BOISE, Idaho — After getting fully vaccinated in February, a Boise couple thought they were clear for a family trip to Mexico but just two days after they arrived, they were forced to quarantine for ten days after the boyfriend tested positive for COVID-19.
On Friday, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention announced new travel guidelines for Americans who are fully vaccinated for COVID-19. The CDC said it would be okay for fully vaccinated people to travel and they don't need to take a COVID-19 test before heading out of town. However, travelers may have to be tested if they are traveling abroad and the country requires it.
Elisa Davis and Todd Burnett wish it was required for vaccinated people to be tested before traveling abroad since it would have saved them from a massive headache.
The couple waited over two weeks after getting fully vaccinated before they traveled to Mexico with their family on March 21.
Two days into their vacation, the couple took routine COVID-19 tests required in Mexico and Burnett tested positive.
"Never showed any symptoms prior to and I thought it was just jet lag that I was feeling but yeah it came back positive so we have been here ever since," he said.
The couple was forced to immediately isolate themselves from the other six members of their family. Instead of five days enjoying the beaches and sun, the couple spent ten days in a small hotel room.
"We were up on the balcony here and my mom was having a very troublesome time saying goodbye and it was hard because I wasn't able to be there with my niece and nephew," Burnett said.
"You wake up and our excitement is what are we going to have for breakfast and we do relay races like in gym class when you touch the floor, intervals, we just try and do whatever we can," Davis said. "I am in healthcare so I have worked really hard on the frontlines, I'm a little bit more emotional about it because I was really looking forward to getting a trip away and just mentally clearing because it's been a really exhaustive time."
On Tuesday, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare announced that only 97 Idahoans have tested positive for the coronavirus after getting fully vaccinated.
"It's just been very humbling, to say the least, and I worry about people traveling internationally and not putting all of this thought into it and also understanding that the vaccine is not an end-all, that you won't get it," Davis said.
The couple credits the vaccine for Burnett not having a serious case of COVID-19 and they hope that their story urges more people to get vaccinated.
If Davis tests negative for the coronavirus, the couple will return to Boise on Sunday.