How to avoid Covid when traveling on vacation, according to experts

For many Brazilians, this is the time to pack your bags and enjoy your vacation. After more than three years of the pandemic, travel must, however, be planned more rigorously than before Covid-19, experts warn.

In times of coronavirus, masks and family vaccination cards with the complete schedule against Covid are mandatory items in luggage. Gel alcohol is also important, but as a general hygiene measure.

Experts heard by Sheet give tips on how to avoid Covid-19 when traveling on vacation. The first lesson starts at home: if you have flu-like symptoms, postpone the trip.

For the biomedical Roberto Martins Figueiredo, known as dr. Bacteria, hosting places should require vaccination certificate, to help contain Covid cases.

He recommends taking the test the day before the trip, even without symptoms, if in the last seven days there has been contact with someone infected with the coronavirus. If the test is negative, it is still recommended to repeat it after 48 hours.

Airport environments, he also recalls, are conducive to the transmission of the coronavirus, including the meeting of other variants that were not even in Brazil until now.

Therefore, before scheduling a trip, it is ideal to research the situation in the country to be visited and never give up facial protection, covering nose, chin and mouth.

“The mask should only be removed when it is essential, and briefly, as in the X-ray, for passport control and food on board, for example. A [máscara do tipo] PFF2 is the best, but on longer commutes it can be uncomfortable. In this case, the person can opt for disposable surgery”, guides Evaldo Stanislau de Araújo, infectologist at the Hospital das Clínicas in São Paulo.

In destination countries, common sense prevails. “In closed and crowded environments, wear a mask regardless of the guidance of the local health authority, because the dynamics of Covid is very fast. It is better to prevent than to get infected”, reinforces Araújo.

For domestic trips, the recommendations are the same. Consult local rules and if there are any ordinances in force. In Brazil, states such as Bahia and Piauí have resumed the mandatory use of masks indoors. In the capital of São Paulo, the measure applies to public transport — important information for those who will be in the city to attend the Corrida de São Silvestre and the New Year’s Eve shows on Paulista.

“One meter is the risk measure for you to be exposed to another person’s secretion. In this case, it is worth using a mask even if you are in an open environment, such as a beach. Still on the beach, if you are far from agglomeration, only with your family nucleus nearby, the mask is expendable”, says Araújo.

In hotels and inns, you need to pay attention to hygiene in general. Badly washed towels and bedding can transmit Mpox (new name for monkey pox), warns the infectologist.

“Observe if hygiene is recurrent, if the room is properly cleaned, if bed linen and towels are changed and if the appearance is good”, he says.

“In terms of Covid, for example, a restaurant with closed windows and no ventilation is a risky place. Prefer meals in open areas.

The lack of air renewal is not only dangerous for Covid, but for any respiratory disease, reminds Dr. Bacterium. “The air must be renewed six times every hour. Technically it is recommended in some closed places. With doors and windows open you can achieve this”, he explains.

For a healthy experience in hotels and inns, it is also necessary for these places to promote the reduction of queues at check-in and check-out, offer gloves for customers to serve themselves at buffets and make employees aware of the use of masks, especially in the I deal with people.

The biomedical advises the tourist to also observe if there is gel alcohol in the common areas of the hotel or inn.

“It’s more care, but it cannot turn into a neurosis. Alcohol gel is to be used when there is no sink nearby. Washing your hands properly, with soap and water, reduces contamination by 91%; with alcohol gel, the maximum it’s 85%. It’s not worth a psychological wash, just on the tips of the fingers, or using the faucet like holy water, which you tap twice and don’t even turn it on”, says dr. Bacterium.

Another tip is to dry your hands with a paper towel, instead of using hot air devices commonly installed in public restrooms.

“Hot air drying your hands increases the amount of bacteria and viruses by 270%. It takes the bacteria present in the bathroom and concentrates it on your hand. Also, the energy you use to dry your hand in the air is very harmful to nature. more than sheets of paper to dry your hands”, he opines.

Chemist Bruno Mena, master and doctor in physical chemistry from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, in partnership with the University of Padova, in Italy, also draws attention to the importance of proper hygiene in places such as gyms, playgrounds and swimming pools.

According to Mena, the use of ozone technology for decontamination in these places is ideal.

“Ozone is much more powerful, compared to chlorine and alcohol, in combating bacteria, viruses and fungi. This action takes place in the air we breathe and on surfaces”, he says.

Covid-19 free holidays

– Keep your vaccinations up to date

– Wear a mask

– Find out about the situation at the destination

– Maintain hygiene measures

In hotels and inns

– Gel alcohol in common areas is important, but if there is a sink, prefer to wash your hands with soap and water

– Dry your hands with a paper towel

– Pay attention to the hygiene of bed linen and towels

– Make sure employees wear a mask

– In restaurants it is recommended to wear disposable gloves when serving yourself at buffets

– Eat in well-ventilated areas