Test Results
It’s official! We are both Covid-19 free and we have the paperwork to prove it.
The process wasn’t as traumatic as I believed it would be. I mean, it’s just not pleasant to have a swab stuck up your nose, no matter if you are doing it or a tech is doing it. I found a Walgreens offering the NAAT Rapid test about 40 miles away. My appointment was at 12:45. The paperwork said to make sure I had the email, my drivers’ license (or state ID) and my health insurance card. It gave all these instructions about how I wasn’t supposed to roll down my window until instructed to do so and how I would have to hold my ID cards and paperwork up against the window so they could be read without exposing the technician.
I arrived about 20 minutes early and was expecting some sort of temporary structure and people dressed in hazmat suits. I drove around the building and there wasn’t anything like that. I pulled into the pharmacy drive-up because no one was in line. When the pharmacy tech asked how she could help me, I told her I had an appointment to get a Covid test. She asked for my date of birth and name and then rifled through a stack of paperwork. She then put a swab in the little exchange drawer and told me how to take the sample. I did and then stuck the swab back into the sleeve it had been in when she put it in the drawer. I put it back in the drawer and she said thanks and it should take five to twelve hours to get the results. I asked her if it was the Abbott test and she said it was. She never asked me for my ID or health insurance information.
I got my results in under two hours.
My husband went through the same process a couple of hours later. It was a little busier then but just as easy. He got his results in one hour!
By the time we got our results, Royal Caribbean had clarified their language regarding the at-home tests and we would have been just fine using those. Either way, I sure am glad we have that test behind us. Now, we are just waiting for our kids to get all of their results back. They took PCR tests so it takes a little longer to get the results. As a back-up, they have the Abbott at home tests (the kind that use a telehealth professional to proctor the test).
As the cruise restart continues down this rocky path, cruisers must be mindful of new protocols and be willing to jump through a few hoops. I figure we can count it as cardio.
Two days to go.
See you shipside!