Updating HB1286 with Hawaii legislature to the forefront. If passed, all islands would follow a single COVID travel policy.
248 thoughts on “Breaking: Plan to Eliminate Island-by-Island Travel Rules Gets Heard”
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Home » Blog » Hawaii Travel Tips » Breaking: Plan to Eliminate Island-by-Island Travel Rules Gets Heard
Thank you for your concern. We have lost rentals in our Kauai condo for almost a year now. Now, renters that canceled a year ago because of COVID restrictions rescheduled to return this spring, only to find the situation is even more difficult and they have to cancel again. Many are giving up on Kauai and changing to Mexico, whet they are wanted. Between the incredibly high bed taxes in Hawaii and severe and costly restrictions we may lose our business forever. Every year people die of flu viruses and even more from tuberculosis. Never before have we closed down business for a cold or flu or pneumonia season. They all can be deadly. Please reconsider these strict and unreasonable punishment to your island workers and homeowners. Please!!!!! I have written several times on deaf ears. I emplore you to listen to us. Mahalo, Sharon F, 40 year homeowner
Hi Sharon.
Thanks for your input on this complicated situation.
Aloha.
When is this voted on?
Thank you. I am in support of a state wide travel policy rather then the patchwork island to island policies. It is too challenging for visitors and locals alike.
I am currently planning a trip to Hawaii, and agree the covid regulations are very burdensome and confusing! Especially if you are planning to travel multiple islands. I have faith that they will be able to fine tune their policies and procedures by November – their economy depends on it- but most of my travel companions are not wanting to deal with the hoopjumping or significant added expenses. It is discouraging even those who want to travel and support Hawaii in a responsible way.
Having a singular set of rules will help bring back the travelers that residents and businesses rely on for income. I feel Kauai’s concerns should definitely be addressed in the legislation though! A plan to share resources and responsibility between counties would be a common sense addition. In CA, when icu capacity reaches a certain % in one county, patients are often transferred to help spread the burden and not overwhelm one area. The logistics might be a little more difficult between islands, but not impossible. I don’t imagine it being any more cost prohibitive than their current plans already are. Something similar might benefit all counties in Hawaii so they can recover as safely as possible.
Rules pertaining to Covid should be uniform among all of the Hawaiian islands. Each island being allowed to make their own rules is beyond ludicrous! My vote would def be to force all islands to use the same set of rules.
Mahalo,
TJ
remember when it was about hospital capacity?
Aloha! I am sure I am not alone in trying to navigate the Covid chaos protocols in Hawaii. If not for BOH it would be super challenging to keep track of the ever-changing goalposts. I think ONE, well-communicated protocol for ALL islands would make the best sense. Hawaii is one state, albeit with various counties across separate islands with different infrastructures in place (e.g. ICU beds), but ONE, Simple set of “rules” would just be easier if you ever want to recover the tourism economy which supports many citizens of Hawaii. Mahalo!
Hi Nita.
Thanks for your input and for 70 comments to date. We appreciate it.
Aloha.
Beat of Hawaii continues to be invaluable to us, with up-to-date clear information, as we make our decisions concerning our travel plans for our trips to Hawaii – thank you! We were on Kauai in November for 2 weeks at the Marriott Kauai Beach Club. We barely got our Kaiser 72 hour negative test results in time for our 7:40am flight to Kauai, but our son & daughter-in-law and my sister & her fiance didn’t, so they stayed home – 96 hours would have worked. During our 2 week stay on Kauai, all the business owners and their employees that we encountered, as well as the staff at the resort, would thank us for coming, after asking the usual question about where we were traveling from. There were many that shared with us about how hard it had been for them to be closed for all those months, and how happy they were that tourists were being welcomed back to their island. Several businesses that had been closed during our first week there, opened up during our 2nd week there. We’re scheduled to travel to Maui on 3/31 for a 9 day stay, and then move on to Kauai on April 9 for 2 weeks, using our timeshares for the entire trip. We are definitely in favor of HB1286. Since visitors from the mainland have proven not to be a significant factor in Kauai’s COVID cases, their travel rules seem way too restrictive. We only have a few more days to decide whether we’re going to have to cancel/reschedule, and we’re guessing that the legislature won’t have a decision that soon to help us make our decision, especially since they’re not even accepting “testimony” yet. We already pushed our trip out a month in early December to start on 3/31 instead of 2/28 in hopes that all the chaos concerning travel to Hawaii, almost on a daily basis, would be a thing of the past by now.
Hi Donna.
Thanks for the feedback and your kind words.
Aloha.
Aloha BOH! I am still confused on the testing requirement timing for my upcoming ( hopefully) trip to Maui. We leave Las Vegas at 9:25 AM and go straight to Honolulu. We then have a connecting flight to Maui leaving at approx 3PM Hawaii time. Is the COVID test required 72 hours from the first flight or the second one? These flights are booked as a single itinerary not our separate flights. Please advise if you know the answer!
Hi Lisa.
The test must be within 72 hours of the mainland (LAS) to Hawaii (HNL) flight departure.
Aloha.
Finally a bit of sanity.
Aloha Guys
Please have all islands follow the same rules. I have lived on Oahu and own a timeshare on Kauai for over 30 plus years and this is only the 3rd time in 30 years I haven’t made it to Kauai. I understand the concerns of not enough medical care on Kauai to take care of everyone local or tourists but what about the businesses and the monetary well being of those who call Kauai home? We need to get the businesses back open for all to live, love and enjoy the islands. One set of rules for all would in my opinion be best. Mahalo
Instead of losing Billion$ from loss of tourism, maybe invest Million$ in ICU and staff. The state and the county need to re-prioritize.
Wow! What an amazing practical, logical idea. Too bad our state and county government officials didn’t think about it.
The lost tax revenue would pay for a lot of additional ICU capacity.
By the way if you check the States official data you will see that the ICU capacity is not being taxed. Last time
I checked, Wilcox had 11 ICU beds; only 2 were being used (none by Covid patients).
Never hear that from the Mayor.
The mayor on Kauai is fear and doom. He doesn’t care about the island he only cares about his salary which he still receives while the rest of us are unemployed for almost a year. I’ve sent numerous letters to his office asking about why they are not bringing in portable hospital rooms and beds where they could have set up in the parking lot which is huge behind the hospital if they think they’re such a concern of being overwhelmed. I don’t see what the problem is with letting people on the island when everyday people are going back and forth from Oahu to come and work here without being tested in anyway. That’s the island where the most outbreaks have been but they let these people go back and forth on airplanes everyday calling them essential workers which is a joke. We’re all esential. If people can crowd into Walmart and Costco and Home Depot and places like that everyday then they can come and eat in a restaurant and stay in a condo well it’s much safer than crowding into places like Walmart and Costco. And if you’re absurdly rich like Zuckerberg who came to the island flaunting his ability to ride around on jet skis out in the ocean while he’s supposed to be quarantined then you can bribe the county with your million dollars that you gave them and have no repercussions. I was told Ron kouchi vouch for him having done his quarantine but how would Kouchi know whether he did or not unless he was staying in his giant house with them. As usual if you have enough money you can do anything you want in this country there are no rules for you. Open up with no restrictions at all that’s what we need and the people that are afraid of the virus can stay in their homes and hide in their basement. And don’t try to tell me that if I come down with it because I don’t believe in this Draconian rules that I shouldn’t have any access to healthcare. I have just as much right to healthcare as the fat obese people that stuff their faces getting heart disease and everything else
We own property on Kauai and spent 4 months there last fall. While there we met an emergency room doctor who works at Wilcox Hospital. He said the hospital got PPE money but instead of using it to expand ICU
capacity (11 beds) they were remodeling the emergency room department. They were working out of temporary
tents in the parking lot… The mayor has done nothing to plan to open the island up while businesses are devastated.
We have to live with this and stop these fear based tactics. It is so sad to see the lack of regard for small business owners,
while government workers keep being paid and with the construction boom that industry is working but most everything else has been devastated.
Aloha Stephanie,
Husband and wife Peter Stengaard and Jennifer Gross recently donated $2.75 million toward Wilcox Medical Center’s emergency department and trauma fundraising campaign.
It is the largest donation in the hospital’s history.$4.3 million has been raised toward Wilcox Health Foundation’s $5 million campaign goal. The money raised in Wilcox’s campaign will be used to create two trauma resuscitation suites as well as renovate specialty spaces for behavioral health, infectious control, pediatrics and OB-GYN care.