Windsor woman describes vacation gone wrong after contracting COVID-19

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If Tracy Kell could go back in time a few weeks, she would probably advise her past self to cancel her trip to Cuba.

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The 43-year-old Windsor resident has been sharing her disastrous travel experience after falling ill with COVID-19 during a romantic getaway with her husband.

“Hindsight is 20/20, of course,” said Kell, now back home and with the go-ahead from his doctor and Health Canada.

“I don’t blame Cuba in any way. I think I was too anxious to go on vacation. I felt safe. We are both double vaccinated. But with all the uncertainty…”

Kell trailed off as he reflected on the ordeal that had started his new year. “There is no rule book for what you do if you are in Cuba or the Dominican Republic, and you have COVID. You are a bit on your own.

Kell, a mother of two, and her husband planned their vacation months ago: They try to make a trip to the resort community of Varadero every year.

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“We’re just going to chill,” Kell explained. “It’s like our free time as kids.”

They arrived in Cuba on December 30, with their return flight booked for January 6.

But the day after they arrived, Kell began to notice a sore throat. That night, he became feverish.

“Then it got pretty bad. I don’t remember much about that night,” Kell said.

The couple had had some rapid antigen tests done, which showed that Kell tested positive for COVID-19. The next day, the resort doctor performed a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test on Kell, which confirmed the result.

“From that point on, it was a whirlwind,” Kell said. She was transported away from the resort and put in a quarantine hospital, where she was asked to stay until her PCR test came back negative.

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“I must have had the Omicron variant, because I felt sick for only two days. It wasn’t terribly bad,” Kell said.

Her husband, who still tested negative, was not allowed to be with her.

As the days passed and the time for the return flight approached, Kell told her husband to leave Cuba without her.

“I didn’t want her to stay and end up getting sick,” Kell said. “He couldn’t come see me. So I said, ‘Go home and stay with the kids… There’s nothing you can do.’

“I’m sure she would rather have stayed, but I thought if she got COVID, it would be even worse.”

On January 10, a PCR test finally gave Kell a negative result.

He took the fastest flight available that day back to Canada and spent the rest of the week self-isolating at his home in Windsor.

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Kell works in accounting. His first day back at the office in 2022 was Friday.

“I have had four negative tests and it has been more than 10 days since I had symptoms,” he explained.

When asked if he had any advice for other prospective travelers planning international travel during the current wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kell responded, “Everyone is going to do whatever they want. But if you plan to go, you must be prepared. You need extra money and you have to be self-sufficient.

“If you are in a group and you test positive, but everyone else tests negative, they will separate you. Don’t go unless you are 100 percent sure of yourself in that situation.”

All that said, Kell still loves Cuba. She and her husband have an idea to bring their children next time: a family vacation for Christmas 2022.

“But if there are still travel advisories in place and you still need PCR tests to return, forget it. we will cancel

“I mean, fingers crossed. Things change so fast these days.”