What is meant by "telehealth service affiliated with the manufacturer of the test "?

[Losnab]

On 7/28/2022 at 2:32 PM, QueenofEverything said:

We recently used OnPoint testing before a Disney cruise.  We used the government tests and had no problems using the results provided by OnPoint.  I am confused by Holland America's statement that the telehealth service must be affiliated with the manufacturer of the test.  Anyone have insight into this?  Is this really enforced?

I am confused.  We will be sailing to Alaska from Vancouver.  After seeing this post I rechecked my documentation on the HA website which read as follows:  

 

CRUISE ONLY TESTING REQUIREMENTS
Guests who are up to date with their vaccines or fully vaccinated may take their COVID-19 PCR test within 72 hours prior to sailing or a medically observed antigen test within 2 days before sailing.

[BuckGood]

So our cruise leaves on Wednesday, so is doing our test on Monday 2 days before cruise valid?

[sofietucker]

26 minutes ago, BuckGood said:

So our cruise leaves on Wednesday, so is doing our test on Monday 2 days before cruise valid?

Sure, because WITHIN 72 hours (PCR) or WITHIN 48 hours (antigen). Just make sure that the PCR is the rapid one, or you may have to wait 3 days for the results (as in the bad old days of 2021). HAL will also do the tests for you right on the pier immediately before boarding, if you want to pay $70 and wait 20 minutes for the results.  Or slip down to your local CVS and have them do it (and verify it) on the spot, in person--for FREE.

We used our govt-issued BinaxNow self tests (non-tele) as pre-verification, to avoid a surprise before we got our Spanish airport tests to return to the US in April (no longer required). A good use for the non-monitored tests; 3 of our companions had to quarantine in Spain.

Edited July 30, 2022 by sofietucker

[QueenofEverything]

1 hour ago, BuckGood said:

So our cruise leaves on Wednesday, so is doing our test on Monday 2 days before cruise valid?

Yes!

[QueenofEverything]

Thanks everyone for your responses.  Looks like I am not the only one who was not clear on this.

[rubytue]

2 hours ago, sofietucker said:

Or slip down to your local CVS and have them do it (and verify it) on the spot, in person--for FREE.

Most people are reporting the CVS and Walgreens are now charging $130+ for travel tests. The govt funding for testing ran out June 30, so unless your insurance covers all testing, you could have a surprise. 

[rubytue]

Just to add, I am so glad I focused on “medically supervised” and missed the “affiliated with the manufacturer of the test” part before my cruise. I had enough mental stress trying to pick the best way to get tested (we still have free testing in our county, but it could be slow). At one point, I was even contemplating asking an MD friend to come over and watch us (then he got Covid, so that was out 😂). If you added in that twist, the inherent rule follower would have gone mad. 

[sofietucker]

3 minutes ago, rubytue said:

Most people are reporting the CVS and Walgreens are now charging $130+ for travel tests. The govt funding for testing ran out June 30, so unless your insurance covers all testing, you could have a surprise. 

Yikes! Thanks for the update. Cheaper to just have HAL test us on the pier... though we'll likely do telemed in Sept.

[QueenofEverything]

49 minutes ago, rubytue said:

 If you added in that twist, the inherent rule follower would have gone mad. 

Too funny!  I am an inherent rule follower and have been spending way too much time trying to figure it out.  Just decided to be done with it and ordered the tests from Optum (Kickbacks or not!)

[oakridger]

Yeah, the whole issue with conflicting info from HAL itself really made my brain hurt!  I'll probably do as @QueenofEverythingdid just to eliminate uncertainty!

 

See you all at Sea!

~Nancy

[petepie]

In July, we used onpoint testing to observe us taking the free flow tests we got at Costco. Results were emailed to me within 5 mins of completing the test and were accepted by verifly as well as HAL at Civitavecchia.

[SueMo]

Two weeks ago we also used OnPoint to observe us before a Celebrity Bermuda cruise and we used an Abbott BinaxNow self-test.  (I think somebody mentioned earlier in the post that nobody can/will proctor them other than emed, which turned out not to be the case for us.)

We have cruised 5 times since covid testing became mandatory, once with HAL and 4 times with Celebrity.  It has been our experience that the people at the embarkation port checking the pre-board tests are interested in two things:  the date the test was proctored, and the word "Negative".  Especially now that many cruise lines are no longer requiring testing unless required by the countries visited, I can't imagine they will be enforcing anything beyond that.