If you’re flying into the United States from anywhere else in the world today, you must present negative results from a COVID-19 test before you board the inbound flight. But how and where do you get tested, how much does it cost and how long does it take?
I found the answers to these questions during my most recent trip to Mexico. There are, in fact, many ways to get a COVID-19 test in Mexico City. I found two — one is super easy, and one is super cheap. You can weigh the cost and advantages of both to make up your own mind.
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Here’s why you need to get tested: According to the Centers for Disease Control, if you plan to travel internationally and fly into the United States, you must get tested no more than three days before you travel by air into the USA, and you must show your negative result to the airline before you board your flight (or else show documentation of recovery — proof of a recent positive viral test and a letter from your healthcare provider or a public health official stating that you were cleared to travel).
Just got vaccinated and feeling invincible? Well, it doesn’t matter. I got the Johnson & Johnson vaccination in March, and I still had to take a COVID-19 test and present negative results. Vaccination doesn’t exempt you from the testing requirement, at least for now (it kind of makes sense, honestly, since no vaccine is 100 percent foolproof and we’re still in the midst of a terrifying pandemic).
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To make things even trickier, you must also follow requirements that are dictated by the U.S. state you’ll be visiting, and those requirements vary and are subject to change. You can check your state’s COVID-19 travel requirements by clicking here (I, for example, must follow the pandemic travel guidelines issued by New York State, since I was headed home to New York City).
In my latest travel video, I show two ways you can get tested in Mexico’s capital — one is cheaper and one is easier (and still quite affordable). It cost me about $17 to get tested at Farmacias del Ahorro, a large Mexican pharmacy chain, while getting tested at Mexico City international airport on the day of your departure will cost you about $35. Click here to see the locations of Farmacias del Ahorro that offer the COVID-19 test in Mexico City.
In the travel video, I share information and travel tips about the cost and the process for both options, and also what the experience is as you fly to the United States — including when you must show proof of your test results.
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Here’s the process for getting a COVID-19 test at Farmacias del Ahorro in Mexico City (we went to a location in the Doctores neighborhood, across the street from Hospital General):
• Firs, go to the main entrance of the pharmacy, where the security guard will give you a ficha — something like the numbered ticket that you’d get at a delicatessen.
• Take the ficha to the pharmacy’s clinic office, where the doctor will write something along the lines of “COVID-19 test” and hand it back to you (I guess this is something like a prescription).
• Go back to the main part of the pharmacy and present the ficha in order to pay for the test. The cashier will give you a receipt.
• Take the ficha and the receipt back to the doctor. The gentleman who took care of me, a Dr. Alvarez who hails originally from Zacatecas, performed the PCR nose swab and then let me wait in his office for about 15 minutes until the results were in. He then entered all the information on a form and gave me a printout (he also asked for my email and said results would be emailed as well, although I never received it).
If you prefer to take the COVID-19 test at the Mexico City airport, here’s how that works:
• Be sure to arrive at least 30 minutes to an hour before you’d usually arrive for an international flight. You can’t be sure how much of a wait there might be at the airport testing facility.
• Go to the testing facility before checking in for your flight — because you can’t get a boarding pass until you have negative test results to present to an airline ticket agent. The facility sits just outside the security area at the far end of the terminal.
• Head to the check-in counter as soon as you have the test results.
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Wherever you get your test results, here’s the basic process at the airport for sharing your COVID-19 test results and boarding your flight:
• You cannot currently obtain a boarding pass via an airline app or check-in kiosk at the Mexico City airport for flights to the United States. You must see an airline ticket agent, who will only issue a boarding pass after reviewing your COVID-19 test result and having you sign a form to verify that your results are truthful.
• There’s a standard temperature check at the security screening line.
• The boarding process at the Mexico City airport was normal and there was no check of my test results. The American Airlines flight attendants only handed out antibacterial wipes AFTER takeoff, by the way, so be sure to bring your own pandemic travel amenities, since I’ve found American Airlines to be inconsistent in how and when they distribute wipes.
After landing at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, I found that customs and immigration were also the usual routine; no one asked me to present my COVID-19 test results. And after landing at New York’s LaGuardia airport, I found there was no longer anyone handing out pandemic forms, which had been a standard practice. So apparently the only time you need to show your test results is at the airport in your departure city, in order to get the boarding pass. Otherwise you probably won’t show it to anyone else.
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In New York State, arriving domestic travelers no longer have to quarantine when arriving in New York. International travelers like me, I think, still need to quarantine for 10 days, but we can shorten it by taking another COVID-19 test and getting negative results on the fourth day after arrival.
But always double check these details, since they are subject to frequent changes as the pandemic response evolves. Every state has its own regulations that are in effect in addition to federal guidelines. Be sure to check your own state’s guidelines as well as the latest federal requirements before you make international travel plans, since everything is subject to change and WILL most likely change. Please feel free to send me questions and comments about your own experiences. Safe travels!