Mears spoke to TTG last month about his "extremely stressful" rush to get back to the UK before mandatory hotel quarantine was enforced for travellers arriving from South Africa due to the spread of the Omicron variant.
Since then, he has been self-isolating at home in the UK, but now faces a second 10-day stint in quarantine after his Day 8 PCR test came back positive.
Mears told TTG he thought this test was likely to be a “false positive” after a mild case of Covid in November, especially after his Day 2 test was negative. He has also recorded several negative lateral flow test results.
“I had Covid in early November, before I went to South Africa, but have tested negative since then, so I have the distinct feeling the positive I’ve just received is a false positive, especially considering the rapid tests I have been doing have all come back negative,” he said.
“But I’m now staring down the barrel of another 10 days in isolation. I feel like I’ve been imprisoned and punished for travelling and doing the job I love and reconnecting with family who we’ve not seen in two years."
He said his own predicament showed how the current testing regime for travel was “fraught with problems and uncertainty” and was impacting consumer confidence.
“It makes a complete mockery of our testing and quarantine system – even if I were to take another test and that came back negative, I would still need to keep isolating,” said Mears.
“It’s just making people angry and frustrated. It’s restricting the travel industry from getting going again. Using lateral flow tests would be better.
“They [government] should ditch the red list. They used it to try to stop Omicron reaching the UK, but it’s clear it was already here and spreading like wildfire. The sooner they lift the red list restrictions, the better.”
Mears now faces missing his mother’s 80th birthday lunch later this month, as well as his organisation’s Christmas function, with his second 10-day quarantine period due to run until 18 December.
He added contacting several NHS services had so far failed to help him to resolve his current situation, and he was still trying to get the detailed record of his positive PCR test from his GP, although this is likely to take longer than the second 10-day self-isolation period.
