side questions: does anyone know about passport validity requirements? I couldn't find anything online. Planning to travel in 2 weeks but my passport expires in August
The US will allow you to enter as long as your passport will be valid when you are scheduled to leave the country. There is not a 3 or 6 month window . The expiration date is the expiration date.
Einsiedeln Spital does the PRC test very quickly; guaranteed same day. I had it done three times last year, each time my results came in within a couple of hours. This is the CHF 140 test. (Rapid antigen is CHF 50.)
Einsiedeln has their own lab, hence the quick turnaround.
Usually visitors traveling to the USA must have a passport which is valid for six month beyond the intened stay. However if you have a passport from a 6-Month Club country. it only has to be valid during the time of the intended stay.
Last I traveled, it was Switzerland that had the 24 hour requirement, which made finding a test appointment in the US to coordinate with a night flight departure a bit of a struggle when returning to Switzerland. Testing in CH anytime the calendar day prior to departure to get into the US was a lot easier.
Can be antigen or PCR. I did it a week ago and had no problem getting pcr with quick turnaround, not much demand atm. As others said its 1 day, not hours.
I had the same passport problem as mine expires in 2 weeks. The problem is not getting in, but could be getting back if that's your only passport. I qualified for getting an expedited passport in USA while there but they wouldn't give me an appointment (long story).
On the way back there was an issue with the airline when I went to do online check-in as that passport was registered with them on outgoing flight and on way back their system said I was prohibited from travelling back cause of the validity. I had a bit of a mess changing the passport in their system to my Swiss one, which should give me no problems travelling back. Then there's the so-called rule of exiting on the US passport. So for the airline I was registered as leaving as a Swiss and at the customs control at the airport I had to show the US passport. No problem with that.
Do check the dates and requirements in your particular case for the return and don't rely on getting an expedited passport in USA is all that I can say.
Not sure about zurich but around here I've never paid for anitgen test for travel when going to one of the official testing centers. They do ask for insurance card and not sure if there is something happening behind the scenes with the insurance company, but I've never been asked to pay anything out of pocket and have not received any bills.