COVID Test

[brisalta]

9 hours ago, AF-1 said:

I used Walgreens and took the ID Now test.  Had results back in 20 min.  The company that Princess uses is not in the State of Ohio.  I will be using Walgreens again for my Oct cruise.  The main thing is there has to be a pharmacy staff member watch you as you swab your nostrils;  then you put swab into bag; seal the bag and hand it back

 

The tests are no cost as it is a part of the Federal effort to get the pandemic under control.

[brisalta]

On 8/24/2021 at 11:39 AM, Musky Ike said:

All three meet the Princess requirements.  Same here the ID NOW is the only option. I gave the pharmacist the Princess guidelines and he said it would be fine as it is a NAAT test. The Diagnostics Lab test would take longer to get the results back. Then there is the question of availability, Walgreens has had some shortages. 

 

 

For those interesting in knowing what a NAAT test is see:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/lab/naats.html

 

[JF - retired RRT]

10 minutes ago, brisalta said:

 

I hope you do know the difference between a hospital clinic, a hospital emergency room and a hospital inpatient service.

You betcha. And I'm guessing they're all extremely busy in Florida right now with Covid raging everywhere in the state.

[brisalta]

Just now, JF - retired RRT said:

You betcha. And I'm guessing they're all extremely busy in Florida right now with Covid raging everywhere in the state.

 

When it is raging then testing should be done for tracing purposes.

The question I have is pool NAAT testing viable in such a situation to cut down on the actual number of test runs performed.

 

In the San Francisco area, with the low case rate, pool NAAT testing is viable. That is the samples are pooled and then the test is run on a sample from the pool. If no SARS-CoV-2 RNA is detected then the results are negative and no further tests are needed on the individuals in the pool. If the pool test is positive then the individuals in the pool are called back and the tests are run individually to isolate the infected subjects. That takes more time.

When I had my NAAT test it was pooled and the preliminary results were back in a couple of hours and 24 hours later the test run was completed with the results confirmed as negative for the virus.

[MishelleMcc]

A lot of great information here!  Thank you everyone!!

[srpilo]

                                                              Bad News 

As of today, 8/28/2021 the CDC says tests must now be preformed within 2 days of embarkation not the previous 3 days !

 

             *********  This should really throw wrench into the cruise lines plans !!! ***********

[Kay S]

6 minutes ago, srpilo said:

                                                              Bad News 

As of today, 8/28/2021 the CDC says tests must now be preformed within 2 days of embarkation not the previous 3 days !

 

             *********  This should really throw wrench into the cruise lines plans !!! ***********

As of the few minutes ago I looked at the Princess FAQ, it still said 3 days.

[MishelleMcc]

6 minutes ago, srpilo said:

                                                              Bad News 

As of today, 8/28/2021 the CDC says tests must now be preformed within 2 days of embarkation not the previous 3 days !

 

             *********  This should really throw wrench into the cruise lines plans !!! ***********

Well Holy Heck-o-la! 

[MamaFej]

5 hours ago, brisalta said:

 

The tests are paid for by the Federal government as part of the pandemic control effort.

Quest Diagnostics in my experience has been blah. I wonder if Princess is getting a finders fee for referring people to Quest?

We've owned a few shares of Quest dignostics stock for a looooong, time (mid to late 90s, maybe?). 

I'm very dissapointed that your experience with them has been blah. Of course, my minisulce holding isn't enough to have any influence, whatsoever, but I wish I could call someone and tell them to get it together. 

[caribill]

8 hours ago, brisalta said:

 

The tests are paid for by the Federal government as part of the pandemic control effort.

Quest Diagnostics in my experience has been blah. I wonder if Princess is getting a finders fee for referring people to Quest?

 

On other threads people are posting that when they call Quest, Quest reps have not heard anything about the Princess arrangement.

[Jadn13]

10 hours ago, srpilo said:

                                                              Bad News 

As of today, 8/28/2021 the CDC says tests must now be preformed within 2 days of embarkation not the previous 3 days !

 

             *********  This should really throw wrench into the cruise lines plans !!! ***********

Princess is still using 3 days, everyone should stickvwith that guidance until instructed differently.

i would have both dates scheduled for testing just  in case or purchase a home tele health test to take either date. 

[gmjc2]

Our experience with Walgreens rapid test was good. You sit in your car at the drive-thru. They watch you take the test and you return the swab. Sometime that same day you receive the results in an e.mail. You just print it and take it with you. It has all the important official details right on it. 

 

We used them in January, April and again in June. The PCR test my husband and I took was more problematic as it took 48 hours for the results to arrive.

[brisalta]

16 hours ago, gmjc2 said:

Our experience with Walgreens rapid test was good. You sit in your car at the drive-thru. They watch you take the test and you return the swab. Sometime that same day you receive the results in an e.mail. You just print it and take it with you. It has all the important official details right on it. 

 

We used them in January, April and again in June. The PCR test my husband and I took was more problematic as it took 48 hours for the results to arrive.

 

Where did your husband have the PCR test performed?

 

[cr8tiv1]

3 minutes ago, brisalta said:

 

Where did your husband have the PCR test performed?

 

 

Almost all drive through Walgreens have PCR tests.  The biggest obstacle is getting the results back in time to board the ship.  More anxiety if you have to test over a weekend.  If you are staying at a hotel, most will have a printer.  Princess says they will let you show it from your smart device.  In my opinion, it is not worth the stress to take a PCR test that is sent out to a lab.  Best to get a rapid test that you will get back in a few hours.

 

Cautionary tale: 

* I have many taken PCR tests to travel to Hawaii.  I've made all of my flights with a few hours to spare.

* I made my brother go to an airport (paid/80 miles away) to take a rapid test for Hawaii.  Even with that, it took longer than expected.  Several phone calls later (now 4 hours past), they resent the results since the first document was not valid for travel to Hawaii.

 

Will update with my findings from a CVS rapid antigen test that I will be taking in the near future.

[brisalta]

Just now, cr8tiv1 said:

 

Almost all drive through Walgreens have PCR tests.  The biggest obstacle is getting the results back in time to board the ship.  More anxiety if you have to test over a weekend.  If you are staying at a hotel, most will have a printer.  Princess says they will let you show it from your smart device.  In my opinion, it is not worth the stress to take a PCR test that is sent out to a lab.  Best to get a rapid test that you will get back in a few hours.

 

Cautionary tale: 

* I have many taken PCR tests to travel to Hawaii.  I've made all of my flights with a few hours to spare.

* I made my brother go to an airport (paid/80 miles away) to take a rapid test for Hawaii.  Even with that, it took longer than expected.  Several phone calls later (now 4 hours past), they resent the results since the first document was not valid for travel to Hawaii.

 

Will update with my findings from a CVS rapid antigen test that I will be taking in the near future.

 

I doubt that Walgreens has PCR test equipment on premises at each store and thus has to send it out to some other facility/vendor.

I go to a hospital clinic for PCR tests as they have the equipment on premises and the turn round time is fast.

[cr8tiv1]

Just now, brisalta said:

 

I doubt that Walgreens has PCR test equipment on premises at each store and thus has to send it out to some other facility/vendor.

I go to a hospital clinic for PCR tests as they have the equipment on premises and the turn round time is fast.

 

You are correct.  Walgreens sends all of their tests out.  PCR tests used to be sent to a local Labcorp.  I was told by my pharmacist that local Labcorp may be used now for the rapid tests and the rest are overnighted to a lab in Tennessee.  Most PCR tests are picked up in the late afternoon.  (So much for extra time if you test early in the day.)

 

Way back when, I posted my nightmare experience with testing on the weekend.  Won't go into details here.  But I've had "LOTS" of experience with testing for travel.  It is a nightmare since Hawaii only accepted tests from valid Travel Partners.  So it wasn't as though you could go to any lab to get your test.  

[Roger88]

13 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

Almost all drive through Walgreens have PCR tests.  The biggest obstacle is getting the results back in time to board the ship.  More anxiety if you have to test over a weekend.  If you are staying at a hotel, most will have a printer.  Princess says they will let you show it from your smart device.  In my opinion, it is not worth the stress to take a PCR test that is sent out to a lab.  Best to get a rapid test that you will get back in a few hours.

 

Cautionary tale: 

* I have many taken PCR tests to travel to Hawaii.  I've made all of my flights with a few hours to spare.

* I made my brother go to an airport (paid/80 miles away) to take a rapid test for Hawaii.  Even with that, it took longer than expected.  Several phone calls later (now 4 hours past), they resent the results since the first document was not valid for travel to Hawaii.

 

Will update with my findings from a CVS rapid antigen test that I will be taking in the near future.

There is nothing terrible about PCR test in general. I mean the whole procedure may not be enjoyable but it lasts only for a few seconds really. Its very uncomfortable when you have to do a few tests in a row say in an hour

[brisalta]

1 minute ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Way back when, I posted my nightmare experience with testing on the weekend.  Won't go into details here.  But I've had "LOTS" of experience with testing for travel.  It is a nightmare since Hawaii only accepted tests from valid Travel Partners.  So it wasn't as though you could go to any lab to get your test.  

 

What in the world is "Travel Partners" ? Is that some specific organization or a list of approved test providers?

[cr8tiv1]

2 minutes ago, brisalta said:

 

What in the world is "Travel Partners" ? Is that some specific organization or a list of approved test providers?

 

Hawaii set up designated testing facilities like Walgreens, CVS, Carbon Health.  None will guarantee turn around in 72 hours (unless it is a rapid test).  These facilities are hand picked by Hawaii across the nation.  https://hawaiicovid19.com/travel-partners/. It's a good list to have if you are looking to pay for your test.  Hawaii is finally accepting vaccination verification (CDC cards) so the only ones having to test are the unvaccinated.  Then....then...then..."you can say" you will quarantine for 10 days and avoid showing your CDC card or test results.  And then this topic could start a whole new thread.  

[gmjc2]

My husband took the PCR at Walgreens. We had to sweat it because of time constraints both for the air to St Maarten and the ship. It got complicated because the air needed a print out of a form proving the test result that could not be more than 72 hrs but the form had to be submitted 24 hrs before the flight. So the result needed to be in after only 24 hrs. The ship wanted a result that was timed for the arrival at the pier not when taking off from the home airport. It was a nightmare! The test report had not shown up by 8 hrs before the St. Maarten form deadline so he went back to Walgreens and took the rapid test. Even that took a few hrs more than usual. They must have had a rush that day.

Then to make matters worse my approval for the St. Maarten form did not come till 30 mins before we left for the airport!!! I was up all night watching the computer screen for it to come in!  

Then to end the saga of anguish, I left the folder with all our record print outs in the airport when we changed planes! When we got to the ship we had no record of our tests! Thank goodnes they just administered a rapid test on the pier. I guess they knew that as it was the first cruise in 20 months people would have issues with all the new protocols.

  

[Westsail32]

I was looking at the Princess website for acceptable tests and the CVS website.  The CVS site offers the PCR/NAAT test which is accepted but the other is the "Rapid-Result Test".  It doesn't say "antigen".  Is this the same thing?

 

PRINCESS SITE:

Guests must be tested with a SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) viral test that could be either an antigen test or a nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT).

• Antigen tests include:
  • Rapid antigen test
  • Viral antigen test
  • Antigen Chromatographic Digital Immunoassay,
  • Antigen Chemiluminescence Immunoassay, or
  • Antigen Lateral Flow Fluorescence
• NAAT include:
  • PCR - Polymerase chain reaction
  • RT-PCR – reverse transcription real time PCR
  • Quantitative PCR (qPCR)
  • Reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) test
  • Transcription-mediated amplification (TMA) test
  • Molecular test or molecular diagnostic test
  • Isothermal amplification
  • Droplet Digital PCR or digital droplet PCR (ddPCR)
  • Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)

[pris993]

On 8/28/2021 at 11:08 PM, caribill said:

 

On other threads people are posting that when they call Quest, Quest reps have not heard anything about the Princess arrangement.

I saw a link to Quest labs, with a map, where you load  your zip code and then they identify which Quest Labs are doing the test.  Not sure where I saw the link, maybe on Princess web site or I goggled Princess and Quest Covid test to find it.  Did a couple of days ago.  Not all Quest Labs are doing Covid test.  I went into my local Walgreens today, asked if they are doing the rapid test, answer was no - not at that site.  So we need to do research in advance. 

[caribill]

8 minutes ago, pris993 said:

I saw a link to Quest labs, with a map, where you load  your zip code and then they identify which Quest Labs are doing the test.  Not sure where I saw the link. 

 

https://patient.questdiagnostics.com/no-cost-covid-test?utm_campaign=2021-8-CIIP-Consumers&utm_medium=Referral-Non-Paid&utm_source=carnival

 

Click on "view locations"

[gmjc2]

16 hours ago, Westsail32 said:

I was looking at the Princess website for acceptable tests and the CVS website.  The CVS site offers the PCR/NAAT test which is accepted but the other is the "Rapid-Result Test".  It doesn't say "antigen".  Is this the same thing?

 

PRINCESS SITE:

Guests must be tested with a SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) viral test that could be either an antigen test or a nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT).

• Antigen tests include:
  • Rapid antigen test
  • Viral antigen test
  • Antigen Chromatographic Digital Immunoassay,
  • Antigen Chemiluminescence Immunoassay, or
  • Antigen Lateral Flow Fluorescence
• NAAT include:
  • PCR - Polymerase chain reaction
  • RT-PCR – reverse transcription real time PCR
  • Quantitative PCR (qPCR)
  • Reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) test
  • Transcription-mediated amplification (TMA) test
  • Molecular test or molecular diagnostic test
  • Isothermal amplification
  • Droplet Digital PCR or digital droplet PCR (ddPCR)
  • Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)

Wow!! I am more confused than ever!   LOL!

[Musky Ike]

43 minutes ago, gmjc2 said:

Wow!! I am more confused than ever!   LOL!

Don't know about CVS but Walgreens Rapid Diagnostic is a NAAT so fine with Princess. You can show the Pharmacist the Princess requirements and they will tell you if it will meet them. I did, as that jargon was over my head.