Returning to Brazil? When?

[Riobard]

So sad, and now it appears that only about 10% of those on ventilators make it.

[asdsrfr]

More than ever it is essential that anyone planning to travel outside the US have medical evacuation insurance that guarantees they will be evacuated to the hospital of their choice. I have posted about this before and I feel strongly about it. On a pre-Covid trip to Brazil a few years back I got a nasty fracture in some sporting actives in Northern Brazil. I was able to get myself to the nicest private hospital in Fortaleza--but even there I had to spend over 24 hours soon a gurney in the emergency department before spending a few days in a room. My Brazilian friends told me that wait was typical--public hospitals much worse.  My medical evacuation insurance company sent a private jet to transport me all the way to California at no cost to me. I had surgery in California and I am as good as new,

You do not want to be seriously ill in Brazil without a way to get back home for care. Coverage is about $265/year and a bargain when you consider the alternative.

[BlkSuperman]

I purchased insurance for my husband and myself in december through Allianz. However, I was under the impression that we would have to pay upfront out of our own pockets, submit paperwork upon our return and then be reimbursed by the insurance company after the claim is approved and finalized. Is your policy different? If so,  What company did you buy the policy with, please?

[asdsrfr]

14 minutes ago, BlkSuperman said:

I purchased insurance for my husband and myself in december through Allianz. However, I was under the impression that we would have to pay upfront out of our own pockets, submit paperwork upon our return and then be reimbursed by the insurance company after the claim is approved and finalized. Is your policy different? If so,  What company did you buy the policy with, please?

Here is the company I used. https://www.globalguardian.com/air-ambulance 

Here is also another alternative company https://medjetassist.com

And yes when I used my company they paid all of the costs up front and made all arrangements. The owner of the company told me later if I had paid on my own for the services it would have been $100,000 usd. I did have to settle my bill with the hospital and doctor in Fortaleza before I left but that was only $2000 for three days which I later got reimbursed for by my medical insurance back home.

[SolaceSoul]

1 hour ago, asdsrfr said:

More than ever it is essential that anyone planning to travel outside the US have medical evacuation insurance that guarantees they will be evacuated to the hospital of their choice. I have posted about this before and I feel strongly about it. On a pre-Covid trip to Brazil a few years back I got a nasty fracture in some sporting actives in Northern Brazil. I was able to get myself to the nicest private hospital in Fortaleza--but even there I had to spend over 24 hours soon a gurney in the emergency department before spending a few days in a room. My Brazilian friends told me that wait was typical--public hospitals much worse.  My medical evacuation insurance company sent a private jet to transport me all the way to California at no cost to me. I had surgery in California and I am as good as new,

You do not want to be seriously ill in Brazil without a way to get back home for care. Coverage is about $265/year and a bargain when you consider the alternative.

Travel insurance issued on or after April 1 of this year specifically excludes coverage involving COVID-19 or the virus that causes it. Insurance companies have gone to great lengths to carve this coverage out in their new policies. 

Medical claims, evacuations, delays or cancellations unrelated to COVID should still apply. Make sure you read your policy before it is issued. 

Edited April 23, 2020 by SolaceSoul

[CaliPexx]

1 hour ago, asdsrfr said:

More than ever it is essential that anyone planning to travel outside the US have medical evacuation insurance that guarantees they will be evacuated to the hospital of their choice. … … You do not want to be seriously ill in Brazil without a way to get back home for care. 

I agree wholeheartedly with you on the need for medical evacuation insurance, in particular, when traveling to medical resource limited destinations, e.g., Brazil. This was true prior to Covid-19 and will continue to be true when the pandemic seems like a bad nightmare in our distant memories.

The problem with this disease, however, is that hypoxia and respiratory collapse occur suddenly and without much warning. So, there wouldn't be time to do all of the following requisite steps: --

(1) to make the call to the evacuation insurance company

(2) to have them do your insurance verification and medical qualification for international air transport

(3) to round up and dispatch the air ambulance and its qualified medical crew

(4) for the evacuation crew to fly from, for example, North America to Brazil (at least an 8 hour trip from the nearest U.S. cities and, I imagine, much longer from Europe and Down Under)

(5) for the crew to travel through urban traffic in Brazil to your hospital

(6) for the crew to do the medical handoff with your Brazilian ICU care team

(7) through (10) then to repeat all of the steps above in reverse until you are safely inside an ICU in North America or wherever you wish to be transported.

(11) and (12) Oh, and I forgot the time spent to facilitate your passage through Customs and Immigration for Brazil and your destination country.

Now, let's assume that you have survived in Brazil up to the point of loading you and your rapidly failing organ systems onto the air ambulance. Remember that your air ambulance will be pressurized, like any other jet, to a high altitude barometric pressure. This will place an additional strain on your capacity to breathe.

And I see that @SolaceSoul: has already provided the answer to my following question:

In the fine print legalese that none of us non-attorney types understand or take the time to read, is there not an exclusion in these medical evacuation policies for illnesses caused by declared epidemics and pandemics? [@SolaceSoul indicates that, yes, there IS an exclusion for Covid-19. Thanks!]

TL;DR Travel to Brazil is not advisable unless and until you have been demonstrated to be protected against the SARS-CoV-2 virus as a result of either symptomatic or asymptomatic Covid-19 acquisition OR as a consequence of having received a safe and effective vaccine. 

Edited April 23, 2020 by CaliPexx
Thanked @SolaceSoul for answering my question about Covid-19 evacuation insurance policy exclusion

[asdsrfr]

As an aside it seems like on previous trips to Brazil that it's just my luck that the first guy I meet up with turns out to have a cold or cough halfway through the programma. I always think what bad luck--now I'm going to be sick for the rest of my vacation. In the past this was often just an annoying cold--though once I did have the worst flu of my life in Rio. 

I doubt that when things re-open the sauna guys will have access to testing or will stay at home if they are sick. It will for sure be interesting to see the vibe when things re-open.  Maybe as foreigners people will shy away from us as it's widely thought that it was foreigners and rich Brazilians who travel that brought Covid to Brazil. I remember while traveling in the early days of HIV you didn't exactly want to advertise that you were from San Francisco or people would keep you at arms length.

We will just have to see how this evolves and one day hopefully all will be back to the way it was!

[sydneyboy1]

8 hours ago, CaliPexx said:

No one knows what the situation will be in October 2020 but the Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is saying a second wave is likely in autumn and/or winter and that we could see simultaneous epidemics of Covid-19 and influenza at that time. That would be devastating to health care systems everywhere.

This story linked below, about the current status of Covid-19 in hospitals in Rio de Janeiro, is heartbreaking. The young doctor in the more affluent Zona Oeste who is interviewed reports that he has only one ventilator per 30 Covid-19 cases and that they are having to make decisions about who receives - or doesn't receive - respiratory support.

Another hospital in the more economically challenged Zona Norte, where many of our GdePs live, reports that facility's ICU beds are filled to capacity.

It's a tragic state of affairs no matter how you look at it. And I suspect that much of Brazil is still on the upslope of the Covid-19 case and death curve.

G1: Médico do Rio diz ter só um respirador para 30 pacientes: ‘A gente acaba tendo que escolher'.
https://g1.globo.com/rj/rio-de-janeiro/noticia/2020/04/22/medico-do-rio-diz-ter-so-um-respirador-para-30-pacientes-a-gente-acaba-tendo-que-escolher.ghtml

A country with a President who still thinks it’s just the sniffles and wants the country to get back to normal.

Edited April 23, 2020 by sydneyboy1

[CaliPexx]

22 minutes ago, sydneyboy1 said:

A country with a President who still thinks it’s just the sniffles and wants the country to get back to normal.

Make that at least two countries headed by Presidents with an anti-science, anti-medicine agenda. 

[sydneyboy1]

1 hour ago, CaliPexx said:

Make that at least two countries headed by Presidents with an anti-science, anti-medicine agenda. 

You can add a third leader, Boris Johnson. There is much used footage of him at the end of February boasting at a press conference of shaking the hands of virus sufferers. There is nothing like catching the virus and nearly dying to make someone wake up to themselves. The virus has had a catastrophic impact in Britain and, very important, the official statistics as disastrous as they are, don’t include deaths in aged care facilities. Johnson has a lot to answer for.

Edited April 23, 2020 by sydneyboy1

[Bucknaway1614502762]

Just a reminder that not everyone who gets covid-19 requires hospital or doctor treatment. Mini who have covid-19 will power through it thinking they had the flu.  People who are at risk they meet their end dealing with the virus but it is not a 100% death sentence.

 

[sydneyboy1]

34 minutes ago, Bucknaway1614502762 said:

Just a reminder that not everyone who gets covid-19 requires hospital or doctor treatment. Mini who have covid-19 will power through it thinking they had the flu.  People who are at risk they meet their end dealing with the virus but it is not a 100% death sentence.

 

Perfectly true but ask Boris Johnson what it’s like when the virus attack is nasty. He had the best medical advice available and when he was very ill his treating doctors made crucial clinical decisions that saved his life. Not to mention 2 nurses who were at his bedside around the clock for 48 hours. All this he now freely acknowledges. I can’t help but make the cynical observation if he would have had all this attention from the  NHS if he had not been Prime Minister. It should also not be forgotten that he is still not back at work.

i was watching a news bulletin last night on the medical front line of the virus in New York. One doctor who had just come off duty had pronounced 6 people dead on that shift. A number of medical professionals interviewed stated they had never see anything like it in their medical careers. It is not to be taken lightly.

Edited April 23, 2020 by sydneyboy1

[Bucknaway1614502762]

Neither is cancer. Some people survive cancer some people will not some people suffer mightily and some are able to get away an inactive progression.  If you ask the person that suffers the hardest they will always tell you of their worst.  Just like a lottery winner will always tell you how great the lottery is.

 

The problem with covid-19 is that you don't know how it will affect you until it's too late.

[sydneyboy1]

The ineptitude of this British response is breathtaking. Unlike countries such as Germany or Australia they have not engaged in widespread testing but only offered testing if someone was in hospital. Now realising their folly they have set a target of conducting 100,000 tests a day by the end of April. This is a somewhat optimistic goal given that 18,000 tests were conducted on Tuesday and the acting Prime Minister Dominic Raab boasted that they now had the capacity to conduct 40,000 tests a day.

He was subjected to forensic cross examination on this in Parliament this week by the new Labour leader Keir Starmer. Only 18,000 3 days ago, the alleged capacity is 40,000 and 100,000 within a week. The acting Prime Minister was found seriously wanting when questioned on this by an Opposition Leader who is a QC and former Director of Public Prosecutions. 

Why is it that countries run by right wing ideologues USA, Brazil and the U K have been so thoroughly incompetent in dealing with this crisis? 

Edited April 24, 2020 by sydneyboy1

[Bucknaway1614502762]

People keep claiming that the USA is behind in some way regarding covid-19 but I don't see it.

Maybe because my state is locked down and throwing up one restriction after another. If there is something that USA is not doing that it should be doing I'd like to hear it.

As it stands now in the USA they've pushed the regulatory government entities to get testing methods approved faster than ever before to be able to test for covid-19.

So as of today there is no cure so we all hiding our homes hoping one day we can go back outside again.  Right now that is the answer for everyone in the world. If there's a better way I wish it were known.

[sydneyboy1]

28 minutes ago, Bucknaway1614502762 said:

People keep claiming that the USA is behind in some way regarding covid-19 but I don't see it.

Maybe because my state is locked down and throwing up one restriction after another. If there is something that USA is not doing that it should be doing I'd like to hear it.

As it stands now in the USA they've pushed the regulatory government entities to get testing methods approved faster than ever before to be able to test for covid-19.

So as of today there is no cure so we all hiding our homes hoping one day we can go back outside again.  Right now that is the answer for everyone in the world. If there's a better way I wish it were known.

I don’t pretend to be a medical expert, but one thing the USA and Britain have in common is that they were very slow to act. The measures now in place are obviously strict but the way this virus spreads it’s a case of closing the door after the horse has bolted. As I mentioned in an earlier post Johnson was actually boasting about 7 weeks ago of shaking hands and socialising with sufferers. As for Trump, what is there to say? His bizarre inconsistent ravings have been well documented. As reported on the news tonight he has reached his all time low. Suggesting injecting sufferers with disinfectant. 

Americans come November you have your chance. How could anyone in their right mind vote for this man?

[Bucknaway1614502762]

Thought the political thing...

On that I'll back out.

[Riobard]

I just wanna know: Who the fuck’s in charge and why aren’t they doing something about it? I want the all-clear for Brasil, Yucatán, what have you ...