DENVER — After postponing their honeymoon for a year because of the pandemic, Shivani Pathak and her husband, of Denver, had hoped their trip this spring would be the dream trip they planned.
"It was something we were looking forward to for a long time," Pathak said.
They did careful research and chose to visit Seychelles, an island nation northeast of Madagascar.
"Seychelles is the most vaccinated country in the world and so we figured traveling there would be pretty safe, especially since we’re both vaccinated," Pathak said.
Before leaving Colorado, they took a PCR and rapid COVID-19 test. Just a few days into their trip, the couple received shocking news.
"We went to a second island called Praslin and on that island we had about a day and a half to explore, which is really nice, before the hotel staff came and knocked on our hotel door and told us although my husband had tested negative, I had tested positive," Pathak said.
That meant she would have to quarantine, regardless of being vaccinated and testing negative the next day.
"To spend 10 days of the two weeks that we had off in isolation was a bummer," she said.
These recurring positive cases within vaccinated people has lead the World Health Organization to investigate Seychelles's COVID-19 data. Between April 30 and May 8, 37% of people who tested positive had been fully vaccinated.
"We had talked to the ministry of health there and they basically said that a positive is a positive and we have to treat everyone who has a positive test as a positive," Pathak said.
Her advice for future travelers this summer is to carry vaccination proof, consider travel insurance, and do your homework for what every country requires.
"Although that was our honeymoon, I think we will really have to have a honeymoon part two," Pathak said.
