In an interview this week, Lt. Gov. Josh Green was quoted as saying that it is time to eliminate the Hawaii Safe Travels program entirely and get back to the new normal. But just what does that mean for visitors and when will it happen?
Update 2/17/22. Many of you have asked on which Hawaii intends to eliminate Safe Travels. It is being reported that the current plan is to eliminate Safe Travels effective starting March 17, just one month from today, on St. Patrick’s Day. Of course, that is subject to change and is not the official word from Governor Ige.Â
By mid-March:
Gubernatorial hopeful Green said that he believes that the Safe Travels will go first, and he expects that to come within the next 30 days, by mid-March.
If and when that happens as he predicts, and as Governor Ige has also intimated, there should be no further requirements associated with getting on a flight to Hawaii. That means no texting, and no vaccination or proof thereof will need to be uploaded to the state. Of course, if things change, you can be sure that Safe Travels will remain in the wings, and could be reinstituted should that become necessary.
By early April:
Lt. Gov. Green said that by early April he expects Hawaii will quit its indoor mask mandate.
The state most closely related to Hawaii in terms of distance and number of visitors is California. People there who are fully vaccinated no longer have to wear a face mask as the state’s mandate expires at midnight tonight. Schools and individual counties there can still have their own rules in that regard. Unvaccinated are still required to wear masks indoors, although how that would be enforced is unclear.
State research says Covid cases will continue to decline.
Hipam, the state’s pandemic modeling group just said that they expect cases to continue to decline. Just a few weeks ago, Hipam wasn’t sure it would reach this low level, but now it gladly says the trend will continue. Hipam is “a group of applied epidemiologists, data scientists, health workers, and professionals who wish to offer our help to the State of HawaiÊ»i to address the formidable challenges posed by this pandemic.”
CDC set to update its recommendations including masks.
An update on Covid guidance is expected soon from the CDC. Director Rochelle Walensky said today, “We are assessing the most important factors based on where we are in the pandemic and will soon put guidance in place that is relevant and encourages prevention measures when they are most needed to protect public health and our hospitals. We want to give people a break from things like mask-wearing when these metrics are better and then have the ability to reach for them again should things worsen.”
Huge about-face in one month.
It was just late in January that the state confirmed it planned to require Covid boosters for travel to Hawaii.
It should be noted that the abolition of the be Safe Travels program mentioned in this article only applies to domestic visitors. International travelers, such as myself, will have to wait longer before we are allowed back into Hawaii restriction free.
Is it still being reported that Safe Travels will end by March 17th? Everything I see says March 25th.
sorry, nobody has died of covid because a.) that deceased person failed to wear a mask nor b.) that deceased person was around who did not wear one. The size of a coronavirus makes it easy to slip thru the fibers of a mask. The KN-95 has the best chance at only slowing them, however their sole purpose is to protect the wearer.
The im wearing a useless mask for you because i care about you is the stupidest thing i have ever heard!! This whole trannical behavior and lies about it all is just plain evil.
Natural immunity is better than a man-made injection that doesn’t protect. Show me the peer reviewed studies! The virus was never able to be duplicated as this was done by computer model only. Since when has the government done anything good for the people? Time to do your research and quit believing everything you’re told from the corporate media.
It’s amazing the fact remains that being vaccinated dramatically increases your chance of survival if infected. Yet people want to twist around the fact that they are not a 100% guaranty into “they don’t work”. People can die in car crashes even though they have their seatbelt on, do you think seatbelts don’t work?
Natural immunity is way better, but no one talks about that. Just follow the money. Vaccinated protection starts to fail after 2 months, leaving you more vulnerable then you were before you were vaccinated. Just keep getting boosted for the rest of your life.
I’m glad there will still be people willing to wear them! Most of these comments are truly shocking, seeing as soon many people lost their lives to the virus! Must be from people that didn’t lose anyone, or in our case, several “anyone’s to the virus! How lucky all of y’all are.
Today’s paper made the point that Hawaii is the last state to drop the mask mandate. At it’s core the mask is about caring for others more then just self interest or petty politics. That’s why Hawaii is called the Aloha State.
Since every case that was reported is suspect to begin with since the numbers are all wrong how can you even believe anything the CDC says much less politicians. The CDC admitted last summer that the tests are all not covid specific, they urged labs to create a specific test yet it hasnt been done yet. Do some research and find out the truth.
Mask mandates do nothing to stop the spread though. That has already been proven. See the super bowl. We have the data. Masks are just for show at this point.
If the cases are dropping and available hospital beds are low why not just drop it now? Why wait for another month? I understand the precaution but are they expecting that the cases is going up next week?
Aloha Rob & Jeff.
Great news for travellers with restrictions being loosened in Hawai’i and even here at home (Ireland & UK). Let’s hope everything and everyone will be both safe and benefit from the changes. Travelling seems to be back.
Mahalo and all good wishes.
Hi Michael.
Good to hear from you! Yes, we fully anticipate seeing more of you now and look forward to that.
Aloha.
Is there any word on whether or not these changes will apply to international travellers?
I can’t find her post. But one sentence in kathy t’s post really hit me: “I’m in my 70’s , have 3 shots now and personally don’t appreciate unvaccinated people being allowed to sit next to me on a 6hour flight even with a mask.”
I’m 77 & consider the 70’s to be the death decade, even without COVID help. Had my 3 shots also & could care less who sits next to me. Vaccinated elitists also get & die from COVID. Two of the 4 in my home have chosen to not be vaccinated. Hope 2 never sit near Kathy.
So the safe travels website ending march 17
What about the mask mandate
Thank
You
Perhaps Kathy has been exposed to too much PR (sponsored by Pfizer) telling her that her 3 shots don’t work if she sits near an unvaxxed person. The unvaxxed have powerful Vax destroying power. Maybe by the 4th or 5th shot, she’ll be less afraid. Probably not.
Let’s just start today no more mask no more forced vaccine no more safe travel starting today …unmask the children let them breathe… why put it off tell tomorrow when you can do it today ….
Mahalo JM
Why do they have to wait tell March or April to cancel the mask wearing and the safe travel…why not just start it today no more mask. unless you want to wear one..time to move on….let’s just start today …
Let the children breath unmask the kids…
Mahalo JM
I didn’t mind the restrictions on travel, it wasn’t all that much of a hardship. I appreciate what Lt Gov Green did for Hawaii. However, I’m certainly happy to see the mask mandates coming to end from what hear March 17.
Aloha Guys
Now they are saying March 25 for the ending of Safe Travels.
Hi Roy.
That date is not clear. That is the date the emergency proclamation in effect ends, although we expect it to be sooner.
Aloha.
I find it fascinating as we move closer to elections that suddenly cases are falling dramaticly and all those politicians are now taking down their own draconian policies!