In a perfect scenario you’d be the picture of health while traveling. But COVID-19 continues to swirl worldwide, leaving a very real risk that you could pick up the illness on your next trip. It happened to Samantha Saenz, founder of the food and travel blog Eat Well. Adventure Often., while she was on a cruise last year. Saenz says she came down with the virus during the last four days of her 15-day voyage from Florida to California.
“I was initially really tired…and couldn’t figure out why,” she says. But after going on an ATV tour, Saenz says she had body aches and felt lethargic, and that’s when it clicked. “I self-tested, and sure enough I had COVID,” she says. Saenz ended up isolating in her room for the rest of the trip and got a Wi-Fi package so she could work and entertain herself. However, she had to change her original plans to spend time with friends in Los Angeles after the cruise ended. “I felt awful still and was infectious, so I ended up renting a car and driving myself to my friend’s vacant house in [Las] Vegas,” she says. “I spent a week there trying to get better.”
Saenz says the experience turned into a fun side trip, giving her the chance to check out the desert and Las Vegas’s Neon Museum, both of which had been on her bucket list. Of course, though, she would have preferred not to have gotten sick at all. Unfortunately, Saenz isn’t the only person who’s experienced something like this. Here’s what infectious disease doctors recommend doing if you find yourself in a similar situation.
Be honest with your travel buddies
Many people don’t want to come out and say they have COVID-19, but it’s important to tell the people you’re traveling with to help lower the odds you’ll spread the illness, says William Schaffner, MD, an infectious disease specialist and professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
If you were planning to share a hotel room with someone else and can afford it, see if you can get your own space. In a shared house, claim a bedroom you can isolate in, and use a separate bathroom if possible.
Look up your local health care options
If you’re at high risk of becoming seriously ill or developing complications from COVID-19, Dr. Schaffner says it’s best to figure out where to seek medical care at your destination before traveling. You should also get the updated COVID-19 vaccine ahead of your trip. That will lower your chance of infection or severe illness, he points out. But if you’re already away and get ill, it’s worth researching local urgent care facilities and hospitals just in case you end up needing immediate care.
Know when to stop isolating—and keep masking
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it’s fine to be out and about if it’s been 24 hours since you had a fever (without the help of fever-reducing drugs) and your symptoms have improved during that time. Still, the agency recommends wearing a high-quality mask for five days after isolation if you’ll be in contact with anyone.