USGirl

Hi! I don't know if you're still considering the trip, but as an FYI: My UK citizen/green card holder husband, US citizen me and dual-citizen children are planning to fly to the UK for a three-month visit in a couple of weeks. So far, flight has not been cancelled, and based on the available seating, looks to be about 20 percent full. We are going to visit my mother-in-law who has been isolating in her home (alone) since February. We are quarantining in a separate house for 14 days upon arrival, and will quarantine at home for 14 days when we get back. We also continue to severely limit our public interactions, and always wear masks around other people.

We recognize the physical risk, but we also know that there are mental and emotional risks during this time as well, and we decided that, if we take all proper precautions, the physical risk of catching Covid 19 on the trip over is very limited, and worth it for the emotional/mental benefits of being able to support my mother-in-law through this time. I'm sure not everyone agrees, and that's fine. I just wanted to share our family's perspective.

Our big question at the moment is what to do about travel insurance. Still trying to figure out if we need health coverage for my husband and kids, or just for me, that includes Covid 19. They're all British citizens, but we live in the UK. Do you need to be a UK resident ... not just a citizen ... in order to access the NHS?

mrken30

NHS eligibility is determined on residency, that include British citizens. I was confused by your post, are you living in the US travelling to the UK or vice versa? As for coverage, contact your US healthcare insurance provider if you live in the US. It should be covered as out of network.

Giantaxe

Amazingly the UK is covering covid treatment for anyone.

https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/nhs...es-in-england/

durham_lad

Excellent.

mrken30

This certainly opens up options as testing is so limited in the US. It is taking over 2 weeks to get results, I could probably get on a plane to the UK and get results faster all for the price of a plane ticket.

Dmac_

Great thread, and I imagine more of us are going to be asking these questions as Christmas comes up.

Like everything, we have to weigh up the pros and cons and make smart decisions with the info we have available. At the moment I’m overdue a trip back to the UK to see the family. As others have stated, the last thing we want is to give our parents a contagious disease, although the likelihood of that seems pretty low.

My main concern is catching the damn thing on the flight. The fact that the flights are relatively empty would be in our favor here. And the air inside a plane is cycled through the cabin and replaced with outside air every 2 minutes or so anyway, I think.

At some point, we need to get on with our lives provided the risk is within a reasonable limit...

mrken30

Some parts of the UK infection rates are almost as bad as the US. This guy has collected a lot of data https://github.com/PsyberAttack/COVI...tree/master/UK

durham_lad

I use the following site to see which areas have the most cases. It is easy to use and gives summary data and detailed data including the ability to enter any post code and see the figures. It also highlights the areas with the highest rates. For example the county where I live has a weekly average of 1 new case every 100,000 in the last data (down from 4/100,000 the week before) and the worst area currently is Oldham at a current 7 day average of 18/100,000.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51768274