Hawaii Could Introduce Covid Testing for Travelers
Hawaii state leaders are in a tough spot. Tourism is a big part of the state’s economy so a boost in tourist numbers is desperately needed. But also important is the safety of Hawaii residents.
So local leaders have resisted the implementation of a two-test policy for arriving travelers, even though calls for such measures have grown in recent weeks.
Hawaii is currently dealing with a surge of new infections, hospitalization and deaths due to the Covid-19 virus. Dr. Darragh O’Carroll, an emergency and disaster physician in Honolulu, told USA Today that using just one test is not enough.
“There are a lot of holes,” she said. “The science has been fairly conclusive since probably June of 2020 that a single-test system was no more effective than 30 to 40 percent in catching a population of infected people.”
Earlier this summer, Hawaii removed all testing requirements for vaccinated visitors. Two weeks ago, it also introduced a new digital health pass for vaccinations, to make it easier for travelers to visit the islands.
New federal rules announced Monday will require all foreign travelers flying to the U.S. to demonstrate proof of vaccination before boarding, as well as proof of a negative COVID-19 test. Unvaccinated American citizens will need to be tested within a day before returning to the U.S., plus they need to test again after arriving. Dr. Darragh O’Carroll and her peers want Hawaii to introduce similar requirements.
In July, Hawaii lifted its quarantine and testing requirements for vaccinated visitors. Just a month later, the state had a record surge of the new delta variant. Before July, Hawaii reported a seven-day average of 46 daily cases. In the first week of September, that number ballooned to nearly 900. Case rates have stalled recently, and have slowly begun to decline. But experts say it’s unclear if that will hold long term.
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The Delta spike is already going away. Seems a bit late. They are still ranked 49th in covid cases/deaths out of US states and territories.
About time, I am not vaccinated and test regularly on the mainland and Hawaii. I certainly don’t want to spread Covid but allowing people to come into the islands just because they are vaccinated doesn’t make since to me as you can still have and spread Covid after being vaccinated. People tell me to get vaccinated and then I won’t need to be tested, I wonder how many vaccinated people coming to Hawaii would test Positive for Covid? What am I missing here? I see a big hole in the system right here
The Delta spike is going down in Hawaii now. Hawaii ranks 49th out of 50 states plus territories, etc. The cases peaked the week of August 29th and now are down dramatically so none of this makes sense. So much hype is out there on this. Hawaii is looking to ruin their own economy it seems.
And if they DO ruin their economy over this, I will laugh my ass off at them.
I thought vaccinations were supposed to stop this? Lol.
First it was 60%, then 70%, now ‘98%’
You guys don’t notice the wool pulled over your eyes YET? When will you?
Look at the data. Vaccinations don’t slow the spread, if anything they make it worse by forcing variants.
We gotta learn to use science and not ‘The Science’ anymore.
Stop what ? the unvaccinated being hospitalized ?
So 99% of hospitalizations and deaths are the unvaccinated ..sorry Georgie there is no vaccine for COVIDIOCY
Variants happen most often in unvaccinated populations where mutations that are more successful than the original virus have room to grow and then become the more dominant type. So if a large portion of the population is unvaccinated, new variants develop. The issue is that too many people didn’t get vaccinated fast enough to stop something like the Delta variant from developing. Now it’s spreading and mostly killing unvaccinated people. We didn’t know the precise nature of COVID when it began- the best doctors and experts could do is extrapolate from previous coronavirus types. They had it mostly right with the first variant, but then Delta happened and changed things. It is not a static situation. Science is an evolving subject and as we learn more we have to adapt to the new knowledge. Or die. I mean that’s always an option and seems to be popular amongst unvaccinated people.
Thank you.
That thanks was supposed to appear under Lara’s comment.
Maybe Hawaiians could just get vaccinated…..or not.