New Canadian Government PCR Test Requirement

[Rob]

Douglas,

No worries, completely understandable. Yesterday I was trying to calm down a Canadian visitors leaving on the 8th. She was beside herself and had been misinformed by all the varying stories floating around the Negril rumour mill.

It is a tough dilemma that the Canadian government put their citizens in...

And there seems to be growing concerns from the airlines as they have been given little to no guidance on how to implement these new regulations.

A real mess no matter how you look at it.

[airswift]

Douglas,

No worries, completely understandable. Yesterday I was trying to calm down a Canadian visitors leaving on the 8th. She was beside herself and had been misinformed by all the varying stories floating around the Negril rumour mill.

It is a tough dilemma that the Canadian government put their citizens in...

And there seems to be growing concerns from the airlines as they have been given little to no guidance on how to implement these new regulations.

A real mess no matter how you look at it.

Too true, but no surprise.
Travellers who ignore Health Canada's travel advisory do so at their peril.
They new or should have known something like this could happen.
I booked my trip last Feb. for travel in Nov.
By March I knew it was not going to happen.

[shetrytea]

Too true, but no surprise.
Travellers who ignore Health Canada's travel advisory do so at their peril.
They new or should have known something like this could happen.
I booked my trip last Feb. for travel in Nov.
By March I knew it was not going to happen.

I had emailed the lab in Montego Bay, already booked a appointment as I leave Jamaica Jan 31st. It is $20,000 JMD for the test which must be paid 24 hours before the test . Results take 48 to 72 hours. I also contacted the airline to see if my results are not back what are the change fees, however they advised due to the new PCR testing requirement the airline will put me on the next available flight for free if the results are not back in time before departure.
You can book your appointments online with microlabs in Montego Bay as they are the only lab who offers PCR testing right now. It can not be the antigen testing that negril offers at this time.

[airswift]

I had emailed the lab in Montego Bay, already booked a appointment as I leave Jamaica Jan 31st. It is $20,000 JMD for the test which must be paid 24 hours before the test . Results take 48 to 72 hours. I also contacted the airline to see if my results are not back what are the change fees, however they advised due to the new PCR testing requirement the airline will put me on the next available flight for free if the results are not back in time before departure.
You can book your appointments online with microlabs in Montego Bay as they are the only lab who offers PCR testing right now. It can not be the antigen testing that negril offers at this time.

I assume you realize that if the "next available flight" exceeds 72 hours from your test result date you will have to be retested and go thru the whole procedure again.

[RyanP]

I hate to share this, and Rob can delete it if it is not allowed, but we had to cancel our trip to Negril because of presumably false positive PCR test. The tests are supposed to be pretty reliable, but are not perfect. Just to briefly touch on what happened... I was tested only for travel (no symptoms, never any symptoms)...
Me: Negative Antigen (1/18), Positive PCR (1/18), Negative PCR (1/20)
Wife: Negative PCR (1/18)
Daughter: Negative Antigen (1/22)
I'm sure everybody says they are careful, but I have close contact with just a couple of other people, other than my household (wife and young daughter). Never been around anyone that has been sick (that I am aware of). The Department of Health told me to assume it was a false positive and to disregard it.

[airswift]

I hate to share this, and Rob can delete it if it is not allowed, but we had to cancel our trip to Negril because of presumably false positive PCR test. The tests are supposed to be pretty reliable, but are not perfect. Just to briefly touch on what happened... I was tested only for travel (no symptoms, never any symptoms)...
Me: Negative Antigen (1/18), Positive PCR (1/18), Negative PCR (1/20)
Wife: Negative PCR (1/18)
Daughter: Negative Antigen (1/22)
I'm sure everybody says they are careful, but I have close contact with just a couple of other people, other than my household (wife and young daughter). Never been around anyone that has been sick (that I am aware of). The Department of Health told me to assume it was a false positive and to disregard it.

Would a retest have cleared this up?

[shetrytea]

I assume you realize that if the "next available flight" exceeds 72 hours from your test result date you will have to be retested and go thru the whole procedure again.

Definitely, however the lab now offers 3 different days per week for testing so having results in time for my flight hopefully shouldn't be a issue. Flights are not to full at this time and worse case I buy a new ticket home or extend and keep back my original return and modify it for a future flight. I am not to worried I have the ability to work remotely and being stuck in Jamaica isn't the worse thing in the world ..lol