Ontario International Airport on Monday opened a drive-through COVID-19 testing operation, joining LAX in the ranks of Southern California airports with on-site coronavirus testing. Both airports offer testing for a fee.
The testing will happen in the Ontario airport’s Parking Lot 3 (between terminals 2 and 4) from 3 to 9 p.m. Monday, and then daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tests, priced at $125 (antibody or standard molecular NAAT test), $150 (rapid antigen test), $249 (rapid molecular NAAT test) and $475 (for an expedited PCR-type test described as “best for travel”) are administered by Covid Clinic.
Airport officials say that from now through Monday, they expect more than 100,000 travelers to pass through ONT, followed by another 180,000-plus between Dec. 17 and Jan. 3. That amounts to about 60% of the passenger traffic the airport saw last year. Ontario airport is about 35 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.
At Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), three testing sites opened earlier this month.
They are offering PCR-type nasal-swab tests at the Tom Bradley International Terminal, Terminal 2 and Terminal 6. The tests, conducted by by Clarity Lab Solutions, are priced at $150, with results expected within 24 hours. Testing is offered 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on a walk-up basis.
At John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, officials are teaming with Hoag health officials to open a clinic next spring that offers rapid COVID-19 testing, flu shots and telehealth appointments.
The 850-square-foot Fly Well Clinic is being designed to serve travelers and airport employees, airport officials said. It will be staffed daily by physicians or physicians assistants who are able to prescribe medication. In the meantime, airport and Hoag officials have opened a pop-up health fair in Terminal B offering free flu vaccinations as well as nutrition and exercise tips.
Neither Burbank Airport (technically Hollywood Burbank Airport) nor Long Beach Airport has announced COVID testing plans. San Diego International Airport has no widespread COVID-19 testing, a spokeswoman said, but Alaska Airlines and partner Carbon Health is offering airport tests there to passengers bound for Hawaii (where a recent negative test is required in order to avoid quarantine).
