PCR TEST in Florida

[abby1257]

OK, so my nephew and his wife went down to Florida (from Toronto)....have been there since Dec 19th....they had a PCR TEST on Dec 26th....they STILL HAVEN'T GOT THE RESULTS.....they had to cancel their flight because they have no results...Can someone explain this to me.....???????

[waiting2retire]

I suspect their lab testing facilities are overwhelmed as are ours here in Canada. My son had a PCR test on December 23 and still not received results. Since he does have cold/flu like symptoms and tested positive on a rapid test, he has isolated from the rest of his family over Christmas 😞

[Fouremco]

Unfortunately, test results over the Christmas period are slow in coming for two major reasons. First of all, a shortage of lab employees due to both holidays and sickness. More importantly, the surge in testing that has accompanied Omicron. And it's not just in Florida. One of our grandsons here in Ottawa did a self test with one of the kits from school, not because he had any symptoms but because there were plans to visit another family. It was positive, so he was taken immediately for a PCR test. That was on the 23rd, and he didn't get the PCR result back until yesterday, the 28th. So 5 days waiting for the result.

 

Unfortunately, our plans for a family Christmas dinner went out the window, but on a positive note (pun intended) he remained asymptomatic throughout.

[netpj]

29 minutes ago, abby1257 said:

OK, so my nephew and his wife went down to Florida (from Toronto)....have been there since Dec 19th....they had a PCR TEST on Dec 26th....they STILL HAVEN'T GOT THE RESULTS.....they had to cancel their flight because they have no results...Can someone explain this to me.....???????

Did they have the PCR with the 1-2 day turnaround for results or the rapid PCR with results promised (but not guaranteed) in around 2 hours?

[abby1257]

I can't be sure ....either way.....it's day 3

[abby1257]

I actually just found out that they did the "free" PCR test...instead of paying $200 each....now it makes sense...

 

[K_e_short]

You have to pay to get results in time to fly.

 

The free pcr tests there are like the ones our health unit do (or used to do since I heard only front line workers csn get tested now.)

 

Where I work the health unit was taking a week for results.

 

You didn't mention what city in Florida.

Miami Orlando and Fort Launderdale airports have pcr testing. Tampa might. Not sure.

[Middleager]

When we finished the NCL Getaway cruise Dec. 22 in Miami, we went to Walgreens for PCR tests.  We had booked them several days before, using slow internet at sea.

 

Of the two appointments we made, one had the pharmacy closed, no reason, just closed, even after we received the reminder email.  The other test was taken at 3pm.

 

On Dec. 24, by 5pm when we were at the Miami airport, the results still didn't come back.  We paid US$175/p to get rapid PCR at an airport clinic.  That results came back after 22minutes, negatives.  As we were lining up to check in for our 8:35pm flight, just before we stepped to an open counter, our Walgreen results came back around 6:30pm.   

 

At that time, Walgreen and CVS appointments were booked up for days.  Even paid PCR appointments in most places were all booked up.  it's the same as in Ontario now, labs overwhelmed with backlogs.

[xcell]

I hope they do anyway with this -- the ones I had, prior to disembarkation and the radomized one at Pearson/Toronto were not even PCR tests (the rapid antigen test went further up my nose than either of the tests I had -- so what's the point).  If you are going to do it, do it right -- probably many flase negatives running around.