Judgement Day
The first thing I did this morning was rollover and check my tracking number for my mail in Coronavirus test. It is already out for delivery. Perfect!
I am signed up for shipping notifications and at 10am I receive a text from UPS that the package has been delivered. This means the lab has it in their possession a little less than 24 hours from when I took the test in my living room and 17 hours from when it left my local facility. Perhaps there is hope after all.
At 145pm “LetsGetChecked” the mail-in company my airline has an agreement with for PCR tests to certain destinations, texts and emails me that my sample has been received by the lab. I am impressed until I read the remainder of the message which states that sample processing takes 24-72 hours. I do not have 72 hours! I recite what has now become my mantra for this experience – “Deep breaths and bite-sized pieces”. I still have at least a day and a half for both this and the Urgent Care local test to be processed. It is too early to be worrying.
I have a hectic workday ahead which thankfully stops me from obsessing about it. At 545pm I receive another text. “We have sent you an email which contains a link to view your results” Whoa! I check my inbox and sure enough there is an email stating that my results are in. I click through to my app and my test results are front and center – a simple line stating Negative. There is an option to view and download my lab report which I do immediately. There is also a link regarding to what my results mean and how to get assistance if I want more information. My husband is traveling with me and we have been sharing each step of the process together. I call him at his work and we both have the same notifications and results less than half an hour apart. This means the entire process, from a test I self-administered in my living room to receiving the result, took 30 hours, quite impressive considering this included transport from Ohio to California.
Now that I can relax a little, that evening I focus my attention on completing the Health Pass on the Costa Rica government page website. Knowing the criteria includes state of residence (as only certain states are currently allowed to visit Costa Rica based on positivity rates), I have my driver’s license and passport gathered as well as an electronic copy of my medical insurance policy I purchased the day before. The online form has 4 steps and requires passport info, countries visited in the past 14 days, flight details (even down to your seat number!), a copy of your state ID plus some typical identity questions. The final page requires you to upload your test results and your insurance policy information, but with all the pertinent documents at the ready, the entire process took 10 minutes. Some countries that have a similar form have an official review your application manually and I have heard it can take a day to receive an approval or denial. Not receiving a response in time ultimately equates to the same as being denied – you cannot travel. I was unsure what to expect for Costa Rica, but a QR code was generated within seconds of completion, accompanied by instructions to download, or print it to show authorities upon arrival.
And with that I am done and with an entire day to spare. Honestly, I cannot believe it.
While I had already started packing, this certainly has given me the push to complete it, and now I can concentrate on the normal preparations that come with taking a trip.
I know I began booking this just one week ago, but it is only now that I am allowing myself to get excited. An entire beautiful day to not think about Coronavirus for once and instead dream and plan on what the days ahead will hold is a gift all of its own. Now I cannot sleep for a different reason – I really am going on a dive trip. I am leaving for Costa Rica!
Addendum: The following day, I received a call from the Urgent Care clinic with my results. After a verbal confirmation, their office emailed the negative results upon our request. My local Urgent Care clinic took 51 hours to return my results. My husband received his results approximately two hours prior to that. The Urgent Care facility I used, my only option for local testing without symptoms in a 50-mile radius, keeps Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm business hours with no app option to deliver results outside of that. In this experience both worked, however had my results been returned to the Urgent Care facility a couple of hours later, due to the fact that it fell on a Friday and with no electronic reporting options available outside of their hours, I likely would not have received the results from them until well after my trip departed. My conclusion from this, is that if you are using a local in-person facility, if you have the option, be aware of the facilities hours of operations and reporting methods as well as turn-around times.
