Pre-Travel COVID Testing Recommendations

[LA_Transplant]

My wife and I will be traveling to Maui at the end of May. For those of you who have been to Maui recently, can you share your experience or recommendations regarding pre-travel COVID testing? Since we live in Los Angeles and are flying Hawaiian Airlines, we planning on scheduling an appointment with Worksite Labs down by LAX. I am just wondering if their might be a more convenient option that will guarantee our results back in a timely fashion. Any advice you might have would be greatly appreciated.

 

[gravitar]

Walgreens ID NOW test results are back in less than 24 hours and are accepted by Hawaii. Many Walgreens don't charge for the tests.

Just checked and it doesn't look like the test is offered by Walgreens in the LA area.

I arrived in Maui on April 15 and am departing now


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[csodjd]

My wife and I will be traveling to Maui at the end of May. For those of you who have been to Maui recently, can you share your experience or recommendations regarding pre-travel COVID testing? Since we live in Los Angeles and are flying Hawaiian Airlines, we planning on scheduling an appointment with Worksite Labs down by LAX. I am just wondering if their might be a more convenient option that will guarantee our results back in a timely fashion. Any advice you might have would be greatly appreciated.

We did the testing across from Terminal 6 at LAX last month. Was really quite simple. You pay when you make your reservation ($125). Park in the parking structure right across from Terminal 6. Walk over, give your name, test, leave. We both had results in < 24 hrs. Uploaded the PDF to Safe Travels and we were done.

Before that we used a local urgent care in Agoura Hills. Had results in about 15 minutes (waited around for the results). More expensive though - $165 I believe.

 

[pedro47]

Gravitar,
Did you take a Covid test to leave Maui or will you have to take a Covid-19 test when you arrived in LA ?

 

[gravitar]

Gravitar,
Did you take a Covid test to leave Maui or will you have to take a Covid-19 test when you arrived in LA ?

No test is required to leave for the mainland or for transit to HNL. You would need a test to travel to any other island. Some of that is changing with vaccine exemptions for intra island travel. That starts with Hawaii residents shortly and others later this summer.

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[pedro47]

Thank you gravitar.

 

[rcv82]

Traveling DEN-OGG Saturday. Did Walgreens rapid ID Now NAAT test today. No cost and I got my results in 90 minutes. This is hard to beat! Sign up in evenings 4 days in advance for best availability. Look for the “red dot” locations for testing.


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[MommaBear]

Did our Walgreen's ID now yesterday at 12:30, DH got his in 5 hours, 22 hours later I am still waiting

 

[rcv82]

Did our Walgreen's ID now yesterday at 12:30, DH got his in 5 hours, 22 hours later I am still waiting

Try calling PWNHealth who sends the results. It’s possible your email got lost. I have called them on the same issue and they were helpful. And I reached somebody right away.


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[gravitar]

Did our Walgreen's ID now yesterday at 12:30, DH got his in 5 hours, 22 hours later I am still waiting

We did our tests at 4 different Walgreens, 3 of us had results in under 2 hours, mine took 20 hours.

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[critterchick]

Traveling DEN-OGG Saturday. Did Walgreens rapid ID Now NAAT test today. No cost and I got my results in 90 minutes. This is hard to beat! Sign up in evenings 4 days in advance for best availability. Look for the “red dot” locations for testing.

If only we could get the red dot test in California. I asked Walgreens on FB why they don't offer it and the answer was, "we don't offer it."

We're thinking of getting two tests; the free Walgreens "slow boat to China" test at 72 hours and then have a backup at Clarity Labs at LAX ($120pp) in case the Walgreens results don't come back by the day before. But at this point I'm leaning toward keeping it simple and just going straight to Clarity. But now I've heard that the Worksite Labs location near LBG (Long Beach) is only $20pp and they don't care what airline you're flying or what airport you're departing from. Can you tell that I tend to overthink things?

 

[Tucsonadventurer]

If only we could get the red dot test in California. I asked Walgreens on FB why they don't offer it and the answer was, "we don't offer it."

We're thinking of getting two tests; the free Walgreens "slow boat to China" test at 72 hours and then have a backup at Clarity Labs at LAX ($120pp) in case the Walgreens results don't come back by the day before. But at this point I'm leaning toward keeping it simple and just going straight to Clarity. But now I've heard that the Worksite Labs location near LBG (Long Beach) is only $20pp and they don't care what airline you're flying or what airport you're departing from. Can you tell that I tend to overthink things?

Is it the same 36 hr guarantee at Long Beach worksite labs? We are flying out of Long Beach in June

 

[MommaBear]

We did our tests at 4 different Walgreens, 3 of us had results in under 2 hours, mine took 20 hours.

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Walgreens had screwed up on documenting my test, so had to go back for a second test yesterday. Good to go, now, thank goodness

 

[critterchick]

Is it the same 36 hr guarantee at Long Beach worksite labs? We are flying out of Long Beach in June

I don't know. Thanks to a FB group, I also discovered City Health, which has an LGB location, and offers 5- hour turnaround (the people in the group reported getting results in as soon as 30 minutes). So we're trying that on Monday, still have Clarity as the backup on Wednesday (flight is Thursday).

 

[gravitar]

Walgreens had screwed up on documenting my test, so had to go back for a second test yesterday. Good to go, now, thank goodness

Did they screw up the time of test?

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[Tucsonadventurer]

I don't know. Thanks to a FB group, I also discovered City Health, which has an LGB location, and offers 5- hour turnaround (the people in the group reported getting results in as soon as 30 minutes). So we're trying that on Monday, still have Clarity as the backup on Wednesday (flight is Thursday).

Thank you! I will check them out!

 

[Blues]

Walgreens ID NOW test results are back in less than 24 hours and are accepted by Hawaii. Many Walgreens don't charge for the tests.

Just checked and it doesn't look like the test is offered by Walgreens in the LA area.

Yep, no ID NOW anywhere in California. What gives, Walgreens?

We go to Oahu in mid-July. It looks like our choices are Walgreens PCR Testing, which is free but "Test results cannot be guaranteed in time for travel." Or CVS, which is "typically 1-2 days", and costs $139 per person. Don't mind the expense, though free is better , but CVS is also not guaranteed.

Is there any immediate testing at SJC (San Jose)? Otherwise, what's everyone's advice?

 

[1Kflyerguy]

Yep, no ID NOW anywhere in California. What gives, Walgreens?

We go to Oahu in mid-July. It looks like our choices are Walgreens PCR Testing, which is free but "Test results cannot be guaranteed in time for travel." Or CVS, which is "typically 1-2 days", and costs $139 per person. Don't mind the expense, though free is better , but CVS is also not guaranteed.

Is there any immediate testing at SJC (San Jose)? Otherwise, what's everyone's advice?

I live in San Jose, as far as i know there are not any same day tests offered at SJC.

We went to Maui in Feb and flew Hawaiian out of SJC.. We used Worksite Labs, which is the HA partner in San Jose. They promised results in time for the flight, and that worked well.

Leave for the Big Island on United out of SFO tomorrow. United offered same day tests at SFO, but our flight leaves too early for those. We went with CityHealth, they have a number of travel testing locations including SJC. Standard results are 48 hours, which is what we used. They billed our health insurance for the test, and we paid $20 per person for the Hawaii documents prep. I think the 24 hour testing is around $130 per person. We actually got our results in 24 hours even though we didn't pay for the expedited fee.

Not sure how far south you are in Monterey County, Making an extra trip to SJC for testing could work, but it obviously extra driving and time.

Otherwise, i would go with CVS and hope they come in on time. In general i have found test results to come back pretty quick these days. My wife works in healthcare, and both of us were getting tested by the county pretty regularly until we finalized our vaccinations. Even Santa Clara country has been delivering the test results in 24 hour or so for last couple of months.

 

[critterchick]

I'll give a report on our CityHealth experience today. I made our appointments a couple of weeks ago. We drove to Long Beach Airport, went in the airport entrance and followed the road around to the testing site (you can see if from Lakewood Blvd). We joined the line of cars, about 10 in front of us. Three women were working the intake, going to every third car to collect IDs and health insurance information. Then we drove up to a nurse practitioner, who asked the usual exposure questions and took our vaccination information. Then we pulled up to the actual tester, who gave us the sealed swabs, told us how to perform the test (go a little ways into each nostril and swirl for 10 seconds each), took them back and that was it. Results (negative) came in about two hours later, with the date AND TIME OF COLLECTION noted. The time was incorrect, but it was two hours later, not earlier, which would have put us outside the 72 hours. They were in .pdf format, which makes uploading a lot easier. Accepted by the state. Almost there...

 

[critterchick]

I live in San Jose, as far as i know there are not any same day tests offered at SJC.

We went to Maui in Feb and flew Hawaiian out of SJC.. We used Worksite Labs, which is the HA partner in San Jose. They promised results in time for the flight, and that worked well.

Leave for the Big Island on United out of SFO tomorrow. United offered same day tests at SFO, but our flight leaves too early for those. We went with CityHealth, they have a number of travel testing locations including SJC. Standard results are 48 hours, which is what we used. They billed our health insurance for the test, and we paid $20 per person for the Hawaii documents prep. I think the 24 hour testing is around $130 per person. We actually got our results in 24 hours even though we didn't pay for the expedited fee.

Not sure how far south you are in Monterey County, Making an extra trip to SJC for testing could work, but it obviously extra driving and time.

Otherwise, i would go with CVS and hope they come in on time. In general i have found test results to come back pretty quick these days. My wife works in healthcare, and both of us were getting tested by the county pretty regularly until we finalized our vaccinations. Even Santa Clara country has been delivering the test results in 24 hour or so for last couple of months.

Weirdly, the rapid test is the same price as the regular test, $20. I'm assuming that they will bill Medicare for the cost of the test itself.

 

[1Kflyerguy]

Weirdly, the rapid test is the same price as the regular test, $20. I'm assuming that they will bill Medicare for the cost of the test itself.

I know when I registered with City Health they had list of which Insurance companies will pay for travel tests and which ones will not.

 

[Blues]

I live in San Jose, as far as i know there are not any same day tests offered at SJC.

Thanks 1Kflyerguy. I just looked it up on the Alaska Airlines site, (the airline we're flying), and found this page:

COVID Testing for Alaska Flyers | Alaska Airlines

COVID testing is available for flyers through our testing partner, Carbon Health. A negative test result must be collected within 72 hours of departure. Learn more.

www.alaskaair.com

They have a section pointing to Carbon Health, which has a site at SJC, and they claim a 2 hour turnaround (rapid testing). I called their number at SJC, and the recording claims the same. Hmmm. It would make me really nervous to arrive at the airport (probably 3 hrs early) and not have the requirements met, but it may be my best option. I just now realized that, since we're travelling July 7, then 72 hrs before is Sunday July 4. I'm not even sure if sites like CVS will be open on that day. Hmmm. Maybe, as the time approaches, we should try to get an appt on 7/4 at CVS. If we get the appt and the results come back in time, fine. Otherwise, Carbon Health could be our backup.

Sound right?

 

[dyi27308]

Flying to Lihue from Kahului May 15. Can anyone recommend a reliable C-19 pre-travel location near the WKORV? Mahalo

 

[controller1]

Flying to Lihue from Kahului May 15. Can anyone recommend a reliable C-19 pre-travel location near the WKORV? Mahalo

Call Long's Drugs in the Cannery Mall. They are a Trusted Partner. 808-667-4390

 

[dyi27308]

Thanks, however we ended up using Clinical Labs(Trusted Partner) 845 Wainee St, next to Lahaina Foodland and they did a great job. We walked in and they took care of us, $150 per person, but what can you do.