Traveling from an Orange State? Skip the Quarantine with an At-Home PCR Test
As people resume travel for work and pleasure, many will learn that COVID testing requirements vary from state to state. Depending on where you go, you may even find yourself under quarantine upon return home to Chicago.
The city of Chicago currently requires anyone traveling from an orange state to a self-quarantine for 10 days, or obtain a negative COVID test up to 72 hours prior to their arrival in Chicago. This means that during your vacation, you’ll need to find a COVID testing site to prove you are negative in order to resume your day-to-day life once back in Chicago. Nobody wants to waste time on vacation at a COVID testing site.
Take a Test Kit with you on Vacation
You can avoid the hassle of finding a testing site by purchasing a $99 take home kit that you can mail to the lab from wherever you are in the US.
I recently took my family on a ski trip to Utah and went through this very experience. While I am fully vaccinated, my family had a choice to make. We could test within 72 hours of our return trip home, or agree to quarantine upon arrival. My kids have spent very little time inside a school building this year, so keeping them home longer was not ideal. Instead, we used the at-home saliva test kit and mailed in our saliva sample while still in Utah so we could have our results in time to avoid a quarantine back home.
If you are traveling in the near future, keep an eye on restrictions. Some destinations require proof of a negative test prior to travel. Lab times can vary and be unpredictable, so this may leave you looking for a fast option to guarantee your travel plans are not put on hold. Innovative Express Care has two options to accommodate travelers.
- At home test kit
- 30-minute PCR results at our affiliate clinic, COVID of Chicago
For more information about 30-minute PCR testing for travel, visit our website.
To purchase an at-home testing kit, click here.
City of Chicago emergency travel order information can be found here.
