Testing for Travel from the U.S.

I have been googling, reading, and saving information about locations performing testing for purposes of travel. A word of warning to those who are just getting into this as they plan to travel - these locations are appearing and disappearing frequently. As our trip to the USVI grows closer, I went back to a number of the practices that I had bookmarked over the last 60 days or so and found that several were not performing testing for the general public any longer. The positive news (for us) is that an urgent care practice near us just began testing this week and the CVS pharmacies near us are now testing. CVS takes appointments for three days (today, tomorrow, day-after-tomorrow) for fixed time slots that appear to be 10 minutes apart, cost $139 if out-of-pocket. CVS is doing a nasal swab PCR and reports a 2 to 4 day turn-around.

Before relying on CVS to get your results inside of 4 days I suggest you talk to them and make sure they can actually do this. I had a PCR test with them several weeks ago and the stated turn around time was - as you note - 2 to 4 days. Six days later I got the results. I'm heading down to STT tomorrow. I used a local lab that is actually doing the test processing for the other collection sites. Got the results in 24 hours. So ask around who might be set up to do testing that understands that you are getting the test for travel purposes and absolutely need the results inside the promised time frame.

Thanks for that heads up. I have a backup plan if necessary but, based on this, I will make the inquiries.

Rapid Test (antigen) is acceptable to USVI - that's what we used. Our local urgent care (MedFast) did it for free with results in about 15 minutes.

I had the PCR test performed at my local CVS Pharmacy drive-up window yesterday (Saturday) afternoon. The lab handling the processing is LabCorp. 25 hours later (Sunday afternoon) I received a text message that my results were ready. The test was negative.

Cost was $139. It required an advance reservation which I made on Thursday for the Saturday sample collection. Their system only allows you to schedule the current day, the next day (tomorrow), and the day-after-tomorrow.

My wife had her PCR test done at CVS as the same time (on Saturday) as mine. We just received notification that her results were ready (it is Monday). So one test was 25-hour turn-around and the other was 49-hour turn-around. She was also negative.

I live just outside Boston and there are several free testing sites that promise results within 24 to 48 hours. We are traveling to St. Thomas on Saturday so yesterday was the first day we could get a test to be within the time frame. We went to a testing site down the road from our house that was open from 2-7 but when we got there at 5 we were told the line was shut off, too many people! So we headed to a different site 2 towns over. There was also a rather long line and we got in. Lucky we got there when we did because they closed the line 30 minutes later. It took us 2 hours but we got the tests and expect results either today or tomorrow. Our back up plan was the rapid test from AFC Urgent Care, but hopefully our results are quick and we do not have to worry about it.

jpfitzy7 ...PM sent

I just completed the portal and uploaded my results and got a confirmation code. Do I bring that code with me? Do they send any other kinds of approval and if so how long does it take until they process and send out?

Thanks

jpfitzy7: We received e-mails the next day (after completing the forms and uploading our tests). The e-mail stated that our tests had been reviewed and entry was approved. If you have not received that e-mail, there is a separate link on the web page that brings up a two-page form - you can fill out the first page, print it, and sign it - then bring that along with your tests.

Awesome, thanks. I'll see what we get tomorrow.

Ditto on advice of ecm56. Did the same from Maryland two weeks ago with no issues.