What might happen when the Hawaii legislature returns on January 20 that could change current travel policies.
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What is required if a returning resident has received both COVID 19 vaccinations prior to returning to Hawaii?
I am wondering will there be any provision for folks that have had 1 or 2 Covid vaccines?
My wife and I are on Kauai at the moment on day 8 of of our quarantine. We do not take issue with a rule. We are just fine with our 10-days in our villa to insure the safety of our island friends. My one wish is that you pick rule and stick to it. It is the inconsistency that is the hardest, not the rule itself.
Sounds like a wild card to me.
Kauai is aware they have the least hospital beds and icu units. I know of no increase in those numbers over the last ten months in spite of serious federal funds having been available to kauai. This suggests to me some very poor decision making.
This is a mystery to me also. The Feds can set up an ICU in the middle of the Iraqi desert in relatively short order, why not on Kaua’i? Instead they just go back to “we only have 9 ICU beds”. If something has changed in that regard, maybe I missed it.
I totally agree! Where are the legislators that need to be making sure there is enough medical help for its constituents now and in the future?
Waiting to hear how they will deal with visitors who have been fully Vaccinated for COVID… I will have my final vaccination in a week… Just curious, how they will deal with people who are Vaccinated…?
Aloha – any idea if there will be an exemption to pre-travel testing for people vaccinated? Or what the rules might change to if you’ve already had and recovered from Covid?
Mahalo!
Hi Jen.
We hope to learn very soon. It was to begin in February.
Aloha.
Having to due the 72 hour test is hard because where we live they are really behind and it is taking a week to get test back. I agree on testing just maybe at the airport when we land or open the window to a week time frame. Thank you
You asked which of the sticking points is most concerning. Oh, goodness, where to start, lol? As an Oahu resident who has had to quarantine over the summer (before there was even a testing option) after returning from the mainland, and who has had to oversee the testing requirements for both of my daughters so they could avoid the quarantine when coming home to Hawaii for Christmas (one from Massachusetts and one from Mississippi), I can tell you that the whole thing is a mess. It’s HARD to get the tests on the mainland, and it’s nerve-wracking waiting for the results to come in. I strongly believe that the whole state should have the same rules, and that we should have 96 hours to get the test before travel, not just 72. I also believe that residents should be able to get tested at the Honolulu airport for free. Residents shouldn’t be lumped into the same category as vacationers.
Also, just to clarify – the quarantine is actually 10 days now, not 14, as you stated in your article above. Thank you for all of the updates – I really enjoy your newsletters!
Hi Wendy.
Thanks for that. We updated to reflect the right number – 10 days.
Aloha.
There are no new “sticking points”. They are the same now as they were from day 1. You essentially enumerated them all above–but all of the rolls into one big sticky ball called “government cluster failure”.
Hawaii is essentially a failed state and has been for a while now. Billions in debt at both the state and county levels… with zero plan to reduce or eliminate that debt–and that was BEFORE the pandemic. I can’t even begin to imagine how much more debt has been added to the pile over the past year due to COVID. If anything, government spending is WAY up in 2020–while tax revenues are WAY down.
And as to the question of whether Hawaii / Hawaiians “want you here” the answer is complicated. “Hawaii” the corporate entity that survies and thrives on tourist tax and sales dollars has wanted you here from day 1. But Hawaiians–the locals that don’t work–or don’t work in or own tourist-related businesses–don’t want you here even when there’s NOT a pandemic. They never have. They never will. And they are the loud, vocal minority that wags the government dog here. They’re the same fools camped out up on Mauna Kea trying to stop a $2.4 billion dollar telescope from being built on a mountain top that already has FOURTEEN other telescopes–and the same fools having protests and waving signs about tourism this year–and the same fools spreading the covid throughout their own communities.
So vote with your wallet… go to Mexico instead. Sure, you’ll probably get robbed and you might get killed… but at least you’ll be wanted. And there’s good tequila there.
Took your advice ..Cozumel on Friday…have felt completely welcomed by all of our vendors we are working with. This whole situation has left a bad taste about Hawaii…its too bad really.
“They never have. They never will.”
Yes. Exactly. Very well said!
So, we go on.
Thanks for the comment Jared X.
Yeah, we can derive safety based on number of COVID infections/deaths; but are there not perhaps other versions of what is “safe”. To advocate the other side, what are the indirect casualties of the COVID restrictions?
In the end, the Governor ought to abide the popular consensus on how to restrict incoming tourists, right? I know I’m just someone who wants to visit the islands next month (talk about indirect casualties of the COVID restrictions); but I do get the sense that the majority of Hawaii agrees and wants me to visit, too.