This morning (Sat 10/10), there was a story about the availability of tests for COVID at Tampa Airport ($100) and SF Airport ($250). If you take the test, and you are cleared, that should enable you to arrive and NOT quarantine.
This might be the approach that opens up travel again.
How much would you pay?
So far my tests have been free, state dept of health, Would they suffice?
Its the timing that's the issue. Here, local health department testing is still taking up to two weeks to get results. Yes, I would pay for a fast airport test as long as their accuracy was good. How much? One hundred is OK; $250 is too much. I think the bigger issue is what happens if its positive, regarding ticket refunds, cancellations etc.
SFOs offer is for 15 minute rapid testing. Some countries specifically require a test by PCR method. That is not the rapid test. So depending where uou want to go, that would be a wasted $250.
After our tickets to return to France were purchased, the French government mandated a 72-hour PCR test for overseas citizens returning. I found one lab that could guarantee the results within the 72-hour limit. We paid $250 per person including the overnight priority FedEx. The lab was five states away. It was just part of the travel expense.
The lab had a 24-hour option for $500. But if you found out about the required test once you arrived at the airport, would you pay the $500 to be able to board the next day? Or, would you opt for the $250 option or the $125 option but have to pay for hotel and meals while you wait two days or three days for the test results? These are all options to consider. People were denied boarding for not having the test and results.
The airport tests sound like quick antigen tests that aren’t as reliable as PCR. France won’t accept them. Which countries will?
I feel blessed to live in a community where two hospital systems have PCR tests with turnaround times of 24-30 hours. One offers it for free (results occasionally drift beyond next day results to 2-days results); one offers it for $75 (results always back the next day).
Interesting it s fast in some locations, slow in others. Wonder why??
I got a PCR test a few weeks ago upon my return from Albania, just for courtesy and peace of mind Got swabbed at 11 am more or less, got the result via email about 10 hours later. $159. Knowing I can do this opens up the most of the Caribbean and most countries in Europe that are outside the EU.
The federal COVID rules state your health insurance company must cover COVID testing costs. Submit the receipts to your insurance companies. It should cost you zero.
I hope I would not have to pay!! or any of the rest of you anywhere else.
As far as I know, they are free here in W. Canada.
They are given at local Health Unit facilities.
Not sure about the rest of Canada...any other Canadians know?
My husband and a few friends did not have to pay, and results were back in 24 hours.
Negative results, thank goodness.
A negative test, if accurate, only means you tested negative that day. So, not having a quarantine requirement as well doesn’t make sense to me.
SJ, Ottawa has hit phase 2 and scaling back allowed activity. For a variety of reasons, though average turn around is 48 hours, it may be 72 or longer. I don't know of any place one can pay for expedited or guaranteed timely results....yet.
And we had our results back, by phone In 48 hours, followed up with a letter.
Diane said it correctly. I do not have to pay to get tested as I have Medicare via Kaiser-Permanente
Passport Health has locations in Canada, and I believe they will do a quick turnaround PCR test for a cost.
The test is covered with a MD Rx. Doctors don't generally prescribe for travel testing in workaholic USA, at least not in Indiana.
The federal COVID rules state your health insurance company must cover
COVID testing costs.
Only with referral from a doctor and if "medically necessary". Discretionary travel doesn't fit under that framework. I have Kaiser insurance too (like some posters here), and can't just get a test on demand without a doc/ provider referral (I'd need a reason like showing symptoms, etc).
I wouldn't pay anything for a COVID test because I can easily hold off traveling for the foreseeable future, unless there's a family emergency. If someone is going to get one of those airport tests, I hope they know exactly what they're buying and how it fits in with the requirements of the country they're going to.
Sun 12.45 PM The great south land may provide the answer to your concerns
Ellume Health, a company in Brisbane had been developing diagnostic devices to detect TB and Influenza. I have been following developments and along with a couple of mates have been eargerly anticipating a listing on the ASX. The company moved quickly to apply their technology to COVID. Apparently has establish distribution company in California and I have seen a shell company registered in Delaware.
The following appeared in our national newspaper The Australian on 8th October. Slightly abbreviated. I presume it is behind a pay wall and have been unable to find it in WSJ.
“A Brisbane medical technology company says it has found the key to returning the world back to some kind of normality and has received $US30m ($42.1m) from the US government to roll it off production lines. Ellume has developed three COVID-19 tests that can be completed in less than 15 minutes and be deployed at airports, stadiums, and offices, in an effort to end mass lockdowns and contain the virus.
Chief executive and founder Sean Parsons said the tests should be available for use in the US within weeks. But Australians will have to wait much longer. “We have been having discussions with the Queensland state government, which have largely fallen on deaf ears,” Dr Parsons said. “The Australian government also knows we are here and what we are doing, but again there hasn’t been anywhere near the same kind of engagement as the US.
“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t frustrating. That said, Australia’s need for testing is a bit different from America’s. America has a much higher caseload of COVID cases, and lockdown of America to bring the caseload down to almost zero like we have done in Australia is not a viable option. Nevertheless, we have unique technology that has been hard fought over a decade and it is a little bit disappointing the Australian government hasn’t been interested and understood the value that could bring to COVID.”
Ellume received the US funding to accelerate the clinical testing and manufacturing scale-up of its COVID-19 antigen tests. It has developed three tests: at-home; point-of-care for medical professionals; and another for high-throughput settings, which can complete eight tests at once and is ideal for use at airports, stadiums, offices and other places with crowds. The at-home test uses an analyser connected to a smartphone via Bluetooth which digitally analyses a self-collected sample from the user’s nasal passage. Results are transmitted through a secure cloud connection, generating a digital certificate of the results.”
Ellume’s new manufacturing facility in Richlands, Brisbane, will be producing tests in coming weeks, and Dr Parsons said he expected all three products to be available in the US in time for Thanksgiving in late November.”
We have had our federal budget handed down and passed down and received royal assent. The company’s presser was to gently remind our polies what products they had.
Other web sources that may be useful:
Caused a minor stir among right leaning conservatives here as it was thought jobs and intellectual property were going offshore.
US is a far bigger and more lucrative market than the great south land and nearby shaky isles. If the flying kangaroo website and other indicators are to be followed, we are unlikely to open to world travellers before January 2022. No large-scale use for this technology here until then. Tourism is a rather large net loss to our balance of trade, which has been experiencing increasing surpluses over the past 2 years. May and June were record amounts.
On cost. I make no criticism about amounts people paid. I expect as this is likely to be a national health matter the cost will be taken up by our federal government, in the same way influenza test and vaccines are handled at present.
Note, is not a vaccine. But does use state of the art digital technology and has yet to pass all tests before approval.
Hope this has been of some enlightenment. Just imagine, had the company listed on the ASX, I could probably have made a bucket load. Crying over spilt milk? Far more important things in life.
Stay safe. Guard your personal health and those around you. Tell someone that you love them.
Regards Ron
Where I am you cannot get a test without a doctor's referral. The doctors can only order tests for people who have symptoms or have been exposed to someone with the virus.
Even if you are willing to pay for it. No go.
However, this article is interesting:
$150-$250 may very well be entirely reasonable, depending on circumstances.
I've already paid $150 in the past for a COVID test, and would gladly pay a similar amount it it was necessary to be able to travel in the future. Indeed, I'd not be surprised if certain places still required it a year or so from now even after vaccines are available, given how long it might take to really get vaccines to as many people as possible and how many folks in the US and elsewhere might choose to not get vaccinated. So there's no real telling for how long certain places that require tests to visit now (or will soon) may still be requiring them well in to the future.
From the few places I've looked at that require them, such as Hawaii and Costa Rica, they tend to have a good amount of information available on what tests are accepted (PCR, certifications the lab conducting the test must have, time frame, etc) so that certainly would help ensure whatever test one gets complies.
Of course, there'd be a whole host of other considerations that just might be part of traveling in the future - what if labs are closed or results delayed over a weekend? How risky might booking a Monday or Tuesday flight be, if there are delays in getting your results in time? Testing too early means the test won't be valid, too late means you might not get results back in time. And what if a result is positive or inconclusive? Only book refundable? Insurance? New airline policies that take that in to consideration?
1885BD those were exactly the hurdles we had to jump to get on our plane.
1-only a PCR, 2-the test and the results had to be done within a 72-hour timeframe before boarding, 3-the lab had to be able to guarantee the timeframe.
Air France was allowing people to change their flights for free;if necessary.
Ron's news from NZ is interesting if the test has a high accuracy level. Until now, antigen tests are less reliable than PCR.
Any effort that is directed towards working towards normalcy and bringing back income to our friends and families is greatly appreciated and encouraged.
For me, how much I would be willing to pay would be directly related to why I was traveling.
For leisure travel: not much, as it’s not necessary.
If I needed to get home and see my folks in an emergency: probably just about any amount that would allow me to get on the plane.
In Frankfurt, the majority of the testing is being done at the airport. Choose between 59€ and 139€. The cheap one you wait 12 hours or more, and the expensive one just a few hours. Hotels in Germany are now requiring a test if you are coming from a red zone. Frankfurt is a red zone, so even travel with-in Germany is becoming more difficult.
Following from a Sydney newspaper published this morning.
Washington: Australian diagnostics company Ellume has won approval from US
regulators to sell the first rapid at-home COVID-19 tests that don't require a
prescription.
The Brisbane-based company was granted an emergency use authorisation on
Wednesday (AEDT) by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to sell its overthe-counter tests.
Stephen Hahn, the head of the FDA, hailed the authorisation as "a major
milestone in diagnostic testing for COVID-19".
Alongside vaccinations, health experts believe rapid at-home testing will provide
a crucial tool to bring the pandemic under control.
"By authorising a test for over-the-counter use, the FDA allows it to be sold in
places like drug stores, where a patient can buy it, swab their nose, run the test
and find out their results in as little as 20 minutes," Hahn said in a statement.
Lamar Alexander, the chair of the Senate health committee, said: "This is a
genuine breakthrough in COVID-19 testing."
The US is currently testing around 2 million people a day, but health experts say
that figure should be far higher. It can still take several days in many parts of the
US to receive a test result.
Studies showed the Ellume test correctly identified 96 per cent of positive samples
and 100 per cent of negative samples in individuals with COVID-19 symptoms.
For those without symptoms, the test correctly identified 91 per cent of positive
samples and 96 per cent of negative samples.
Ellume has said it plans to ship over 100,000 tests per day from January, and to
deliver 20 million COVID-19 tests to the US within the first half of 2021.
The new at-home COVID-19 test will make it easier for Americans to discover whether they
have the coronavirus.
The tests can be used by anyone over two years old and deliver results via
smartphone.
The company received US$30 million ($40 million) in funding from the US
government to develop the tests.
Sean Parsons, Ellume's founder and chief executive, said: "We've been furiously
working for months to create the at-home test so it's very pleasing to see all of the
hard work pay off."
He said the company's main focus was on the US rather than countries such as
Australia where the virus is much more under control.
"Our technology is best suited to places where the coronavirus numbers are
making it hard for the healthcare system to keep up," he said.
"When we're supplying as much as America can use we will look at other countries
but right now it's all about the US."
Parsons founded Ellume in 2010 after working on the swine flu pandemic, and
went on to create the first at-home test for influenza.
The company has around 200 employees, most of them in Australia.
End.
A far more comprehensive article appears on the FDA website.
Regards Ron
I've had two tests free from our local health department. The last result took two days so $100 is insane.
I’m lucky that my local health department does free tests with short turnaround. I took one just before a trip to Mexico and got the results in 13 hours. Took another one about eight days after I got back from Mexico and that one did take about 30 hours
For a trip, actually I would kind of view this like a visa cost. And I would probably pay what it cost. When you think about the overall price of the trip to Europe a of couple hundred bucks for a test is probably not a huge dealbreaker
I just paid $185 each for a drive through facility in Northern Virginia that would administer tests without symptoms or a yes answer to one of their reasons to be tested. Test results were same day. We had been in San Diego and got tested before spending Christmas with family members who are much more likely to be at risk from COVID than we are.
Since we didn't feel at all ill, we weren't surprised the tests were negative,
My tests have also been $185 a pop. Could get them for free but would have to lie. The pay places in my city all sit empty so its fast and convenient.
Wow, I can't believe how awful the situation is in so many places. Here, it really is "anyone who wants a test, gets a test." Last month I was getting weekly SMS from the mayor listing the drive-through testing sites and hours in my town (a suburb of Tel Aviv). They are free through all the HMO's and everyone has to belong to an HMO.
However, air travel is different. If the country you're going to requires a negative test, you have to get it within 72 hours of boarding a flight. You have to get the test at one of the medical centers throughout the country. It's about $90 "regular" (results within 24 hours) or $150 "expedited" (8 hrs).
We expect to have most of the country's 9M people vaccinated by the end of March (2M by the end of January). Two weeks after the final shot, you get a "green passport." The expectation is that you won't need to be tested once you have the "passport." (Vaccinations are free here, and they've started them, mine first shot is tomorrow)
Chani, there is no issue getting tests here. The pay sites, like the ones I go to pretty much sit empty; but have faster results. The free sites you can get into the same day. Results take a bit longer. No shortage of tests, there does appear to be a shortage of able, feeling good, people taking the tests.
Chani, that is absolutely fantastic that you get your first vaccination tomorrow ! Congratulations.
