PSA: if you get covid or covid-like symptoms in Malta and don’t have a car, you would probably be doing everyone a favour (yourself included) by not bothering with a test and just being careful. This could also apply to those with a car, depending on how quickly you can get yourself tested.

This is admittedly a lot of venting, so you can skip right to the very bottom if you don’t want to hear the specifics of my story.

​

The first point I’ll make is related but not directly to do with the title: I arrived back in Malta mid-January after being home for about a month to learn I had 4 or 5 days to get a booster (from a friend, because I had had zero official government communications, by text, post or e-mail) or I would soon be considered unvaccinated – because I “only” have a vaccine from 5 months ago, so that’s obviously too old now (/s). I had heard nothing about this prior to leaving and boosters weren’t even available to my age group at that point. This level of communication and competency of policy becomes something of a theme.

​

While mulling over whether I would go get a booster asap or wait until I was less annoyed about the absurd timeline I was subject to, I developed a tickly throat. It wasn’t bad, thought it might just be from the air in the plane being dry but I kept an eye on it. Symptoms get a little worse, get a runny nose until on a Thursday night I get chills, a cough and night sweats after going to bed and realise I am definitely sick. No problem, I have some lateral flow tests I brought from home when I was coming back. I take the test the following morning and I’m positive. A distinct and rapidly-appearing positive line. Okay, I better call to get a PCR swab test, I think. This was a mistake.

I call after my lateral flow test, Friday morning, and explain my situation. I explain I have no car. I say I would gladly walk; I’m feeling okay enough to do it and it would be faster. The guy on the phone insists I should get transport. Should get a call “today or tomorrow”. I turn my phone off silent and carry it with me everywhere in the house to make sure I don’t miss the call. Saturday comes and goes and I still don’t have a call. Sunday rolls around and I get the call and told I will be picked up Monday – so that’s a 4 day wait (this is important).

I have my test on Monday and 72 hours later I still don’t have my results. At this point I have had symptoms for some 10 days (starting with the tickly throat), and am well on the path to recovery – my one night of cold sweats was the peak in my case. I call to say I haven’t had a call or e-mail. Put on hold for ages and get told I will be contacted later with the results. They cannot tell me my results over the phone.

An hour later I finally get the e-mail with my positive result and in the e-mail I am told I must isolate for 14 days *from the date of the swab test*. To explain just how asinine that is, here is an extract from the CDC’s website:

– “Infectiousness peaks around one day before symptom onset and declines within a week of symptom onset, with an average period of infectiousness and risk of transmission between 2-3 days before and 8 days after symptom onset.”

Source: [https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/duration-isolation.html](https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/duration-isolation.html)

Here’s the best part: I am already testing negative by lateral flow test with not even a slight line appearing.

​

Conclusion and TL;DR: If you have no car and get sick you will be in a grey zone of unknown status for the *most transmissible* period of your illness and when you do get your results you will be legally obliged to stay in your home for 14 days from the day that they did come pick you up. The best thing you can do depends on your situation, but for minimal risk of transmission to others, you should be very careful around others even with mild symptoms and for your own sanity don’t even bother getting tested if “real” symptoms have set in and you don’t have a car – it’s more hassle than it’s worth.