Ichor Blood Services Expands Covid-19 Travel Testing Program to Include Travel to Hawaii
CALGARY, AB, Nov. 23, 2020 /CNW/ - Ichor Blood Services, a private Covid-19 test facilitator based in Calgary, has received approval from Hawaiian authorities to administer Covid-19 PCR tests for passengers travelling to Hawaii looking to forgo quarantine on arrival. Ichor offers the tests through the company's partnership with StageZero Life Sciences, an Ontario company with a high complexity CLIA certified lab located in Virginia.
Starting December 18th, travellers will be able to book their Covid-19 PCR test through Ichor's website, ichorblood.ca, and should select a date and time 72 hours prior to their planned departure. Samples will be collected and shipped to StageZero every weekday, and results will be directly emailed to travellers via encrypted message within 48 hours. Results will be generated in a PDF package complete with a Hawaii specific cover sheet that can be uploaded by each traveller to their individual State of Hawaii Travel and Health portal account they must create as part of the process. A QR code is generated for the traveller to print for authorities to scan on arrival in Hawaii.
"Ichor recently received approval for sample collection and processing, and we are very excited to be part of the travel solution for Canadians," said Mike Kuzmickas, CEO of Ichor Blood Services. "We hope to be processing about 300 clients per day by Christmas, but the demand for private asymptomatic Covid testing is much greater than our ability to provide collections. For this reason, we are actively seeking partnerships with companies that have national clinical footprints and can quickly staff and mobilize their brick and mortar locations for specimen collection."
Ichor has already been successfully sending travellers to China since early November using the same StageZero tests (serology and PCR), and StageZero also recently announced their own preferred supplier agreement with the Government of Barbados.
"With acceptance of our offerings by Hawaii, China, Barbados, and numerous other destinations over the last few months, we are confident that Ichor's services for travellers have a strong potential to be accepted by most destination countries," said Kuzmickas. "We have the ability to perform nasal, throat, and saliva specimen collection, as well as blood draws for travellers requiring serology IgM/IgG antibody tests. We believe we are one of the few companies in Canada that can provide this multi-disciplinary service."
Ichor currently has offices available for appointments in a number of cities in Alberta, as well as Niagara Falls and Fredericton, and Pricing is $250 + tax for active virus PCR tests and $150 plus tax for serology antibody tests. More information can be found on their website at ichorblood.ca.
About Ichor Blood Services
Ichor Blood Services is an Alberta based, private, lab specimen collection service company that offers Canadians access to US based diagnostic tests. Their current focus is on covid-19 testing with plans to unveil additional test offerings in 2021.
For more information visit: ichorblood.ca
SOURCE Ichor Blood Services
Media Contact: Peter Pilarski, Vice President, CIPR Communications, M. 403.462.1160, E. [email protected]
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