COVID Tests (you experts please)

As far as I am concerned (as a microbiologist working in a UK covid testing lab) the ID-NOW is a legitimate, point of care molecular test. Your problem is obviously going to be how that is interpreted by Ukrainian border staff.

Trying hard not to decend into jargon. My understanding is that PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) is owned and licensed by a single company (Roche). PCR is a type of test called a Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAAT). All PCRs are NAATs, not all NAATs are PCR - but they all do the same thing. We use a couple of rapid NAATS in the hospital - not as rapid as the ID-NOw, but results within an hour and when we have done full verification on them, they are as accurate as the benchmark PCR tests.

There have been some concerns about low sensitivity for the ID-NOW (in as much as "how many positives does it miss?" - but Abbott have said they have corrected this.

The problem is all the detail I have read about the test gets so deep in the weeds that someone like be and Boris at the border crossing aren't going to understand it.

Simple minds like me and Boris require "The Results of your PCR Test are Negative".

Like I said I have a $200 same day, STATED PCR test as a back up.

Its just he ID NOW test is free.

I am being cheap.

I've been to Hawaii twice during COVID, and my daughter that moved there for school last August went back after Christmas. Hawaii has a list of preferred providers and all are PCR tests. The first time I went I used CVS, CVS couldn't tell me when the test would be ready and their communication was awful in that there is no one to call and no where to track the process of your test. As it was, the test result came 1 hour after I left the Honolulu airport and had been put in "quarantine". The bureaucracy to get my test acknowledged to get me sprung from quarantine was incredible. So when my daughter went back after Christmas and when I traveled in March, I used Vault (for people in the Twin Cities Metro in MN there is one at the airport). They gave frequent updates on the status of the test and we got results in about 26 hours. The test was free for those who needed a test for "medical necessary" reasons. For these testing for travel, I believe the test was about $100. For those interested. I think going forward, Hawaii is going to let folks skip the COVID test with a Vaccine card.

I was at a Walgreens picking up a prescription just this past week. At least at that location, they talked of two different tests, a PCR test and a Rapid test. I also can say over the past year, at least where I live, medical clinics/ERs were using a rapid test that was considered less accurate and a "regular" COVID test, much like what is often done for Strep tests (or at least what was done when my kids were young).

This doesn't directly answer your questions, but I thought it could be helpful.

ID NOW is a nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT), but not a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. "NAAT" is an umbrella term for tests that use a variety of processes to amplify DNA/RNA; PCR is one of those specific processes. In the world of scientific acronyms, ID NOW is a molecular point of care test (mPOCT); it uses a non-PCR process to quickly amplify nucleic acid so that a test result is available quickly at the "point of care," eliminating the need for an off-site laboratory to run the test.

If a country's standard is a true PCR test, then ID NOW technically would not qualify. If the requirement is a molecular test, ID NOW would be expected to qualify. As you know from the Netherlands thread related to this topic, the Dutch government has been so kind as to specify that a mPOCT is acceptable.

Everything I find for Ukraine states "PCR test." Boris will be technically correct if he refuses your ID NOW (mPOCT) test, so it is wise to have a true PCR test in your back pocket.

Wouldn't the answer be: "it depends"? The state or country anyone is travelling to will be setting their own rules. Like the earlier poster shared his experiences in Hawaii. In fact, each island in Hawaii has their own rules. The Big Island published a list of acceptable sites and particular tests that they would accept.

For our travel to Iceland, I am closely following their requirements, including whether my vaccination card will be acceptable. That's part of the challenge of travel in 2021.

Thank you Dave, Boris and I appreciate the answer that even we can understand.

More of curiosity now than anything else as I got my PCR test covered.

But maybe some others here will appreciate the information.

I am sort of half expecting that Turkey and Ukraine will accept a vaccine by July. But if not, no biggie.....

As James obviously didn't appreciate my reply, I'll try again.

The international "Gold Standard", rightly or wrongly, is PCR - which is probably why Ukraine is insistent on that wording.