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Covid testing Fairbanks


grammi
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I’ve been away from home so have been confused by  updates. 
 

We are flying to Fairbanks Aug 13th. 3 days prior to our Denali land tour start on Aug 16th taking my 85 year old Mother. 
 

I really don’t want to mess with the telehealth testing, has anyone used a Fairbanks brick and mortar testing source that was accepted by Holland America?
 

 

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If this is for a negative test before a land portion of your tour, unless things have changed, HAL won’t even ask you for your test results. You might want to check and see if Safeway pharmacies in Fairbanks offer testing. Also, Total Testing Solutions on-line offers testing for everyone in your party at one sitting using the free government tests. You just have to make an appointment for each person, but they do everyone at the same time. Easiest test I have ever done. 

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53 minutes ago, oaktreerb said:

Do you need a test prior to the land tour?  You may need a test prior to boarding the ship ( Canadian requirement)  but I think HAL handles that test.  Check with Holland America for latest requirements.

As of now yes we need a negative test before land tour. Thanks

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Too bad.  We are doing a cruise first land tour in mid-August.  I was hoping they wouldn’t test between the cruise and the land portion.   Three more weeks.  Enjoy your time in Alaska!  Hopefully someone from Fairbanks can provide a source for testing.

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Do you know which hotel you will staying at?  HAL has used several different hotels in the past.

 

Friends were on a HAL land tour and were booked at the Sophie Station Hotel.  If you are booked at that hotel you are in luck.  There is a Safeway (on S. University Avenue, about a five minute walk) which offers a rapid test for about $99.  Appointments can be booked online.  There is a second Safeway (on College Road) and while I suspect they also offer appointments we have used the S. University location.

 

MedPhysicals also offered tests with results ready in about an hour.  They offer several options.  We did PCR tests there in April, and, if my memory is correct, the cost was $335 per test.

 

Steese Immediate Care also offers tests with same day results.  I don't remember the cost and we haven't used them.

 

The Walgreens in Fairbanks is not an option as the tests are sent to an out of state lab and I was told it takes a minimum of 72 hours for the results.  The Tanana Valley Urgent Care is not an option either since the tests are sent to an out of state lab.  It has been several months since I called Walgreens and the TVUC so the situation may have changed.

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2 hours ago, oaktreerb said:

Too bad.  We are doing a cruise first land tour in mid-August.  I was hoping they wouldn’t test between the cruise and the land portion.   Three more weeks.  Enjoy your time in Alaska!  Hopefully someone from Fairbanks can provide a source for testing.

 

We did a cruise first land tour covering dates in late June/early July and there was no testing required before the land portion.  

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1 hour ago, Northern Aurora said:

Do you know which hotel you will staying at?  HAL has used several different hotels in the past.

 

Friends were on a HAL land tour and were booked at the Sophie Station Hotel.  If you are booked at that hotel you are in luck.  There is a Safeway (on S. University Avenue, about a five minute walk) which offers a rapid test for about $99.  Appointments can be booked online.  There is a second Safeway (on College Road) and while I suspect they also offer appointments we have used the S. University location.

 

MedPhysicals also offered tests with results ready in about an hour.  They offer several options.  We did PCR tests there in April, and, if my memory is correct, the cost was $335 per test.

 

Steese Immediate Care also offers tests with same day results.  I don't remember the cost and we haven't used them.

 

The Walgreens in Fairbanks is not an option as the tests are sent to an out of state lab and I was told it takes a minimum of 72 hours for the results.  The Tanana Valley Urgent Care is not an option either since the tests are sent to an out of state lab.  It has been several months since I called Walgreens and the TVUC so the situation may have changed.

We are staying at the Westmark but could take a cab. I’ll check the Safeway. 

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1 hour ago, grammi said:

We are staying at the Westmark but could take a cab. I’ll check the Safeway. 

 

Either the Steese Immediate Care or the S. University Avenue Safeway location will be about the same distance from the Westmark, with the College Road Safeway not being too much farther.

 

We used the S. University Avenue Safeway in June.  We made appointments on line and had our results about fifteen to twenty minutes later.  The provided paper copies but also sent the negative test results to us on our i-Phones.

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1 hour ago, grammi said:

We are staying at the Westmark but could take a cab. I’ll check the Safeway. 

 

 

 

Double check the Tanana Valley Clinic Urgent Care (1-907-458-2682) to confirm that they can't provide Covid-19 test results in the time frame you need.  The last time I checked was in June and they couldn't return the results in the time frame I needed.  Tanana Valley Clinic is directly across the street from the Westmark with the main clinic occupying the four story building and the Urgent Care in the one story building directly to the south of the main facility.

 

Both my and also my husband's primary care physicians are with the Tanana Valley Clinic, so you think I would have provided a better initial answer.  I really am trying to do too many things today!  

 

 

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59 minutes ago, Northern Aurora said:

 

 

 

Double check the Tanana Valley Clinic Urgent Care (1-907-458-2682) to confirm that they can't provide Covid-19 test results in the time frame you need.  The last time I checked was in June and they couldn't return the results in the time frame I needed.  Tanana Valley Clinic is directly across the street from the Westmark with the main clinic occupying the four story building and the Urgent Care in the one story building directly to the south of the main facility.

 

Both my and also my husband's primary care physicians are with the Tanana Valley Clinic, so you think I would have provided a better initial answer.  I really am trying to do too many things today!  

 

 

Thanks so much!

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5 hours ago, Tiggerontheseas said:

 

We did a cruise first land tour covering dates in late June/early July and there was no testing required before the land portion.  

The requirement was added about June 18th on HAL. 

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1 hour ago, grammi said:

The requirement was added about June 18th on HAL. 

 

Oaktreeb was talking about a cruise first land tour.  I know on Princess that they only require a test for the land portion if it’s before the cruise and I think HAL is the same.  If the land is second there is no testing requirement.  I'm not sure about any other lines. 😀

 

 

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On 7/24/2022 at 6:46 PM, Northern Aurora said:

 

 

 

Double check the Tanana Valley Clinic Urgent Care (1-907-458-2682) to confirm that they can't provide Covid-19 test results in the time frame you need.  The last time I checked was in June and they couldn't return the results in the time frame I needed.  Tanana Valley Clinic is directly across the street from the Westmark with the main clinic occupying the four story building and the Urgent Care in the one story building directly to the south of the main facility.

 

Both my and also my husband's primary care physicians are with the Tanana Valley Clinic, so you think I would have provided a better initial answer.  I really am trying to do too many things today!  

 

 

Just an FYI, the Tanana clinic wants to charge for an office charge of $338 to do a Covid test. 

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19 hours ago, grammi said:

Just an FYI, the Tanana clinic wants to charge for an office charge of $338 to do a Covid test. 

 

Wow!  We are established TVC patients so I wonder if they would have charged that much for us.  In any event, for the type of test we needed for overseas travel  they couldn't meet the time requirements.

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1 minute ago, abouna said:

We just used Walgreens in Fairbanks for our pre cruise tests. Made appointments on line about four days ahead and did it. Was easy. It’s a drive through. 

I’m looking at that. There hours and days seem limited but they are on my list.  Are they far away from the Westmark?

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I find it interesting that @abouna was able to use Walgreens for their  pre-cruise tests.  When I contacted them they were sending their tests to a lab in Tennessee and had a 72 hour turnaround time.  It appears the situation has changed.

 

The only Fairbanks Walgreens and the University Avenue Safeway are about the same distance from the Westmark.

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9 hours ago, Northern Aurora said:

I find it interesting that @abouna was able to use Walgreens for their  pre-cruise tests.  When I contacted them they were sending their tests to a lab in Tennessee and had a 72 hour turnaround time.  It appears the situation has changed.

 

The only Fairbanks Walgreens and the University Avenue Safeway are about the same distance from the Westmark.

I called yesterday. They have 3 different tests they do. One of the goes out. The other 2 results come back in 2-24 hours. But they only schedule the tests like 2 days a week. 

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7 hours ago, grammi said:

I called yesterday. They have 3 different tests they do. One of the goes out. The other 2 results come back in 2-24 hours. But they only schedule the tests like 2 days a week. 

 

As with most situations related to Covid-19 the changes are constant.  When I talked to the Walgreens it was in June 2021.  

 

The University Avenue Safeway is looking better all the time.  We had booked an appointment online, and waited about 15 to 20 minutes to receive our results.  The results were ready faster than the amount of time than the pharmacy tech told us to expect  There is a Starbucks in the Safeway so we were enjoying a cup of tea when we received an e-mail on our phones that the results were ready.  The results were both e-mailed to our i-Phones and we were given paper copies too.

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On 7/31/2022 at 9:38 AM, grammi said:

I called yesterday. They have 3 different tests they do. One of the goes out. The other 2 results come back in 2-24 hours. But they only schedule the tests like 2 days a week. 

We scheduled the Rapid test about four days ahead, they seem to open the schedule about four days out. had the results within an hour of taking them. Only issue was they can only do two tests at a time as the machine holds two samples so we had to wait about 30 minutes and then do the other two.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 7/30/2022 at 9:45 PM, Northern Aurora said:

...The only Fairbanks Walgreens and the University Avenue Safeway are about the same distance from the Westmark.

I see a Safeway on College Road or one on Airport Way. Do you mean College Road rather than University Avenue?

 

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