– Because of a PCR test, he crosses the Atlantic twice for nothing
A Genevan was looking forward to spending six weeks in Chile. He found himself making the round trip in 26 hours because of a bureaucratic imbroglio. Kafkaesque story.
On the first Saturday in February, a Geneva retiree gets off a plane in Santiago, the Chilean capital. He has just flown thirteen hours in an almost empty plane. It’s sunny, it’s summer in the southern hemisphere. His vacation, the first since the start of the pandemic, can begin.
Returned without passport or PCR
Arrived in front of the customs officer, he is explained that his PCR test (negative, of course) is refused. Pattern? It is over 72 hours old. Our retiree protests. In Geneva, then in London where he stopped, no one warned him that the calculation of validity of the sesame changed according to the country. Indeed: the lifespan of a test is calculated in Europe according to boarding the first plane of the trip. In Chile, the arrival of the last flight counts. His PCR is obsolete, expired six hours ago.