Hawaii COVID Testing

[Paul Stupin]

We thought Vault was the way to go, but I had an interesting conversation at my local UPS store. I ask them when was the latest I could bring in my test fir overnight shipping. The clerk looked panicked and brought the manager to the counter. Both said they would refuse the test in their store and I would need to find somewhere else to ship it. Vault told me that there was no indication on the packaging that it was a covid test. I live in a small town and the closest big city is a two hour drive. We decided to go to Seattle the day before and get the one that Alaska sponsors, plus Walgreens just in case.

What a pain! At least in LA there are a ton of UPS stores.

 

[lovetotravel]

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[BlueRibbon]

Do you know how to get your PDF to print or save as 4 pages into one page? Then upload that so all pages will be in one.

Nope. I have no idea how to do that. But maybe you're thinking of files. You can take four 1 page files and combine them into 1 file, but I don't know how you'd take 4 pages in 1 file and cram them into 1 page.

 

[WedgeTheJedi]

Out of curiosity, is the PDF you receive from the testing facility only 1 page? Reason I ask is because on the Safe Travels Hawaii page, it says to only upload the first page, but if the PDF I get from the facility is 4 pages, are you supposed to go mucking around with it to get it to one page? I guarantee that if I were doing that, it wouldn't process correctly

One thing that you could do. Go to print the copy and instead of an actual printer select the Microsoft PDF Writer. then select to only print the page that has the negative result info. That should result in a new PDF that only has that one page on it.

 

[neurosx1983]

No, nothing sketchy. My concerns are not being able to get a technician at the required time to watch me do the test, and then having to rely on UPS to deliver it. But Hawaiian Airlines is basically guaranteeing the process, so I’m sure it won’t be a problem.

Does anyone know how the Vault Zoom process works? From their website it seems like you log into the 'zoom room' whenever you're ready and someone is available? Wondering how long it actually takes...

 

[braysmommy]

Does anyone know how the Vault Zoom process works? From their website it seems like you log into the 'zoom room' whenever you're ready and someone is available? Wondering how long it actually takes...

We have been looking into vault and it seems pretty quick. There are many people with firsthand knowledge of using vault on Hawaii Trip Advisor Forum. The only downfall I see is with UPS and not being able to drop off on a Sunday lets say if you have a early week flight. If we go planning on Thursday/Friday departure to make sure we have the best chance of having results back.

 

[BlueRibbon]

The time finally came yesterday for us to get our tests for this Thursday! About a month ago we ordered the Vault tests from Hawaii and were all set to only use those. However, my wife's new contract unexpectedly gave us benefits through Kaiser. Knowing Kaiser would be free, we ended up taking both tests yesterday, since it never hurts to have a backup, right?

We started the day with the Vault test. While you can open the box before the test, you need to be online with the supervisor before you break into the test kit. Before being connected with the supervisor, you needed to answer some questions at which point you were put in a zoom waiting room. I waited about 2 minutes before I was picked up. The hard part about this test is that you need to generate enough "clear saliva" to fill up half the tube. I kept getting bubbly saliva, so while everyone else in my family was able to get it done in about 3 minutes, it took me about 15. Guess I was dehydrated! If you're traveling with family, and you're doing the Vault test all at once, login to each account, fill out the questions, but have only one person click on the button that puts you into the zoom waiting room. The supervisors can't close out the charts until the questions are answered from the online form, but they're more than willing to watch everyone open the test, verify the kit numbers, and instruct everyone on how to pack up their tests. No need to make 4 separate calls for 4 people. Right afterwards, the tests were dropped off at the UPS store, and am currently awaiting results.

After the Vault test, we drove about 15 minutes to the nearest Kaiser hospital. We're in north Orange County CA, so the Kaiser hospitals are plentiful. We made appointments last week, and they told us to roll up anytime. There was no wait, but since we had 6 people in our van that needed tests, suffice to say, there was a line when we left! All the other cars we saw only had 1 person, as I'm guessing not too many people there were also travelling to Hawaii...

The Kaiser tests were the real deal. They stuck the swap as far back in the mouth as you could go(I gagged so much I thought something was going to come up..yuck!) and then the nose. I've never had something shoved so far up my nose, Sheesh!!

Woke up this morning(Tuesday) to find the Kaiser test results in!! I was surprised though that there wasn't a PDF available, which is what I was expecting, but here's what I did. On the KP website, you can print the test results, and just select "Print as PDF" in the system dialog. I only printed the first page as the second didn't have any pertinent information. Uploaded that file to Hawaii Safe Travels not knowing if it'd work, but it uploaded with "Pending Confirmation" in the status. About 5 seconds later, the status updated to "COVID Negative" So that worked!!!

I'll let you guys know when I get the Vault test results back, but we're good to go!

 

[Paul Stupin]

A couple quick questions! First, the vault tests have no shelf life, so it doesn't matter how far in advance they're ordered, right? We're going early Jan and I'm thinking about just ordering them now. I've also read that you get some sort of an email from Vault, and then click on the link for the test. So how does that work? Do a you schedule a time earlier, and they send you the email? Or am I wrong about the email and you just go online yourself 72 hours before your flight? Also, re zoom, do you really need the zoom app? I have a laptop and have done many zoom calls, but just always through an emailed link. Thanks in advance for your insight!

 

[BlueRibbon]

Correct. The Vault tests don't in any way appear to have a shelf life. I'm sure there is, but we're only talking a couple of months....

When you order the kit, you'll get an email saying to click on a link when you're ready to take the test. That link will direct you to a questionnaire of 3 questions, and you'll also input the kit number and tracking number for the package. After that you'll click on a button to go into a zoom waiting room. You'll just want to be sure you save the email.

The only other thing with the Vault tests is that every person has to have their own account, including kids. Nothing insurmountable, but a pain...

I'll claim ignorance on the zoom app though. It automagically popped up for me since my kids have been distance learning and the app is on the computer, but I don't know for sure if Vault will work without it.

 

[Paul Stupin]

Correct. The Vault tests don't in any way appear to have a shelf life. I'm sure there is, but we're only talking a couple of months....

When you order the kit, you'll get an email saying to click on a link when you're ready to take the test. That link will direct you to a questionnaire of 3 questions, and you'll also input the kit number and tracking number for the package. After that you'll click on a button to go into a zoom waiting room. You'll just want to be sure you save the email.

The only other thing with the Vault tests is that every person has to have their own account, including kids. Nothing insurmountable, but a pain...

I'll claim ignorance on the zoom app though. It automagically popped up for me since my kids have been distance learning and the app is on the computer, but I don't know for sure if Vault will work without it.

Very helpful...thanks!

 

[neurosx1983]

Correct. The Vault tests don't in any way appear to have a shelf life. I'm sure there is, but we're only talking a couple of months....

When you order the kit, you'll get an email saying to click on a link when you're ready to take the test. That link will direct you to a questionnaire of 3 questions, and you'll also input the kit number and tracking number for the package. After that you'll click on a button to go into a zoom waiting room. You'll just want to be sure you save the email.

The only other thing with the Vault tests is that every person has to have their own account, including kids. Nothing insurmountable, but a pain...

I'll claim ignorance on the zoom app though. It automagically popped up for me since my kids have been distance learning and the app is on the computer, but I don't know for sure if Vault will work without it.

Thank you for the details!

I did see on their website that the unopened kit has a 2 year shelf life so I’m assuming it’s ok to order now

 

[nono]

Just looking at the CVS link, we'd have to go to PA, and no sites have any dates/slots available that would be a reasonable driving distance. For Walgreens, 2 sites are somewhat local. They have no dates/slots either. With COVID cases rising in our area, it seems like both are getting overwhelmed. Vault may be a necessity.

 

[LisaRN97]

Just looking at the CVS link, we'd have to go to PA, and no sites have any dates/slots available that would be a reasonable driving distance. For Walgreens, 2 sites are somewhat local. They have no dates/slots either. With COVID cases rising in our area, it seems like both are getting overwhelmed. Vault may be a necessity.

I was looking at the CVS in PA as we live in NJ. When are you headed to Aulani? We are going late December for Christmas and I was thinking of doing both Vault and CVS.

 

[nono]

I was looking at the CVS in PA as we live in NJ. When are you headed to Aulani? We are going late December for Christmas and I was thinking of doing both Vault and CVS.

Late January if all goes well. I live in Cape May County so really Vault is the only reasonable option, as there are UPS drop boxes all over (with normal pick up times of 4:30/5:30). But a back up would be nice.

 

[Jjjustin80]

Not sure if anyone else had this happen with Vault, but we ordered our kits and UPS is holding them for observation. They wont tell us when they will be delivered, or if they will even be delivered at all. Trying to figure out other testing options in Southern California with two kids. We will try and schedule Walgreens, but keeping out fingers crossed they will still have tests by the time our appointment rolls around. We are hearing that some locations are running out.

 

[Paul Stupin]

Not sure if anyone else had this happen with Vault, but we ordered our kits and UPS is holding them for observation. They wont tell us when they will be delivered, or if they will even be delivered at all. Trying to figure out other testing options in Southern California with two kids. We will try and schedule Walgreens, but keeping out fingers crossed they will still have tests by the time our appointment rolls around. We are hearing that some locations are running out.

I don’t think Walgreens in SoCal, where we are as well, offers the particular test Hawaii needs. Have you tried calling Vault and having them make other arrangements to get you the kits? Why would UPS want to hold on to the kits? It seems crazy!

 

[Jjjustin80]

I don’t think Walgreens in SoCal, where we are as well, offers the particular test Hawaii needs. Have you tried calling Vault and having them make other arrangements to get you the kits? Why would UPS want to hold on to the kits? It seems crazy!

Yeah - no idea, what is going on at UPS - very strange. Vault went to voicemail so left that and tried sending an email. We followed the link on the Hawaii website to Walgreens and it shows they do RT-PCR Diagnostic Panel Test - NAAT in So Cal. Is that not approved?

 

[Paul Stupin]

Yeah - no idea, what is going on at UPS - very strange. Vault went to voicemail so left that and tried sending an email. We followed the link on the Hawaii website to Walgreens and it shows they do RT-PCR Diagnostic Panel Test - NAAT in So Cal. Is that not approved?

No, you’re right, I think it is approved. But I don’t think Walgreens will guarantee your results within the 72 hour time frame.

 

[DRussell83]

We are also in Southern California- going to order our tests now - seeing it’s now $119 - not complaining at all but curious why such a decrease.

 

[Paul Stupin]

We are also in Southern California- going to order our tests now - seeing it’s now $119 - not complaining at all but curious why such a decrease.

I noticed that too. Since we're not leaving till Jan., am holding off ordering in the hopes that Hawaiian Airlines will get their Los Angeles testing center up and running before then. So I'll give it till early December.