It's Monday, August thirty one. I'm Oscar Ramires from the Daily Dive podcast in Los Angeles, and this is reopening America. Are you getting ready to travel during the pandemic. There's a lot to know about testing before you get out there. Some places require proof of a negative test before you arrive, and other locations require that you quarantine before you can move freely. There's also the question of timing so you
can get a result in time. Natalie Compton, reporter at the Washington Post, tells us what you need to know. Thanks for joining us, Natalie, thank you. We wanted to talk about travel amid the coronavirus pandemic right now. Just a very quick story. I had been planning a trip for several months. I was gonna go to Hawaii for vacation middle of September, and we kept watching all of the rules changing. You know, you've got a quarantine for fourteen days. I know a lot of states are doing
different rules like that. For a time, there was gonna be a thing, you know, if you test seventy two hours before test negative, you don't have to do the quarantine. But rules kept changing so much. Unfortunately, I just had to cancel the trip. There was not much I could do. But Natalie, you wrote an article about everything we need to know about getting tested before you travel and kind
of how do you time it out. You've got to get that sweet spot going to where you figure out you can get your results back before you go on your trip, things like that. So tell us about getting tested and traveling right now. I think, like everything with the pandemic, this is a confusing topic that doesn't have a really straightforward answer because getting a test is not as easy as going and getting a flu shot right now, right they are still figuring out how to treat coronavirus.
They're still coming out with new tests every day. In some places, you can't get a test unless you are sick or a doctor prescribes a test for you. So it is something that the CDC supports getting a test before you travel because it could reduce the risk of spreading it if you go somewhere, or if you get a test when you return, maybe you wouldn't have to quarantine in your home state. But it's not always going to be easy for travelers to do. So where do
we go to get our tests? I know there's a lot of different options and all but some of them are free testing sites, some of you have to pay for. Where should we be looking to see where we can actually get a test? So I spoke with Dr Lynn Chen, who is an expert in the travel medicine world, and she recommended that your first step should be to talk to your primary care provider because the testing landscape is
so different depending on where you live. Your primary care providers should know what the best options are for you, and if that doesn't work for you, you should look at both your city or your state health department website because more often than not, they're going to have updated list of where you can get tests. And there are test sites popping up all over. A lot of fire departments will have them. You can find them at haw spittles,
different travel clinics. There's a lot of different ousts, pharmacies are doing them. So it comes down to what's available near you. Can you get an appointment or is a walk in available? And if you need one, maybe you need a doctor's prescription to be able to get it done. It really varies and the test that you want, you want to get a diagnostic test. I know there's testing for anybody's and all that, but you want that diagnostic
test to see if you had the virus at that moment. Basically, right you want to see do I have the coronavirus right now? Because I don't want to spread it as I travel or if you're going to go see loved ones, you obviously don't want to give it to your loved ones. One thing that Dr Chen did note is that right now, not all of the coronavirus tests are accurate. So you may get the negative test results think I'm good to go, but there is a chance that you got the test
too early or the test reveals a false result. So it is something that you can take some comfort in but know that you are It's not fool proof. It's not now. This is probably the big one is the timing of the test. And this is the one that I was so nervous about because some of the rules are, you know, seventy two hours before you travel and all, and it's like, well, if I take my test here, will I get my results by the time I'm flying away.
That was one of the big concerns. So that's the timing of it is one of the most crucial parts of it in your case going to a place like Hawaii, are going to a place where you need to show proof that you have a negative test. It can be really tricky to plan getting the test back in time because in a lot of places we're seeing delays in
return tests. So right now away to have less test timing anxiety, Dr Chen said to try to plan this out way ahead of time, and once you get your results, then you have to deal with Okay, I had to quarantine at home for a little longer than I expected. That that's better than being denied your trip to a place because you didn't get your test back in time. But a lot of places are looking at a four to five day return time and that is definitely not
the case everywhere. Though some people it takes twelve days to get a result. Some days it could be two days, so there's a lot of different things. But ask the person where you're getting a test what the estimate should be before you do this test, and try to have loose travel plans in case you need do accommodate for either a positive test results or a delayed test result that could change your travel plans. Across your fingers at that point, right there, and then and then, uh, you know,
testing before and after. Should you get tested upon your return from your trip? I guess I would depend on where you went. If you want to visit a small group of family, maybe not so. But if you're doing anything that's around a lot of people, you might want to get tested when you come back. Absolutely. And I spoke with a journalist who had gone on a road trip across the country with his niece to drive her to college, and he didn't get a test before he
left for that road trip. He got one at the end of his sixth day trip before he could fly back to his home state of Maine. Because if you don't get that test result, he would have had to do a fourteen day quarantine at his home. So to avoid that, he got a COVID test on the back end of his trip. But also, like you said, if you were partaking in any quote unquote higher risk activity while you're traveling, you might not want to bring it home to your loved ones or your place of work.
So getting a test after your trip or at the end of the trip can help in that case. Yeah, and with all of this, you know a negative test is not a free pass. You still got to be careful, you know, wear your mask, avoid the big crowds like you were just saying, and keep doing the social distancing. You got to take care of yourself whenever you're traveling outside of your bubble, so to speak. But these are some good tips on what to look for when trying to get tested before you're going to go out on
one of your trips. Natalie Compton, reporter at the Washington Post Travel destination. By the way, thanks for joining us, Thank you for having me. I'm Oscar Ramirez and this has been reopening America. Don't forget the effort today's big news stories. You can check me out on the Daily Dive podcast every Monday through Fridays. So follow us on I Heart Radio or wherever you get your podcasts.