thecovidconsultants.com, how it works

I had a great experience using this service. They were very informative, if I had any questions, they were happy to answer them. They guided me every step of the way.

Step 1: I ordered the nasal swab test kit on thursday and it was fedex-ed to me the next day on friday. they said even thought I was not testing till tuesday, the test would not expire.


Step 2: Tuesday Oct 6, I did the test exactly as the paperwork described, you will know if you are doing this right if your eyes water during the procedure.

Step 3: I made sure the cap was securely on the container that held the swab and sealed it with some extra tape for good measure, so nothing would leak.

Step 4: I fedex-ed it to the lab on tuesday Oct. 6 with the pre-printed label that was already attached to the fedex box that was sent to me. I made sure
that the fedex office would take medical specimens, category B ( not all of the fedex offices take this) before I dropped off the specimen. The lab received the specimen at 9:30 a.m. Oct. 7, wednesday.

Step 5: I received the results of my test ( negative) Oct 7, wednesday at 10:30 p.m.


very easy, next time I will not cut it so close and I will wait to do the test on wednesday since the results come back so quick. I hated that I did not have a buffer in case my plane was delayed.

I made it back, so things worked out really well. Its good to be home.

Thank you SO much for this update! I have emailed them with a few questions this week, and each time they responded quickly with very thorough answers.

Welcome home!

Thank you for sharing your experience. If result times in my area don’t improve by our February trip, we will definitely use them. The extra $$$ is well worth the piece of mind.

Didler,

You're saying May...do you mean October?

Dennis said:

Didler,

You're saying May...do you mean October?

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thanks Dennis, I just changed it to the correct date of oct. long day as I had gotten up at 4 a.m. for my first flight. By the way, Tradewinds is the best, I am spoiled now and will always use them for my flights to and from sbh.

I had been making other plans for may next year at the same time.....combined senior moment.

lvbookworm said:

Thank you SO much for this update! I have emailed them with a few questions this week, and each time they responded quickly with very thorough answers.

Welcome home!

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thanks, I know peace of mind is important when you travel. Testing is required within a 72 hour time frame, and its good to have a resource that actually works on time!

so make your plans and enjoy your trip in st. barths.

Divabella said:

Thank you for sharing your experience. If result times in my area don’t improve by our February trip, we will definitely use them. The extra $$$ is well worth the piece of mind.

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Yes, I know its pricey, as they say, you get what you pay for. I think the price with covid consultants was 219. for the test kit. well worth it. Some would look at it as vacation dollars, no more than a nice meal for two at one of the fancier places on the island.

What a headache, but we too may have to resort to this option if the travel restrictions/testing results remain the same in mid-March 2021(NYC/Long Island area). My biggest worry is my ability to self swab. I know it is a "brain tickler" so it should be interesting. SOOOOOOOO frustrating for us because we had Covid in March and have antibody results to prove it.

Krand1, its simple to do and there are instructions included with the kit that they send to you.

also on youtube there is a video demonstrating how to do a self covid nasal swab test, easy peasy, the video is very thorough, it guides you through the whole process up to and including cutting the long tube of the swab short enough to fit into the small container without touching any surface of the swab.

I believe that dda & I had the covid in January of this year, we were on a ski vacation in taos, new mexico and we were so sick neither of us could get out of bed, I had never been that sick in my life. I passed out on the floor twice, I lost all sense of taste and smell as did dda. we were vomiting, coughing etc.

we should have gone to the hospital, but we kept thinking that we would get better and its prob the flu that was going around at the time. since we could not ski, and were not well enough to go to the grocery store. we could only stand up for a short period of time without getting dizzy.

we had to check out of the airbnb that we had pre paid for after only staying for 4 days and went to a hotel so we could get room service and try to eat something to regain our strength. we could not taste anything, but we ate whenever we could ( mostly soup) and we were drinking lots of water.

we had this for 2 weeks, if it was covid, we were both very lucky. we started feeling a little more normal after the two weeks and had plane reservations to come back home to sbh. we spent the last night at the twa hotel at jfk and then jet blue to sxm. we lost about 30 pounds between the two of us.

Divabella said:

Thank you for sharing your experience. If result times in my area don’t improve by our February trip, we will definitely use them. The extra $$$ is well worth the piece of mind.

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When in February will you be on the island? We are scheduled to be there 2/13 - 2/21

scotth said:

When in February will you be on the island? We are scheduled to be there 2/13 - 2/21

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We are just missing you! We are going Feb 6-13.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience! We will be doing this in...18 days!

I just ordered a kit from Covid Consultants for an upcoming trip and was informed that their test will no longer be accepted by St. Barth’s as of now they are requiring a deep nasal swap not just the PCR test. They asked me to return the kit and said they are sorry they cannot help us and that they only know of one lab in the US doing a quick turnaround on the deep swab test and they are very expensive and located in San Francisco. Not sure where to go from here...

acp said:

I just ordered a kit from Covid Consultants for an upcoming trip and was informed that their test will no longer be accepted by St. Barth’s as of now they are requiring a deep nasal swap not just the PCR test. They asked me to return the kit and said they are sorry they cannot help us and that they only know of one lab in the US doing a quick turnaround on the deep swab test and they are very expensive and located in San Francisco. Not sure where to go from here...

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Ugh.

acp said:

I just ordered a kit from Covid Consultants for an upcoming trip and was informed that their test will no longer be accepted by St. Barth’s as of now they are requiring a deep nasal swap not just the PCR test. They asked me to return the kit and said they are sorry they cannot help us and that they only know of one lab in the US doing a quick turnaround on the deep swab test and they are very expensive and located in San Francisco. Not sure where to go from here...

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their test is a deep nasal swab test that covid consultants are selling. Its the one that I bought. they sell two kits, the deep nasal swab kit and the saliva kit. so this info is very odd. I will give Andrea Stone a call tomorrow and get the skinny. when I ordered the test, they did not ask where I would be going.

I was able to call covid consultants last night as they are 3 hours behind us in colorado. I spoke with Andrea and she said someone ( I am assuming its acp) had ordered a test from them and called them after receiving the test kit and said that they do not believe it will be accepted in st. barths.

this person that called about the test with covid consultants even called tradewind airlines and told them that the test kit that they had just received was not going to be accepted in st. barths. Andrea said they normally only give refunds if the results of a test did not come back within 24 hours,l ( they have not had to refund anyone to date because of late results) but in this case they were going to refund this person's 219 dollar fee as this person seems so nervous about his test, they want everyone to be satisfied.

They said they believe this person would only be satisfied that their test results would be accepted if the lab tech and the doctor would fly down in the plane with him, ( Andrea was being funny here).

My test was accepted when I arrived here two weeks ago. I had a friend that came in yesterday and her test was accepted.

So folks, its not up to the doctor or a lab to check which country you will be going to will accept your lab results, its up to you to do the checking. I think Covid Consultants is a great company and I know that their tests are accepted here.

FYI: It was definitely not ACP.

acp said:

FYI: It was definitely not ACP.

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ok. We should know by the end of the day what covid consultants finds out about the regulations here. I had no trouble coming through 2 weeks ago via tradewind airlines. I know someone came in yesterday without a problem.

The traveler had a reasonable question.

The Tradewind site states that "the only test currently accepted by St Barths is a rt-PCR test obtained from a nasopharyngeal swab".

Nasopharyngeal swab is not the same as a deep nasal (midturbinate) swab. The difference is explained here by the CDC and had previously been discussed, along with one comparison of relative sensitivities, in this thread (post #20).

Swabs done by healthcare workers are typically taken at the nasopharyngeal level. Self-tests nasal swabs are typically advised to be taken at a deep nasal mid turbinate or a more superficial anterior nasal position.

Whether the difference in technique would be apparent on the report, understood by the screener, or even looked for is another matter...

And no, the traveler was not me.

I agree Izzy, the traveler had a reasonable question. however this traveler kept calling all day asking the same questions, but thanks for your input, you are always up to date on the latest.

I did not think the traveler was you, you are not traveling right now are you?