Thought I'd share a recent experience with EHAS for anyone headed down to SXM in the near future.

My wife and I are headed down to SXM tomorrow (Friday). I scheduled rapid antigen tests from a private lab for us for Wednesday, but to be safe, we also got what I thought were rt-PCR tests offered free by the county on Tuesday. I've never had a COVID test, so I didn't know what to look for or what to expect.

We got the county results back quickly, but it turns out they were PCR, not rt-PCR, so no bueno for SXM travel according to the EHAS website. We then scheduled rt-PCR tests at a local urgent care that day. Confirmed that they were rt-PCR, and were processed by LabCorp. All tests came back negative - yay! Wife and I both submitted EHAS forms with the antigen test results. Within two hours, I received pre-authorization - yay! My wife, who submitted the exact same test documentation for the same test from the same facility, was declined! The reason given was that the antigen test was "not FDA approved". My wife was NOT happy, but I assured her that I would still have a great time That didn't seem to make her any happier, however.

Fortunately, we had the rt-PCR results from LabCorp in hand. Re-submitted her form with those results, and within an hour her pre-authorization came through.

Based on our experience, I would suggest having a couple of results ready to submit in case something unexpected like this happens. We had to pay a co-pay to get the rt-PCR done at the urgent care facility, but it turns out to have been money well spent, as it would really have messed up our plans if we hadn't.