Covid RT-PRC test must be within 3 calendar days or within 72 hours? Flight leaves on Monday night so it's impossible to schedule test 72 hours before, but can schedule it 3 calendar days before

[wml22]

My flight out of the United States leaves around 10PM on a Monday from the West Coast (I first must fly all day from the southern US to there for my international flight, so getting the Covid RT-PCR test on the Monday that I leave isn't an option).

 

I found a Covid RT-PCR testing company near me that offers same-day results as follows:

 

Our Standard Result Document includes:

• the day of your specimen collection (your appointment) but not the time,
• the time the RT-PCR came back with results  (usually late afternoon on your test day.  We also have (UTC-6) printed beside the time.   This is the time offset (subtracts 6 hours) from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
• information about the type of test (RT-PCR)
• specimen type
• Your name, birthdate
• If your country requires something special (like your passport number, the time the sample is taken, etc) we can include it.

 

Will this test be accepted? Do some departing airlines and/or the Thai government require that the time of the test (not just the day) be included on the results form? I don't want to get the same-day test administered Friday morning, then find out that because the result document lacked the time of test administration, or because the departing flight was Monday night (thus being about 80 hours after the testing was done, not under 72 hours) I'm not going to be able to gain admittance to the aircraft or to Thailand.

 

It doesn't appear possible to find same-day result RT-PCR testing near me that is administered over the weekend.

Edited July 31, 2021 by wml22

[BritTim]

Assuming your flight leaves from Los Angeles, the best solution may be to fly a day earlier, and get a test done in Los Angeles. I think, for a price, you can get a 24-hour RT-PCR test done there even on a Sunday.

[skatewash]

First, the clock starts when you receive your results and that must be within 72 hours before you depart for Thailand (that would be the start of your West Coast flight to Thailand).

Second, take a look at covid testing at CVS.  I believe they have free RT-PCR testing in many locations and think they are open over the weekend.

https://www.cvs.com/minuteclinic/covid-19-testing

[dj230]

4 minutes ago, skatewash said:

First, the clock starts when you receive your results and that must be within 72 hours before you depart for Thailand (that would be the start of your West Coast flight to Thailand).

Second, take a look at covid testing at CVS.  I believe they have free RT-PCR testing in many locations and think they are open over the weekend.

https://www.cvs.com/minuteclinic/covid-19-testing

really? I thought the clock starts when the test was actually taken, at least thats what the canadian embassy told me

[wml22]

3 minutes ago, BritTim said:

Assuming your flight leaves from Los Angeles, the best solution may be to fly a day earlier, and get a test done in Los Angeles. I think, for a price, you can get a 24-hour RT-PCR test done there even on a Sunday.

Thanks. I did manage to find a same-day RT-PCR travel test center that is open from 9am-1pm on Saturday. It's $300 for the test but will be easier and cheaper than going to California a day earlier. 

 

3 minutes ago, skatewash said:

First, the clock starts when you receive your results and that must be within 72 hours before you depart for Thailand (that would be the start of your West Coast flight to Thailand).

Second, take a look at covid testing at CVS.  I believe they have free RT-PCR testing in many locations and think they are open over the weekend.

https://www.cvs.com/minuteclinic/covid-19-testing

It helps to know that the clock starts when results are received. So that means that if I receive my results on Saturday at 12PM, as long as my international flight (from California to Singapore as the connection to Phuket) leaves before Tuesday at 12PM, then I'll be fine.

 

I'm going to bite the bullet on paying for a same-day test because I can't risk that waiting 1-2 days for results on Monday (after getting the test done on Saturday) could delay me from making my flight to the West Coast on Monday morning.

[david555]

1 hour ago, dj230 said:

really? I thought the clock starts when the test was actually taken, at least thats what the canadian embassy told me

And  another question is how they deal with the different timetables from the different country's about the test time about the departure time  and arrival time in different time area .....quit a calculation in some cases i guess

 

....travelling life becomes very difficult 

Edited July 31, 2021 by david555

[CANSIAM]

8 hours ago, dj230 said:

really? I thought the clock starts when the test was actually taken, at least thats what the canadian embassy told me

Thai Embassy in Canada told me the 72 hour clock starts from the test RESULT date. I had the test date and result date on my certificate.