braindoc
100+ Posts
In preparation for Friday’s arrival in Italy, we planned to have our COVID tests done Tuesday late afternoon on our way home from the office. Not easy scheduling. We started looking over the weekend. Most of the pharmacies did not have late afternoon openings. Finally, we found a Walgreen’s offering the new rapid molecular test (ID Now). We drove up at 4:30PM, did our swabs under observation, and drove home. We were told results would be emailed within 3 hours.
Less than an hour later my wife had an email with her result. Me? Nothing. Bu the time the three hours had passed, the pharmacy was closed and there was no phone number for the lab running the test. I wanted to do the paperwork and upload everything to United that night. So, I cracked open an Abbott BivaxNow kit, logged in, a proctor came on almost immediately, and I did a swab. I had the results in fifteen minutes and downloaded them.
The EU digital passenger locator forms took quite a while to complete. My wife did hers on an iPad. I could not verify my account on an iPad or a PC. As soon as I received the email to verify my ID and password, I clicked the link only to get a message that the link had expired. I tried several times. Finally, I had the bright idea to enter my information in my wife’s account. That worked. We printed out the forms and saved digital versions on our iPhone.
We uploaded the required documents to United (our first flight was United, Boston to Newark). The next morning, I checked our booking information on the United app. My wife had three nice green check marks next to the required uploads. I had two greens and one red - next to test results. The error message said I had submitted the wrong form of result. Now, United had instructions saying Italy required a negative molecular test, and then in smaller print molecular or antigen test. I started a chat with United to see if they wanted a molecular test only. While waiting, I remembered something about my results being password protected. I quickly opened my report, took a photo with my phone and uploaded the negative antigen result to United - all while chatting on the iPad. Seconds later I had a message that the document was accepted, and I had three green check marks.
Believe it or not, I really am not computer illiterate.
We went to the office on Wednesday. Early afternoon, Walgreens emailed results from my first test! No explanation why it took 19 hours longer than my wife’s. Fortunately, also negative.
Less than an hour later my wife had an email with her result. Me? Nothing. Bu the time the three hours had passed, the pharmacy was closed and there was no phone number for the lab running the test. I wanted to do the paperwork and upload everything to United that night. So, I cracked open an Abbott BivaxNow kit, logged in, a proctor came on almost immediately, and I did a swab. I had the results in fifteen minutes and downloaded them.
The EU digital passenger locator forms took quite a while to complete. My wife did hers on an iPad. I could not verify my account on an iPad or a PC. As soon as I received the email to verify my ID and password, I clicked the link only to get a message that the link had expired. I tried several times. Finally, I had the bright idea to enter my information in my wife’s account. That worked. We printed out the forms and saved digital versions on our iPhone.
We uploaded the required documents to United (our first flight was United, Boston to Newark). The next morning, I checked our booking information on the United app. My wife had three nice green check marks next to the required uploads. I had two greens and one red - next to test results. The error message said I had submitted the wrong form of result. Now, United had instructions saying Italy required a negative molecular test, and then in smaller print molecular or antigen test. I started a chat with United to see if they wanted a molecular test only. While waiting, I remembered something about my results being password protected. I quickly opened my report, took a photo with my phone and uploaded the negative antigen result to United - all while chatting on the iPad. Seconds later I had a message that the document was accepted, and I had three green check marks.
Believe it or not, I really am not computer illiterate.
We went to the office on Wednesday. Early afternoon, Walgreens emailed results from my first test! No explanation why it took 19 hours longer than my wife’s. Fortunately, also negative.