.