So how do we get a test?

[disneymike]

Originally Posted by Hammerstone

Testing question..if I’m worried about my (fairly recently) covid positive test on 18th aug somehow coming up on one done around 25th Nov before travel, would the antigen test be the better option? As my understanding is they are similar to the LFT so have to have some fairly obvious infection to show up as opposed to getting caught up in the PCR being positive for months issue

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Well my opinion would be:

1. I'd go with LFTs wherever allowed anyway for the simple fact they are cheaper than PCRs, regardless of any previous tests/results you've had.

2. You could do several free NHS LFTs in the run up to your 'paid' LFT for travel, so you'd be confident of a negative in advance.

3. I think the PCR positive for months issue is overblown. I don't deny it's possible in some cases but I've known a lot of people test PCR negative mere weeks after a PCR positive.

[steve30]

Originally Posted by disneymike

To be fair doing it over video was not a huge imposition, and yeah only about a tenner more. I guess if you're easily embarrassed it's not great but it's not like I'm going to see the person ever again lol.

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Could I ask a strange question, was the Qured LFT test a nasal only one? I don’t get on with the back of throat swabs!

[disneymike]

Originally Posted by steve30

Could I ask a strange question, was the Qured LFT test a nasal only one? I don’t get on with the back of throat swabs!

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Mine was both, but I believe now it's nasal only with them, unless they've changed it back again, because this is what happened...

I had originally booked my trip to the US for early June - got excited after travel was re-legalised on 17th May and wanted to go see family . There was still the whole "you shouldn't go to amber countries for leisure even though it's legal" government nonsense at that time, but I'd made my mind up and was happy to do the home quarantine/day 2 and 8 tests on return that were required at the time. Being very much in the minority who could actually go following that May announcement, flights at short notice were dirt cheap and empty which offset the high testing costs. However, about a week before I was going to go, I got my NHS letter with my vaccine appointment (earlier than I had expected, when they suddenly sped up in Scotland in late May).

Now, I could have declined NHS vaccination, gone anyway and got vaccinated in the US, but there was a lot of chat at the time about vaccine passports etc, no one knew how it was going to go yet, and I was a bit worried getting vaccinated somewhere else as a UK resident would give me future headaches, so as much as it pained me, I decided to wait, get vaccinated in the UK, then go later. Probably the correct choice in retrospect, even if my clubbing days are largely behind me, as I now have the proper NHS 'proof' and waiting longer also allowed me to forego the day 8 test and home quarantine, as the rules for vaccinated people coming from amber countries had changed by then which was an added bonus.

The Qured tests had already been booked and delivered for the original dates, but I just kept rolling the video appointments forward, and held onto the kits until I got fully vaccinated and rebooked.

So when I get on the video about 2 months after purchasing the test the lady asks do you have kit A or kit B (don't remember the names). I had neither - I had a different brand entirely. 'Oh! She says. That's fine, we don't use those any more, but we still can it just means I'm going to need you to swab your throat as well.'

[JP81]

Originally Posted by signtalker

Wow so if you’re like me and live in Norfolk, there’s absolutely no where that does them, so it means a 144 mile trek to how I understand it , pick up a test , I guess I’d have to do the test in my car , and then drop it back off there and then and drive home to be sure I’d get the results back in time , or risk doing it by post , either way still a 144 mile drive .

Surely there must be an easier way ?

Jules

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Some of the Test providers get you to upload a photo of the antigen result, and send you a certificate the same day.

[themeparksandy]

It’s another money making scheme for foreign tourists as you will need to buy a American test kit.

[disneymike]

Originally Posted by themeparksandy

It’s another money making scheme for foreign tourists as you will need to buy a American test kit.

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I mean I agree it’s a money making scheme but not necessarily one aimed at foreigners alone. In fact one of the few things the US has done right with their travel regs during the pandemic is kept the testing criteria consistent, simple and the same for everybody entering. That’s since Biden of course, in the Trump days there was no testing requirement.

I used exactly the same remote video test pre-returning to the UK as I used pre-departure to the US, I just packed the second kit in my suitcase. Most of the tests used are certified in multiple countries, and now that pre-return test is gone anyway.

[Deandoc]

Originally Posted by disneymike

I mean I agree it’s a money making scheme but not necessarily one aimed at foreigners alone. In fact one of the few things the US has done right with their travel regs during the pandemic is kept the testing criteria consistent, simple and the same for everybody entering. That’s since Biden of course, in the Trump days there was no testing requirement.

I used exactly the same remote video test pre-returning to the UK as I used pre-departure to the US, I just packed the second kit in my suitcase. Most of the tests used are certified in multiple countries.

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Hi mike what company did you use and was it accepted?
a like would be fantastic if possible!

[disneymike]

Originally Posted by Deandoc

Hi mike what company did you use and was it accepted?
a like would be fantastic if possible!

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More details in my previous post above but it was Qured, mainly because I was flying a combination of AA/BA and there was the discount offered:

qured

They were fine and yes accepted no problem, but were late to both video calls, quite significantly for the first one, a bit over an hour, for which the poor person on the other end was very apologetic about. Had made myself ready for the long wait on the second one but they were only about 20 minutes late that time.

Some of my relatives who didn’t want to do video tests and preferred someone to do it on them have used the ExpressTest centre at Edinburgh airport (they are at various other UK airports too). Bit more money but it was in and out and readily accepted too. Of course we stay < 5 miles from the airport so popping there 3 days before for a test is easy, probably riskier business if you're travelling some distance to an airport and departing that day! If I was planning on that strategy I would be NHS LFTing myself on a daily basis in the week running up to it to make sure it would be negative:

expresstest

[Deandoc]

Originally Posted by disneymike

More details in my previous post above but it was Qured, mainly because I was flying a combination of AA/BA and there was the discount offered:

qured

They were fine and yes accepted no problem, but were late to both video calls, quite significantly for the first one, a bit over an hour, for which the poor person on the other end was very apologetic about. Had made myself ready for the long wait on the second one but they were only about 20 minutes late that time.

Some of my relatives who didn’t want to do video tests and preferred someone to do it on them have used the ExpressTest centre at Edinburgh airport (they are at various other UK airports too). Bit more money but it was in and out and readily accepted too. Of course we stay < 5 miles from the airport so popping there 3 days before for a test is easy, probably riskier business if you're travelling some distance to an airport and departing that day! If I was planning on that strategy I would be NHS LFTing myself on a daily basis in the week running up to it to make sure it would be negative:

expresstest

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You're a star thank you v much, apologies for making you reiterate. Assuming it was an antigen test if you did it over a video call.

[disneymike]

Originally Posted by Deandoc

You're a star thank you v much, apologies for making you reiterate. Assuming it was an antigen test if you did it over a video call.

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Yeah that's right - they are really just the same as the ones you get from the NHS - they look pretty much identical, with just different varying brand names on the boxes.