Don’t plan to leave for Hawaii until you are aware of this.
129 thoughts on “Important Changes to Hawaii Quarantine Rules Amid Political Infighting”
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I hope Ige will also change that the 72 hour mark is from your flight departure not arrival because logistically this is going to be very difficult for travelers.
Its never been from arrival time. It is from your departure time.
Knowing everyone on my flight from SFO has already tested negative is a relief. I’m aware there can be false negatives but this makes the flight over much less risky.
I bet you were far more comfortable with the new regulations! We would be as well – big time!
However, you flew out of SFO. For those of us who can’t, the new rule is a logistical nightmare!
We live in an 850,000+ Metro Area so we don’t live in the boonies! We have four options: CVS (which doesn’t test for travel in our state), Walgreens (which doesn’t test for travel in our state), Vault (which is not licensed to test in our state) and Coscto/AZOVA (which is our only choice).
Using a mail in test is daunting although their result turn around appears to be really good. But we have to travel to our Hawaii point of departure the day before we fly and to get there having spent those $$$ and find out we still don’t have results in time – well, we truly don’t know what we’re going to do!
sorry but you don’t know that. there are people that come without a test and plan to quarantine.
Ane T… Don’t the new regulations require you to have a negative test in order to even board a flight? IN which case, you should not have such a concern as you stated above.
There is no requirement to test negative in order to fly to Hawaii. Just means you have to quarantine on arrival if you don’t have negative results in advance. According to the article, 30K people still had to quarantine since Oct 15th. Many people that fly here, live here, are moving here, or otherwise plan to spend several months here, and will just put up with quarantine rather than go through the test ordeal/expense, especially those who have a residence so they are not stuck in the Tip Top jail cell.
But I agree this should eliminate non-resident short-term tourists that do not already have test results received and uploaded from flying over. It will also deter people from planning
a trip to begin with, unless everything refundable/cancelable at last minute.
For the people with the time/cash, I could see making multiple flight reservations over two or three days in a row, then taking tests three days before each one, until timely results received. If your Monday test results not in time for flying Thursday, perhaps your Wednesday test results will still be in time to fly on Saturday. Not practical for many people, though.
Sadly not everyone will have tested. There are those that choose not to test at all and go directly into 14 day quarantine. So, travelers that test negative can sit next to “unknown” travelers. This is where the implemented plan fails.
You would think that “trusted” guarantees timely results.
Hi, I remember you posting a link to approved testing sites. Could I get that link again please? We’ve had a trip booked in January for about 8 months now and we keep hoping things will get figured out by then. Any advise you could give us? Thank you so much!
Hi Charlton.
Here’s where the list is found. https://hawaiicovid19.com/travel-partners/.
Aloha.
Thanks, as always, BOH for the info! I read about this yesterday as my Resort sent me the info because of my upcoming trip. Can Hawaii legally enforce this? If a visitor follows the “rules” by pre-travel testing but the so-called Trusted Testing Partners cant deliver quick results, why penalize the visitor? Hawaii gives visitors the option to pre-travel test. If results arent obtained in 72-hrs, why treat the visitor as if he didnt test all? Hawaii is basically saying “if our trusted test partners dont get your results to you within 72-hrs, you must have Covid.” As a child might say, “this is not fair.” Again, I dont think they can enforce this from a legal perspective” Thanks, again!
Hi Tracy.
Thanks. This is a mess.
Aloha.
How about you stop thinking of only yourself and don’t come to Hawaii right now! There problem solved!
Is anyone in the Hawaii administration aware of how small the window is to get a test taken and processed in less than 72 hours before estimated arrival? When you are supposed to arrive on a Monday and the labs don’t process on Sunday this may be VERY CLOSE to impossible. My estimated arrival is 11/30 and unless these bureaucrat/politicians clarify this “plan” I am probably going to have to cancel the trip for my wife a me. At some point I will stop paying my taxes and sue under the federal “takings” clause.
Hahaha You just go ahead and do that!
Sorry, this is happening. I think many people will not test for COVID before coming to Hawaii at all. What is the point of testing when many facilities cannot promise you will get you results within the 72 hour time period? This might open Hawaii to many more people arriving with COVID, or not coming at all.I pray Hawaii can withstand the economic disaster the virus has brought upon them.
My wife and I rescheduled our October trip to March and now I’m thinking that it is not worth the risk of getting stuck. Our plane leaves California in the late afternoon so the 72 hours will be based on Pacific Time so I’m assuming that we’ll lose a day of testing result time being located in Wisconsin and having to get the test after 6PM. We were hoping that a vaccine might become available but that’s no longer likely in that timeframe. With all of the political drama going on, I almost think that there’s someone hoping to hand off a worse situation to the next administration.
So let’s see. The tests are not 100% accurate (false positives are happening), the test centers are being overwhelmed because of the drastic increase in cases and you may not get your results before you travel, you may get an erroneous negative test result less than 24 hours before you travel and you therefore can’t get your airline charge refunded and possibly your car rental if you prepaid and your condo or hotel deposit, and you didn’t purchase “cancel for any reason” insurance……..Sounds like a no brainer to me. If money is no object for you, go for it. But I’m willing to bet this will, as BOH says, put the kibosh on travel plans for many prospective visitors.
There was an article on BOH recently that mentioned that most, if not all, of the Trip Insurance “cancel for any reason” policies are excepting COVID. IN other words, if you have to cancel due to Covid related reason(s), you won’t be covered.
Wonder if BOH could post that information again.
Hi Barbara.
Cancel for any reason means there is no asking about why you are canceling. You simply changed your mind is adequate. Keep in mind that virtually all CFAR coverages require you to cancel 48 hours in advance of the trip start. Here’s a link: https://beatofhawaii.com/new-essential-for-hawaii-cancel-for-any-reason-trip-insurance/.
Aloha.
Aloha.
BOH, I was unaware of that. A 48 hour cancellation restriction for CFAR insurance is even more reason not to risk a positive test result, false positive of otherwise.
I for one am happy for the adjustment to fly only if test in hand. How many were on the planes and were exposed to those landing to find out their test was positive? Do they notify the other passengers the possibility of exposure? Why not testing for travel anywhere?
Then they MUST give you more than 72 hours!! How ridiculous.