Vaccinated Travelers to Hawaii Can Soon Bypass Quarantine
Hawaii Governor David Ige has officially announced plans for a vaccine passport program that could roll out as early as May for inter-island travel and expand to out-of-state travelers by summer. The announcement came as part of the latest emergency proclamation in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Vaccinated travelers will be allowed to bypass mandatory quarantine upon arriving to the state. People who are fully vaccinated would be able to avoid coronavirus testing and quarantine by uploading valid vaccination documents to the Safe Travels Program or showing documents in person. Unvaccinated travelers can also avoid the state’s mandatory quarantine if they upload a negative Covid test administered within 72 hours from the final leg of departure.
The CDC said earlier this month that fully vaccinated people could travel within the U.S. without getting tested or self-quarantining, but CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky urged caution at the time of that announcement. She said she would “advocate against general travel overall” given the rising number of infections across the U.S.
New Maui Requirements
While the rest of the state might become more accessible, Maui will soon require second coronavirus tests for trans-Pacific travelers flying directly to the island.
In addition to the current state-required pre-travel tests, people flying into Maui County from outside Hawaii will now be required to get negative coronavirus tests when arriving at the Kahului Airport to avoid quarantine, Mayor Michael Victorino told reporters last week. People who refuse either test will be required to quarantine for 10 days in Maui.
“This secondary test has been designed to determine if visitors and returning residents are contributing to the large rate of COVID-19 here in Maui,” Victorino said.
A study conducted in November by Maui health officials found that two out of every 281 travelers who consented to second, follow-up coronavirus tests at the airport tested positive, the Maui News reported.
Covid in Hawaii
Hawaii has more than 31,100 confirmed COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began last year, including 468 deaths.
More than 114million people, or 34.5% of the U.S. population, have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 68 million people, or 20.5% of the population, have completed their vaccination.
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Exactly why we cancelled our trip. They keep changing the rulea.
My wife and I are scheduled to travel to Hawaii in mid-May but we are strongly considering canceling due to all the complex changing rules. We are both fully vaccinated but will have to spend hundreds of dollars on Hawaii approved COVID tests. We will also have to ensure we get our test results back before our flight leaves. We are really aching to travel and I found great miles deals on the flights but just not sure if it is worth the hassle. The tourism economy in Hawaii must be suffering due to all these policies.
Our mayor (Maui) is a moron who only makes things worse for those of us that live here. Spending our tax money on stupid post-arrival tests when BI already showed it doesn’t do any good except waste millions. Plus we were finally going to have the same rules across all the islands (which should lead to inter-island quarantine going away) but nope, he wants to keep us without that freedom. Can we vote him out already??? Sheesh
Good timing for us. We are planning to go to HNL on 30Aug. Thanks for the article.