The world is reopening in many cases, but regardless of vaccination status, many still require a negative COVID-19 test. But where do you get a covid test for travel?
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Reopening, Travel Returning
If you listened to any investor calls from the airlines (most reported this week) you’ll find that travel is indeed returning. Iceland, Greece, and Croatia all received new flights from United this week for the summer. France has announced plans to welcome back Americans that are fully vaccinated. Israel, who has a nearly fully vaccinated population is reopening as well, American has already slated flights from both New York JFK, and Miami.
American also indicated it will have 100% of seat capacity to Latin America from 2019 levels.
Requirements Remain In Place
Countries around the world are reopening, especially for tourists with a vaccine, however, not all requirements have changed even for those who have been vaccinated for months. For those brandishing their vaccination documents or hoping for a renewed passport (health criteria only), they will still be subjected to the same antigen tests as those who have not.
Testing requirements are also trickier with a vaccine as those who have had the shots recently may be “shedding” the virus and test positive for an extended period. Those who had the virus but recovered in the last 90 days may still need a doctor’s note to negate a positive result.
Sadly, even those who test positive for the antibodies (regardless of vaccination status) still must test negative for COVID despite the presence of antibodies being proof that the person has had the virus and recovered.
Where To Get a Covid Test For Travel
Before signing up for your next trip, you should first know what type of testing and protocol is required. For example, even following a negative result prior to boarding, another negative is required in Thailand, and even then quarantine for some areas extends to 14 days further. Luckily, Thailand is not the norm.
Almost every country (including the US) requires a PCR or antigen test for entry and even some states within the US.
Pharmacy PCR Tests
Most pharmacies carry PCR tests and will conduct them for you. CVS, RiteAid, and Walgreens in the United States are the most ubiquitous, but even grocery stores that also have pharmacies like Publix in Florida, or Kroger (and its many, many brands) have them available. Some of those locations are drive-throughs with no charge to customers. There are also many trusted testing sites nationwide outside of pharmacies and some governments will provide the service free at affiliated testing locations.
Test results are populated between 24-48 hours. Most locales require a negative PCR test within 72 hours of your flight.
Rapid Tests
Either due to false-positive results, uncertain results, or poor planning, Rapid tests are available at major airports throughout the US. These tests offer results with remarkably fast turnaround times (just 15 minutes in most cases) and can be conducted inside the terminal, in some cases, at the departure gate itself.
These tests are more expensive (about $180 vs. $75-100) and less accurate which may result in the need for additional tests or postponing plans at the last minute.
At-Home Tests
Some airlines are selling at-home viral tests. Both American Airlines and British Airways offer COVID-19 tests shipped to a traveler’s home prior to departure. This option makes testing much safer (for those concerned with public interactions) and convenient (they can be returned at the traveler’s leisure.
However, one concern with home tests is accurately calculating the transit time for the tests, and associated processing time. Most countries that permit travel require within 72 hours of departure which leads to a number of conditions to be met in sequence to align with travel plans.
One concern that many travelers have is where to find a COVID test “near me” but the at-home tests offer the best solution to the problem of not being able to find an adequate service nearby.
Conclusion
As the world reopens and travel resumes, getting a reliable COVID test is becoming ever more important. There are a range of options for where to get a COVID test and a variety of styles but choosing the best one for you may be difficult. Consider your options, costs, and reliability of the test itself prior to selecting a PCR test that suits the country’s travel requirements.
Separately, as other Boarding Area bloggers have pointed out in recent weeks, the time has likely come to reconsider processes and policies for these tests and the requirements associated therein. Mass vaccination, as well as mass recovery of former patients with active antibodies, make these tests less and less of a necessity, and perhaps they should be reconsidered entirely.
What do you think? Do you have a testing preference that you prefer? Where have you been tested for COVID-19?
You forgot the leading place to get test results… ebay.
I’m sorry Kyle… You may want to check a few facts here.
1. Rapid antigen is permitted for entry in to the USA. I’ve done it twice. PCR isn’t required.
2. Rapid antigen is always less expensive. In Brazil and Mexico they can be obtained easily for less than $20. PCR is quite a bit more expensive. Also in the USA, there’s no reason anyone should ever pay for a rapid antigen test.
3. With a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, you won’t “she’d virus” because you aren’t being injected with any COVID-19. mRNA vaccines don’t contain the actual virus itself, so shedding is impossible
If countries are waiting for zero new covid cases to open up, that’s never going to happen.
What you don’t discuss at all is re-entry into to the US from whatever country you are in. And yes, the previous poster is correct. You don’t need a PCR test, a rapid antigen test is fine. So you need to decide if you will rely on a rapid test at the airport or get a test 2-3 days before you leave at a lab or other facility in the country you are in. For example, in many hotels in Mexico, you can get a PCR or antigen test there, and it might be free.
“Mass vaccination, as well as mass recovery of former patients with active antibodies, make these tests less and less of a necessity, and perhaps they should be reconsidered entirely.”
– Yeah – as long as ~40-45% of the MAGA mouth-breathers out there aren’t going to get vaccinated (per recent and repeated poling), these tests are here to stay for quite a while (and rightfully so)
I got a free test at Capstone Clinic in Anchorage last month. Free is good!
Rapid antigen tests are indeed cheaper than PCR tests. They also are more useful for detecting the condition we should be most concerned about: are you infectious? A PCR test detects the presence of viral material. Someone could be infections, not shedding much virus, or even recovered. What we should be worrying about is whether people are infectious. Antigen tests are cheaper and quicker than PCR tests and should have been ubiquitous long ago.
@UA-TDS
Do you recall how prominent Democrats such as Governor Cuomo and then-Senator Harris were seeding vaccine hesitancy last year? Also the #resistance poo-pooing the idea that a vaccine would even be available in 2020?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/03/18/what-andrew-cuomo-kamala-harris-said-about-vaccine-skepticism/
If anyone thinks the government should be able to mandate vaccinate among the citizenry, he should be fine with mandates against obesity as well. It is socially contagious and is associated with nearly one in five adult deaths in the US (if not more). That would put it at least on par with COVID-19. After old age, obesity was the greatest risk factor in COVID-19 deaths. Mandating vaccinations while allowing people to kill themselves with alcohol, tobacco and overeating would be hypocrisy. Sort yourself out before thinking you should be able to dictate how others behave. The fattest sub-population in the US is Black womxn. Ban obesity and they will obviously benefit the most. Not banning obesity would be enacting white supremacy. Follow the science and be anti-racist.
@Jerry – I corrected re: antigen. However, of the four vaccines in the US, just Moderna has this feature.
@Kyle
What feature are you talking about? The mRNA platform? Both Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines are mRNA-type.
The blind leading the blind on science.
MAGA guys live rent free in @UA-NYC’s head. One of then probably stole his boyfriend.
@cargocult – again you think you’re clever, but you didn’t even read your own article:
“The skepticism of Trump expressed by Harris and of the FDA expressed by Cuomo didn’t come out of nowhere. Trump had spent months offering wild commentary about the reality of the coronavirus outbreak and potential treatments for it, such as disinfectant and hydroxychloroquine. There was also plenty of evidence that he had applied political pressure on the FDA when it came to things such as approving hydroxychloroquine for emergency use — a decision that was later reversed.
Trump even admitted applying pressure, which isn’t how the FDA process is supposed to be handled. While then-FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn downplayed that pressure early on, he said upon his departure in January that there was indeed “a substantial amount of pressure” to move faster in the summer and fall.”
So yeah – least trustworthy, most irrational, most compromised POTUS in history? Lot of reason to doubt.
Keep up your casual racism and misogyny too in your posts, it’s quite telling.
@UA-TDS
I post things from left-leaning sites so leftists like you won’t dismiss points out of hand. Pressure to move quickly? Pressure to consider potential therapies for COVID-19? Should the Trump administration have sat back and allowed something like the vaccine debacle in the EU to happen? Also, recall that the Lancet study saying hydroxychloroquine was ineffective against COVID-19 was retracted.
As for racism and misogyny, you are the one who supports explicitly racist and gendered thinking. I posit evidence, You have nothing but insults for those who disagree with you.
Kyle, if you are going to write articles about scientific subjects, then you need to get the science right. There are 2 kinds of COVID tests: antigen and PCR. And both Pfizer and Moderna use mRNA (messenger RNA) , J and uses a human cold virus and Astra uses a chimpanzee cold virus.
It’s not a science article. It’s where to get COVID tests.
Sure CVS, Walgreens, etc. offer the PCR test. At least in the DC area, checking due to a potential need for upcoming travel, ‘we strive to return results 48-72 hours’, but then when I ask about realties, I am told it is more like 72-96 hours and still no guarantee. It amazes me that so many other countries can return PCR results in hours, not days.
But you still owe your readers basic correct facts about what the article is about. No, it is not about how DNA works. But if you are going to write an article about where to get COVID tests, and what types there are, and what kind you need, you need to have the facts right. And a simple quick Google search gives you those. Ever since the US government instituted the 3 day COVID test within return from an international destination, the rule was always a COVID test of either variety, although your state could require a PCR one. (My state, Massachusetts does, unless you are vaccinated.) Otherwise, it’s just sloppy journalism, and you are giving out faulty information-which you are and still haven’t corrected. And actually, your article is mainly about how to get tests to leave and doesn’t fully cover getting tests to come back in.
@Stephanie Woods – This is what it literally says, “Almost every country (including the US) requires a PCR or antigen test for entry and even some states within the US.” – that’s both varieties of test that you said wasn’t there.
Naturally, I wouldn’t be able to provide a city-by-city guide for every country in the world especially since rules and methods change constantly. However, I did include this: “Some airlines are selling at-home viral tests. Both American Airlines and British Airways offer COVID-19 tests shipped to a traveler’s home prior to departure. This option makes testing much safer (for those concerned with public interactions) and convenient (they can be returned at the traveler’s leisure.”
I’m not sure what you still feel is lacking.
Where is a rapid test more expensive than a PCR? Haven’t seen that be the case anywhere.
There’s a link in the post to an article published on LiveAndLetsFly with both United and Hawaiian offering 15-minute at the gate tests for approximately the prices listed in this post (about 2x the standard.)
That’s bizarre. Guess they’re just trying to price gouge ya for the convenience then. Generally the rapids are cheaper everywhere else you go.