If you’re visiting Hawaii in the near future, or at the holidays, this news is critical.
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331 thoughts on “CVS Pulls Out Of Hawaii Testing | Vault + Others Overwhelmed”
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If you’re visiting Hawaii in the near future, or at the holidays, this news is critical.
Get Breaking Hawaii Travel News
Comments are closed.
Aloha BOH
Many travelers to Hawaii are being blinded by their obsessive behavior to get to the islands, but currently labs are overwhelmed with covid tests from people who are dealing with life and death health issues.
That’s why CVS has pulled out and vault can no longer guaranty a 72hr turn around on covid testing for leisure travel.
Instead of complaining maybe you should stop clogging labs with your optional tests and give a thought to canceling your leisure holiday Hawaiian travel plans during this obvious health crisis.
I’ll say it again: The State of Hawaii–and the counties–do not want you here. They have to “look like” they are open to save tourism… but they’re not. They really just want to do what they’ve been doing from Day 1–which is burying their heads in the sand and hoping–like The Donald–that COVID will just quietly go away on its own.
Hawaii was a failed state before the pandemic. COVID simply exposed the massive and irreparable pre-existing cracks in the state and county government foundations. Huge public debt. Complete disfunction on virtually all levels. Complete dependence on tourism revenue. Total lack of interest or investement in any industries other than tourism. Complete lack of accountability at all levels of government. Complete and utter disdain for the people who actually pay their bills and their salaries (90% of which don’t live on the islands–and don’t use any services).
But… yeah… it’s pretty here.
We had appointments with City Health in Oakland which is the site Oakland Airport was partnering with. I wanted to see if a “same day” upgrade with City Health would result in the same calendar day or would it be 24 hours from the result since I could not find information about this on their website. I have called x2 with no call back and no where on their website is their an email address to inquire. You do not recommend City Health, and I was wondering why?
We now have appointments with WorkSiteLabs since Hawaiian Airlines (our carrier for this planned trip) is partnering with them in San Francisco. Many appointments available. I am not hearing much about them, so I hope that this will truly result in a result 36 hours from reaching their lab. To err on the side of caution, our appointments are 71 hours before flying. I know this is stressful, but I am holding on to the image of toes in the sand in Maui.
Hi Elaine.
City Health appears to be shipping the samples off to a lab for testing. With the tight timeframes we’re dealing with, shipping at least at this time of year seems challenging. We see more and more comments saying that.
Aloha.
RON G…
Assumed as much that it had to do with who pays! But why doesn’t Vault give me the choice! I tried to edit/delete my account to state we were not covered by Medicare but there’s no way you can edit your info (as others have found out with incorrect names, etc). Think I might just set up two more accounts as both hubby and I have two alternate email addresses just to see what happens. We’ve been planning on paying anyway since we never knew there was any alternative!
We had wonderful results with Kaiser when we came in October. We had results within 24 hours and the head nurse took us at our appointment time, even though our nurse was sick, to guarantee that we would get our results in time. Kaiser, at least in Colorado has moved their Covid testing in house in order to get faster results.
Our kids are coming with us in December, and the only other option at this time in Colorado is Walgreens. Do you have any idea if Quest Diagnostics may be approved by then? That would be so helpful in Colorado if they were. Thank you.
Hi Kathi.
Regarding additional partners, the state has put out requests for testing partners to apply. We don’t know them until about them until they are announced or show up on the Safe Travels website.
Aloha.
It would appear all of the democratic governors are banking on Biden as President and bailing them out. If that doesn’t happen and Trump wins in court these states including Hawaii will have their businesses and tourist economy destroyed. With little over a 1% death rate and declining and a policy proven by Sweden not to work…..I ask myself is it prudent to destroy our economy and way of life for this?
Can you go to Hawaiian Airlines even if you’re not flying with them?
I don’t understand how going to a drugstore like Walgreens or CVS and performing the nasal swab yourself is considered reliable. Why can’t Hawaii allow an urgent care in your home state be acceptable?
We just came back from Kauai (Nov 16-23) and used Vault. Just read the directions and follow them. We ordered our Vault test (6 family members), 2 weeks out and received them two days later. We took our test on Friday, dropped the test in the UPS box before the UPS picked it up, and received our results the next day, Saturday afternoon. The person who helped us with Vault did an excellent job helping us. Again, read the directions for the QR Code instructions, and you should have no problems. Are things a little stressful, of coarse they are. But we are in stressful times. And once you get to Hawaii enjoy!
Very helpful, thanks!!
Hi! I will be hopefully leaving for the Big Island January 1. These changing COVID test requirements are confusing. I understand testing done 72 hours before you leave. MUST the testing be done with only the partners listed, or is it a specific type of test? The results of the test, must it be in paper form or can it be on my phone as a email?
Of course, my fear is they will again change the requirements again right before we leave!
Walgreens online says they have “Diagnostic Lab Test (PCR)” 72 hours, “Rapid Diagnostic Test (ID NOW)” 24 hours, and Rapid Antigen Test (Binax NOW) as little as 1 hour. I don’t think the Antigen test is accepted for HI travel but don’t know if the Rapid Diagnostic Test is accepted. Does anyone know?
Dan…
Rapid Diagnostic test is a version of an NAAT and is acceptable (per communication to me from the Safe Travels Team). Antigen test is not acceptable.
But be careful and look at the map on Walgreens website. There is not a single Walgreens in our state that offers the Rapid Results test!
According to everything I have been able to figure out, the “ID NOW” rapid test is a PCR/NAAT test and is acceptable (it says so on the Walgreens COVID site). However the rapid antigen test is not. I hope I’m right because we have appointments scheduled with Walgreens on Friday morning for a Sunday morning flight this week!
Yes the Rapid diagnostic test is acceptable but not the antibody test from Walgreens. We used it and got the results back within 2 hours and traveled to big island November 5th and are still here. No quarantine.
Im surprised the legislature hasn’t made a move against Igenyet. He’s gone was to extreme in one way vs a good balance and it’s just killing Hawaii’s economy.
I wish I knew what the heck the criteria was for the State of Hawaii selection of “Trusted Partners”!?!?!?!
AFC runs out of tests. Vault doesn’t test those over 65 (at least in our state). Azova (Costco) is getting a worse and worse reputation AND is only available 5 days a week to start with! CVS has collapsed!
Here, the State offers free testing every day of the week. Yes, you have to sit on a line that is often hours long but at least you can drive home in 30-45 minutes afterwards! It is full PRC level testing with turnaround of less than 72 hours. It is a function of our State Department of Health but it’s not a “Trusted Partner”! It’s a freakin’ department of the state for heavens sake!
Why can’t a “sister” state honor that!?!?!?! Not only in our state but in others. Not everyone is out to “scam” Hawaii’s restrictions – more testing acceptability would solve at least one of the problems with all this! (And, BOH, I used the word “freakin’ with humor!)
Agree. This is absolutely ridiculous there are numerous Labs who are clia-certified who can conduct these tests and give you accurate results within 72 hours without you having to go through a million hoops. They have made it extremely difficult. Economy will suffer. Labcorp should be on there. Every urgent care who offers rapid testing with NAAT should be on their list beyond ridiculous
Is AFH 9(American Family Health) an approved provider for testing – and are rapid results approved? Thank you
Hi Cheryl.
It was hard to figure things out from their website. As someone pointed out, these are all individually owned. They are a trusted partner, and rapid tests as long as they are PCR will be accepted. https://hawaiicovid19.com/travel-partners/.
Aloha.
I called them because there happens to be an AFC near me and they told me that the rapid test is not a naat. No gurantee u will get pcr within 72 hrs
RODRIQUEZ…
There are two kinds of “Rapid Tests” – one is an NAAT test and the other is an antigen test. The first is allowed, the antigen test is not. They need to clarify which one they were talking about.
It appears in going through today’s list of authorized Covid19 testing facilities; it appears that there are none in San Diego. And the one that I had looked at before (Vault) may have difficulty in returning the results within 48 hours. So as of today it does not look good for anyone flying out of San Diego to Hawaii to book a flight or reserve a hotel in Hawaii. Not sure that the Hawaiian government is working on finding additional testing companies for travel to Hawaii this year. Not sure why they are not looking for additional testing facilities, the real looser in this conversation are the people that own small business and/or work in the travel industry.
I returned home to Honolulu yesterday on Hawaiian Airlines from Las Vegas and used one of Hawaiian Airlines partners (UMC) and was guaranteed our results before we arrived home (paid $130). We received our results online but UMC was supposed to send us a pdf confirmation so we could upload it to the Safe Travels Hawaii website and they did not. When we arrived in Honolulu and told them that we didn’t get the pdf from the company and offered to show them the testing results from MyChart, first they didn’t even know UMC was approved through Hawaiian Airlines, then they told us that they are not an approved facility. After showing them the Hawaiian website, they said ok if you get the state approved form you can get out of the quarantine. Their list of approved testing sites listed “Hawaiian Airlines” but did not further list the approved partners that they use. It was a mess. We were there for 3 hours. It seems like UMC didn’t know they had to send a pdf with our results on a State of Hawaii approved form. In the end, we signed the quarantine papers. They told us to upload the results as soon as we get them and then the quarantine would be lifted. If all this happened to us today (with the new rules) it would have been a different story.
Question…if you show up at the airport without results are you still able to fly? I understand that we would have to quarantine without results. Just not sure how this all works. Mahalo
Hi Rebecca.
You do not need to have results in order to fly. However, there is confusion and conflicting language on the Safe Travels website as to whether you need to have the negative test results before departure for Hawaii or upon arrival in Hawaii. We’ve responded to that a couple of times already in the comments above. Let us know if there are other questions on this.
Aloha.
Where should travelers in Colorado and Nebraska go to for Covid testing that’s Hawaii approved?
Wow….I’ve been on here acknowledging the fact that this has been a very difficult situation for all and Hawaii has done a good job of keeping us safe, but…..this is a total failure. No excuse for this and the worst of all is the kneejerk reaction to require a full 14 day quarantine for someone whose test results get delayed but turn out negative….totally safe and healthy but the State wants them to stay in their room for two weeks anyway, right.
Hand the entire testing situation over to the airlines serving Hawaii and pay them for their efforts. Hawaiian has been doing an outstanding job under difficult political circumstances and Alaska has been proactive in Seattle. United to a lesser degree but any of them could handle this better then than what’s going on now at the State level.
Aloha to all, this will change….I think.
Maybe Governor I’ve should have the same nickname as Governor Newsom- Governor Flip Flop.
This is worse than a soap opera!! You never know what to expect next! We are scheduled February 15-March 11.
There are so many variables!!! Shreek!!!
Hopefully we can make our Walgreens testing appointments (our only option in Atlanta) mid January for February. But then we have to commit to plane tickets!! Our condo maintenance fee is a sunk cost. It gets paid whether we enjoy the condo or not.
Mahalo guys, once again for breaking news every time, all the time!
I’m just going to say this…
Shut Hawai’i down. Keep our Ohana safe and concentrate on helping each other. We’ve always been able to get through the toughest times, as one big family.
Hawaiian airlines sent out emails yesterday offering to refund all tickets for travel to the Islands, until 2 November.
Travel isn’t safe and the tests aren’t reliable.
We personally have lost family members and friends to this virus since January.
I say all of this being a resident, and a medical professional.
I have a colleague who didn’t believe COVID-19 was a clear and present danger. He’s currently in the ICU fighting for his life.
The vaccine isn’t tested enough to take chances on.
Please stay safe and stop the hate and doubt. Covid-19 is real. It’s NOT like the flu. It’s dangerous.
Aloha and stay blessed.
Hi Pam.
Thanks for the nice words and all of your comments.
Aloha.
Thank-you Pam. Well said. I hope people will consider your advice. Stay safe & well.
I guess you don’t care about your ‘ohana’ that are starving, suicidal etc because Your home is in lockdown. Its in Hawaii and everywhere!! You think you’re going to stop it by your demands? People have to get there sometime.
Your post is obviously well thought out. But unfortunately, you’ve joined the anti-vax crowd led by Gov. Cuomo and Vice President Elect Harris in saying that the vaccine is not worth taking a chance on. Besides hiding in our closets, what is your alternative?
Aloha Curtis C.
I’m as far from an anti-vaxer as a person could be. (I’m also not a fan of Cuomo or Harris)
This situation calls for NO politics, just patience.
All vaccines, until now, have gone through arduous testing and take years to get to the marketplace.
There’s no magical solution to a complex organism such as COVID-19.
Everyone has been affected by the situation.
It’s just not worth risking lives over.
The Hawaiian government has millions of dollars waiting to be distributed to the residents. It’s just not being done yet.
There have been times that my family has had to live off of papayas, road apples, our own garden and animals. Times were tough and you make do.
Ohana isn’t just blood relatives. Our communities all pitch in and help each other.
I don’t expect you to understand, but I wish you all the best and thanks for your opinion.
Aloha and stay safe.
I am also a medical professional, a nurse, and I will be first in line for a vaccine if they let me. We need to find our way back to a “normal”, “new normal”, anything but this. The only way to get there is with a vaccine. Covid hasn’t yet “gone away”. People are suffering–in every way. Our elders are suffering with lack of meaningful, in person contact with those that love them. If every state had had a mask mandate and an example from our “leadership”, we would not be where we are with the numbers of Covid cases and deaths that we have.
LAX started testing yesterday. Can only make an appointment within three days of request for test.
Thanks BOH! It remains unclear just how this change in policy (pending results means automatic 14-day Q) is supposed to “stop the spread.” Seems like the Gov just used that statement without any detail or facts to back it up. Will be interesting to see what happens later this weekend and early next week as there are sure to be many folks arriving to the islands with pending results. I still say that Hawaii cannot legally enforce a full Q if results are pending (especially if they are received as soon as you land).
Hi Tracy.
We concur that we have not heard the last on this subject.
Aloha.
Does anybody know what happened to UC San Diego as a trusted partner? They were listed previously on the state website and is still listed on the Hawaiian Air website. But when I looked a few days ago, they were missing from the state website. UCSD has a lot of locations at a reasonable price. I live over an hour away but it would be willing to drive to avoid the chaos! But want to make sure they are approved!
My son used Worksite Lab (Hawaiian Air) today which was their opening day. He had one of the first appointments so I’ll report back how it goes. I booked him here after 3 AFC sites cancelled his rapid covid tests because they ran out!
mahalo!
Hi Macie.
We don’t know what happened to them; perhaps someone else does. It is fluid. CVS should definitely not be listed under their current circumstances.
Aloha.
Mahalo for the latest update! I’m not surprised to hear about CVS. My daughter, a college student, just returned home to Oahu on Sunday. We did ALL the necessary steps to ensure no quarantine – she took the test at a CVS as early as possible (almost 72 hours prior to her flight’s scheduled departure), but CVS did not get the results back until just over four days later. She was already on-island, and I was able to upload her results to the Safe Travels website in order to get her out of quarantine. But, if she had flown home just two days later (today), that wouldn’t have been allowed under the new rule, and she’d have been ordered to stay in quarantine the whole 14 days. Ridiculous. I’d really like to see the state offer some sort of special testing program for returning residents. How about allowing us to get a (free) test on-island within 24 hours of return to avoid quarantine? Or, use that testing trailer that’s at the Honolulu airport? Obviously, Covid doesn’t care if you are a tourist or a returning resident, but Hawaii should care and help us out a little bit with all of these testing mandates. I really feel sorry for all of the returning college students, in particular.
Also, just as an aside – your article says that the test result has to be uploaded prior to arrival in Hawaii. Actually, according to the state Covid website, it has to be uploaded prior to your flight’s departure. It’s a big difference, since the flights are 5-8 hours long from the mainland, thereby increasing the likelihood that people won’t have their results back in time.
Hi Wendy.
The state’s website says, “Trans-Pacific travelers arriving WITHOUT a confirmed negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of departure are subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine.”
Then it says, “Beginning November 24, all travelers must have a negative test result BEFORE beginning the final leg of their trip. Anyone without a negative test result PRIOR to departure must quarantine upon arrival.
So you can interpret all that as you will. Others have reported uploading it at the airport on arrival, or even on the plane while flying. It seems highly unlikely the state will know if you uploaded it before your flight, during your flight, or upon landing.
Certainly, a bird in hand would be best by far, as you pointed out.
We’re likely to have others report in on how that worked and it will be interesting to say the least.
Aloha.
I got the impression the negative test result has to be uploaded prior to departure… Beginning Nov. 24: Negative COVID-19 test result required prior to departure to avoid 14-day quarantine in Hawaii. Tests ONLY accepted from TRUSTED TESTING AND TRAVEL PARTNERS
hawaiicovid19.com/travel-partners
I’m sure there are conflicting statement all through the websites!
Aloha BOH, thanks for keeping us updated consistently. So my question is if i fly out and land on a Saturday to Hawaii that means the earliest i can get tested is Wednesday correct??
Thanks
Hi Darrell.
Thanks. Yes, that is correct. Within 72 hours of your scheduled mainland to Hawaii departure time.
Aloha.
It continues to sound as if folks who don’t live on the West Coast are facing an impossible task in getting tested.
We were supposed to leave a month from Friday – not any more – all I can do is hope that in the next 6 weeks, things get better! Now that our trip is down from 24 days to 13 days, we can’t tolerate a 14 day quarantine!
For once I’m glad we’re as old as we are as we could possibly be in queue for a vaccine! A “vaccine passport” would be a super addition to our resumes! (And we both get “older by a year” before our trip!)
Hi Barbara.
We appreciate all your comments and your sense of humor.
Aloha.
Can you give an update on American Family Care?
Hi Ernest.
Sorry, we inadvertently omitted them and just listed themnow. On checking their website, however, we don’t see details on timing of test results. Maybe someone can give us a hand on that.
Aloha.
AFC has a lot of different locations but each are independently owned and operated. So there is no consistency on how they are run. I contacted most of the So Cal locations over the last week trying to get a test for my son after his Vault test was lost by UPS. All were completely different. As an example, the Granada Hills location allowed me to schedule a covid test but their phone message states that they only take tests on a walk in basis. When I spoke to a representative she said they no longer offer rapid tests and results may take 4-8 days! She had no excuse as to why the website or phone message was wrong. I’ve had some success with Ladera Ranch but they recently ran out of tests. I will say they have been good about keeping me updated. So my advise is to call the location and speak to someone at the clinic to make sure they are offering the rapid test and don’t rely on what the website says.
If you can get a rapid test from them, it’s the easiest and most worry free option because you get your results before you leave the clinic.
Hope this helps.
Hi Macie.
That should help a lot with those considering AFC.
Aloha.
My wife and I flew to OAHU on 11/5/2020 on South West out of Oakland specifically because the Oakland Airport not only offers free testing but same day testing. Only hiccup was that we went to the drive up location as specified however, upon arrival they said at the drive up same day testing is not provided only at the walk up at the airport. The vendor set us up for an immediate appointment. So we went to the airport found the location of the testing site signed in and within ~ 20 minutes had our results that we could download to safe travels. We did make our appointment a couple of weeks ahead of our flight and we were actually able to have an earlier test than our original appointment. We drove down from Reno the day of our late afternoon flight and had several hours to visit the area (Alameda for lunch) before our flight as everything proceeded very smoothly. Upon arrival in Hawaii just had to show our QR code to be verified with our ID.
I just looked into this option but they no longer offer same-day testing. They do offer 24 hour testing though.
Is it a different website to sign up with the Walk in airport testing? I previously did the drive through location but am looking to pay for the expediate results. Thanks in advance.
Has there been any talks of what travel will be like to Hawaii one a vaccine is made available? (e.g. – still needing proof of negative test? proof of vaccine in place of a negative test?)
It’s my understanding that Qantas will be implementing a “proof of vaccine” requirement in the near future in order to fly with them. Do you feel Hawaii will follow suit?
Thank you for your time and thank you for the continual updates!
Hi Jeremy.
Hawaii cannot make any rules about interstate travel as that is governed by the federal government. Hawaii can say that if you don’t prove x, y or z, you have to quarantine, but they simply cannot interfere with travel itself. It seems likely that a vaccination passport may be a key to future air travel globally. But it is early and much more will be revealed.
Aloha.
Carbon Health hands down the best option for SEA travelers! Results in 45 minutes uploaded to their app. Walked in and out of clinic under five minutes!
Thank you for the comprehensive list. On the surface, this is a workable plan. But the execution is critical. Your governor doesn’t have a strong record in that area. Hawaii could be one of the safest destinations right now. To bad we can’t get something we can all work with.
Hi Mark.
Thanks. Did you want to talk again sometime?
Aloha.
To be Determined, what does that mean exactly.
Big Mahalo to you for putting this list together…. no small task. I had originally made my appointment with Bartells, and when I saw how busy the schedule was, and read their turnaround was 72 hours I decided that was too close for comfort, so switched to Carbon. Glad to see you are on the same page. I am grateful to you guys… just feel bad for all the folks that aren’’t signed up for these important emails. Sending Aloha
Hi Mel.
Thanks for being a part of Beat of Hawaii for almost 10 years already!
ALoha.
As much as I don’t like saying this, now is not the time to be traveling to Hawaii. The labs on the mainland are being overwhelmed with patients’ tests. My sister in law went to the ER last night, they tested her for Covid-19 and said it would take “a couple of days” to get results because the labs are so far behind – this is at a major hospital in a city of 250,000 people.
The labs need to prioritize the tests, and a test for vacation travel shouldn’t even be on the list of priorities right now.
I completely agree with you Ed!
The testing is not proven viable for now and there are people sick and dying
Stay home, stay safe.
Sounds about right for the idiot policies of Hawaii !
Tyrants rule ! Enjoy the poverty
Ditto
Don’t count on Kaiser San Mateo. My son, daughter-in-law and grandson’s plans just changed. Results not back in time for trip to Maui today (November 24th). Have had plans in the works since October 15th. Not happy with sudden changes made by governor. A lot of money lost.
This is insane! I hope everything is ironed out by late March or should we just cancel our trip once again?
We have also rebooked for March when it became impossible to find testing in the required time frame (at any cost). Perhaps there will be a workable plan in place by then, because currently only those few regions have suitable options. This article is consistent with everything I learned while preparing to leave this week. Those of us who have been living and working in a “Covid hotspot” for months are more confident that continued practice of reasonable precautions can keep us well. I believe this situation is manageable. (My Costco Covid tests arrived today, but we won’t be activating them quite yet.)
Best of luck!
A lot of these issues could be resolved if Hawai’i did as Bahamas does and make testing 5 days out. Mahalo
Hi Joan.
The lieutenant governor who is in charge of this felt that 3-days was a safer route. It is becoming very difficult however to comply with.
Aloha.
I agree that its foolish to be traveling at all now, and the labs are overwhelmed because we have so many sick people who also need testing…they are sick and its a sad situation when a doctor in a hospital can’t get test results in a timely manner…but someone who simply wants to go travel during a global pandemic can?
I am a healthcare provider and work at a clinic and I will tell you that many patients are getting tested without having a single covid symptom. some people are requesting to have a test on the basis of possible exposure to someone with covid. some people are requesting to have a test based on allergy symptoms. Many people are getting tested but not because they are sick.
Would appreciate any information on why Vault appears to not make testing available if you are covered by Medicare or Medicaid.
I thought they didn’t test in my state until I read that teeny disclaimer and sure enough when I tried to buy a test using a different email address and incorrectly stating I am not Medicare covered, they offered to sell me a test.
Yes, as someone mentioned weeks ago, they say they test in “49 states and Puerto Rico” but it the Medicare issue that stymied me. Is that an issue in states other than New Mexico?
Its likely because Medicare doesn’t pay the same as regular insurance…and if your doctor didn’t order the test they won’t pay either. Medicaid isn’t going to pay for anything that isn’t medically necessary and instigated by a doctor as well. You’re going to have to pay out of pocket most likely.
The reason is is because companies are not allowed to charge you cash for health care services when you have Medicare or Medicaid. It’s against the law long before covid-19 that is why many Healthcare Providers do not take these insurances
Jorid… Mahalo. Guess we’re screwed!