New testing requirements for return to USA

[DandyDon]

New negative tests must be done within one day of travel to the US starting Monday.

Excerpting from COVID-19 and Your Health

All air passengers 2 years or older with a flight departing to the US from a foreign country at or after 12:01am EST (5:01am GMT) on December 6, 2021, are required show a negative COVID-19 viral test result taken no more than 1 day before travel, or documentation of having recovered from COVID-19 in the past 90 days, before they board their flight.

• Air passengers will also be required to confirm in the form of an attestation that the information they present is true.

For the full list of requirements and exemptions, please review the language in the Order.

I've seen claims that Farmacias del Ahorro offers 15 minute results for 346 Pesos. I like a printout to carry with me so this would be convenient if true. Their location near Juárez and 15th ave would be convenient for me and claims to be open 24 hours. Anyone used them lately? I wonder if testing and printouts are available 24 hours?

 

[Trailboss123]

Thanks for posting @DandyDon - this might put my trip to the Red Sea, 2 weeks from today in jeopardy.

 

[lexvil]

It’s going to tighten scheduling a bit, supposed to be in effect through March. Hope it’s all working well by Feb for my curaçao trip.

 

[DandyDon]

Thanks for posting @DandyDon - this might put my trip to the Red Sea, 2 weeks from today in jeopardy.

Your vendor will know about the change and hopefully make it easy. It's up to the traveler to ensure testing is available. But while this is new for visitors to Mexico, it's not for much of the world, is it? I think we had to have day-before tests returning from Roatan in the Honduras last July.

 

[mediumone]

New negative tests must be done within one day of travel to the US starting Monday.

I believe that that requirement is for those who remain unvaccinated.
For those who are fully vaccinated, the 3 day requirement remains in effect.

COVID-19 Information for U.S. Citizens in Mexico

mx.usembassy.gov

BOTH of the above statements concern entry into the US from Mexico.

I have no information concerning entry into the US from other countries.
It is quite possible that the new rule DandyDon quoted is absolutely correct.

 

[DandyDon]

I believe that that requirement is for those who remain unvaccinated.
For those who are fully vaccinated, the 3 day requirement remains in effect.

COVID-19 Information for U.S. Citizens in Mexico

mx.usembassy.gov

Those two pages don't say the same thing. The page at your link was updated four days ago, but I think this new change is of today. It may well take a few days to update all sites including airlines.

 

[divinh]

The reports I've been seeing say 24 hr test for all arrivals into the US, regardless of vaccination status and citizenship.

 

[drk5036]

Correct. This all sucks. Honestly what’s the point in even fighting it if we can’t stop it? Might as well just rip the damn bandage off. The psychological toll of all this is going to vastly outweigh the physical one.

 

[gopbroek]

As of next Monday everyone (except illegal aliens) will require a test within 24 hours prior to travel, regardless of vaccine status. The government is not involved in the messy details of actually enforcing it but require airlines to be responsible for it. In the past the airlines have used a calander day standard so that if a flight was delayed they still accepted the test even if it caused the time to slip past the clock time. Not sure about a canceled flight and rebooking the next day.
An ugly senerio could occur, your once daily flight out of Cozumel is cancelled and to make it home the airline rebooks you the following morning out Cancun. Do you have to scramble to retest? I do not know.

 

[FishWatcher747]

The change is a subtle reminder that your vaccine status doesn't significantly effect whether you can be infected with Covid variants, or whether you can transmit Covid variants.

Funny that they don't articulate the reason for the policy shift.