Can you travel To Hawaii without stress given the latest unprecedented Covid situation?
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351 thoughts on “Safe To Travel To Hawaii? Anxiety About Shutdown Amid All-Time Record Covid”
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Can you travel To Hawaii without stress given the latest unprecedented Covid situation?
Get Breaking Hawaii Travel News
Comments are closed.
According to the GIN (aka the opakapaka wrap), Kauai Island has around 250 diagnosed and considered “active” Covid cases, of which 3 are hospitalized. 1.5% percent hospitalized. If you aren’t obese and/or have type 2 diabetes and-or over 80 and/or have other serious immune problems, then yes like flu. But, so many people are in fact fat and unhealthy these days, plus we keep folks alive much longer than in past generations, and so entitled, so here we are.
We are supposed to stay on big island next month for 10 days. But I’m not optimistic. We aren’t going to go if we have to quarantine the entire time, and I think that’s coming down the pipe. We are vaxxed, live in a state with a renewed mask mandate. The statement by I’ve was spineless in a few ways, blaming locals for the spread was not great. And also just asking us to please not visit the state. He sounds like someone beholden to the travel and tourism board.
We have a trip as a couple for 11/2 for 5 weeks to Big Island. We are not vaccinated and are planning to wear masks and take tests. I hope Delta has declined by then, we are not canceling. We normally do lots of snorkelling and get groceries to prepare our own food.
Mahalo
Get vaccinated!!
(Edited – warning on not adhering to https://beatofhawaii.com/comment-policy/)
I’m confused. Don’t you have to have proof of vaccination to get into Hawaii now?
BW – I suggest you go to the official State of Hawaii website and read for yourself. You not only do NOT need to be vaccinated to travel to Hawaii, you do NOT even need to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test to travel to Hawaii. The purpose of the negative test is to be exempt from the 10 day quarantine. Having been vaccinated merely exempts you from showing proof of a negative test. If you “say” you are going to quarantine when you get to Hawaii, you can be be Covid-19 positive and board a plane with everyone else.
Go to hawaiicovid19.com/travel/getting-to-hawaii/ and scroll down to the “Quarantine Guidlines” section.
Watching posts carefully. Still going to try to make it to big island mid oct. We will will stay in 1 place, walk outside, enjoy the weather, pool, ocean and aloha. Am looking into the cancellation policies of my travel vendors, in the event the situation for Hawaii signals quiet visitors shouldn’t come either.
We are coming. Governor Ige’s focus should be on ways to get the unvaccinated residents, who are 98% of the problem, their jab. The unvaccinated are prolonging the pandemic and putting others at risk and harming the economy. To ask travelers who have planned and committed with non-refundable accommodations to suddenly not come, is not solviing the correct problem. I just exaggerates fear and anxiety and makes some wonder about his ability to lead.
We were there in March 2019 right before everything closed and now we planned to get married on Maui Oct 1. Both are vaccinated adults planning on spending about $10k on this trip. Still planning on coming, but have begun researching other options in case your governor decides to commit economic suicide. Cancel 10 day quarantine that is the reason for the locals spreading it. Require the vax and a test to get there from EVERYONE. Require vax ID for events, dining, hotels/vrbos, and rental cars. All the problems solved in one dictatorial swipe.
Aloha!
We are coming Mid October or so is the plan.. Reservations for all excursions and dinners were made months ago. As long as we can do the things we’ve planned, we will come.
Mahalo
DM
Hi Dawn.
Thanks for letting us know about your plans. We appreciate it.
Aloha.
Thank you so much for continuing to keep us up to date. We have hotel and airline reservations for the first week of November. I’ve been trying to prepare myself that we may have to cancel again this year but we’re trying to wait until late September/early October to really make any decisions. We feel like things are just too up in the air right now and want to see how things are closer to our vacation dates.
Dear Dawn, originally I wanted to go to Hawaii in 2020, but virus hit. Then I postponed until April 2022, but have decided just recently to postpone again until 2023. I just don’t feel comfortable traveling anywhere where the cases are high. It has been my lifelong dream to go to Hawaii for my vacation, so what is alittle more time?!🐢🐠🌺🍍🥥🌏🏖🏝🛩☀️🌈🌊
We just changed our plans and reservations for the 4th time since all this covid mess started. We have new air and accommodations for mid November and hope we can come. As much as we love Hawaii and the people at 72 we cannot take chances 8hrs+ on planes and busses when we arrive. Get vaccinated! It is no big deal we will get our booster as soon as eligible. We want to protect not only ourselves but also our families and others. Please, please get vaccinated. We did it for you, do it for us too.
I’m glad we made it here in Kauai last weekend before they announce more changes to travel. Hopefully we can complete the rest of our vacation in the next 2.5 weeks without issues. Mahalo BOH for your constant updates, we were able to travel with ease and plan ahead for activities and dining reservations.
Hi Inah.
We hope you are enjoying your time on Kauai.
Aloha.
My husband and I travel to our beloved Kauai nearly every year over the past 20 years. Of course we had to skip 2020 so we applied our deposit to similar dates in 2021. Per our contract we paid the balance in full for October-November dates and we fully intend to be there. We are vaccinated and vigilante in practicing safe behavior. We always stay in a condo with stunning views of Hanalei Bay and over the years we’ve come to spend less time out and about and just sit back and enjoy what’s right in front of us. We always support the local economy every way we can, i.e, farmers markets, shops, and restaurants which so many offer outdoor seating. It’s important to us that the Kauai people come through this challenging time as best they can so we will be there, ready to spend our money, laying low and wearing our masks to keep everyone safe.
I had much more confidence when everyone on the plane had tested negative before the flight. Now it would (almost) be nice if everyone also tested before flying back to Mainland. At least the 5-6 hr plane flight would be less worrisome. For me, it’s easy to deal with being on island because of the timeshare, plenty of gardens we haven’t seen yet, drives.
We changed our reservations from Oct to Nov. This is the 4th time we have changed our reservations.
We have a trip planned for Sept 15-25th and we are coming. Our whole group has been vaccinated and even if everything is scaled back. We can cook, go to the beach, pools and be together. I am sure the locals who own business that we frequent will appreciate the business as well as the staff at hotels and restaurants.
Good Afternoon,
My boyfriend and I have a trip planned to Maui in mid September. Been planned for 9 months…not sure what to do…watching case loads and hospitalizations. We are up there in age and have both been vaccinated. The time share is not sharing much info. The airline does give more info but still leaves us pondering…$1545, for a car rental, is it worth it? My friend has never been….So the car rental is necessary to see the island….These points for the time share are held over from canceling in 2020. We are in a serious discussion…and dilemma. If the governor shuts everything down. Decision will be easier. Thank you for keeping us so well informed.
Hi Geraldine.
As for the car rental. Do keep checking up to departure and even on arrival. Things are changing and you might get a pleasant surprise. Ohers recently have.
Aloha.
🌺 Aloha Geraldine,
I’ve been frequently checking Costcotravel.com car rental rates for the Big Island and Maui. Rates have been dropping quite a bit. You can make a reservation so you have a car reserved. If you check their website again and the rate has dropped even more, you can make a new reservation and easily cancel your initial reservation. (You cannot change reservation dates.) When we visited the Big Island in May, Costco Travel had the lowest car rental rates and we got an excellent rate.
I hope you are able to get to Maui. 🏝 Have fun if you do! 😎
Beat of Hawaii, mahalo for all your greatly appreciated updates! 🤙🏼
Aloha BOH Bro’s
Since the start of the pandemic in 2019 as of today on CDC’s website a total of 385 children under the age of 17 have died of covid. During that same reporting period 887 children under the age of 17 died of Pneumonia without covid.
Children under the age of 17 have been contracting covid at the same rate as adults. The difference is when they contract covid they have little or no symptoms bounce back in a day or 2.
During this period of reporting 54,062 children under the age of 17 died of all causes. Suicide is killing thousands more of under 17’s especially girls than covid ever will.
Covid kills mostly 49 and over individuals who are obese with uncontrolled diabetes, that is fact. 78 percent of all deaths from covid had uncontrolled diabetes and over 90 percent were obese with secondary health issues.
Covid isn’t killing us it’s our unhealthy lifestyle that is killing us.
Hi, we are scheduled to fly to Oahu from Portland Oregon on Monday, September 6th. We have been very conflicted about this trip, with Governor Ige’s press conference telling tourists to stay away for the next 60 days and the large numbers of COVID cases. We are both fully vaccinated and plan on taking a COVID test 72 hours before we arrive, even though it is not necessary. Yes, we have decided to come. We too would lose thousands of dollars if we were to cancel at this late date, we will be on Oahu from September 6th thru October 4th and staying in a condo at Waikiki. We are in our 70’s and plan on a very low key vacation. Lots of time touring the island and checking out all those view points and beaches and doing short hikes. Hoping the beaches and swimming pools are not closed down. We have a car the entire time and we plan on making use of it. Other than our favorite restaurants our meals will primarily be at the condo and we’ll do the cooking. We have been coming to one island or another for the last 35 years, so we are very familiar with the Oahu.
We will be wearing masks and taking all the necessary safety precautions while we are there. We respect the Hawaiian people and their culture and are so saddened to hear that some of our favorite places were not able to make it through the past year. We will miss the owners tenacity and Aloha spirit and are praying for them and the other Hawaiian residents at this time.
P.S. Adding to my previous comment: I’m renting a room from my goddaughter. I sent her my money back in April. While I’m not worried about getting monies back if there’s a lockdown, I’d prefer to not have to be put in that position to ask. Thank You Beat of Hawaii for keeping us in the know.
We have decided to push our honeymoon back until May. Luckily, our travel consultant was very cooperative (AAA).
Still coming. Been looking forward to it all year. However, I have never felt this unsettled about a vacation in my life. Mahalo
Hi Mary.
We get it. Please let us know how it goes. And thanks for all of your comments.
Aloha.
it will be fine when you get there, its quite the spread-out place . just be practical and sensible
Since we cancelled our 2020 Maui trip, we are scheduled next week to fulfill our timeshare which will not allow us to extend beyond this Dec 2021. It is literally use it or lose without recourse to recoup yearly maintenance fees.
What the governor is stating is simply bad for the economy. If they have a problem with locals not willing to take the shot, why would you scare ‘your customers’ with your statements, ‘don’t come here?
Unless they close the beaches I’m still planning on coming in mid October. We mask up and pretty much stay on the beach and at the resort socially distanced. We may make a few tweaks and do mainly takeout. We were there in May and pretty much did the same. Keeping my fingers crossed but realistic at the same time. Thank you for all the updates, you provide the best and most up to date information.
Hi Jo.
Thanks for your input, and your many comments. Please let us know how your trip goes.
Aloha.
I plan to be in Maui for the month of October. I’ll be visiting family friends. Meals will mostly be at the condo. I’m fully vaccinated and I’m happy to take a covid test 72 hours prior. I’m happy to wear a mask and social distance. I’ll be respectful of others and the island. Plans will only change if there’s a lockdown. Blessings and thank you.
Hi MaryAnna.
Thanks for letting us know your plans. Safe travels.
Aloha.
I hope people will still be able to go to Honolulu in October and show proof of the vaccine after uploading the cdc vaccine card to the safe travels website
Thank
you
We are keeping our plans for Maui at the end of January. We cancelled last year but our looking forward to 2022!
We are coming to stay in our unit in Poipu early October. We are vaccinated, we will test prior whether it’s required or not. We go to hang out on the beach, relax, go hiking, etc. When we go to a restaurant, we’re never in a rush. Why would you be? We will not be one of problems that Ige was speaking to. He needs to focus his energy on 98% of the problem.
Yep…. I’ve rescheduled 3 times for Kauai. Our group of 7 has all been vaccinated. We all still wear masks and plan to when in Kauai. We’ll do our best to not get infected, nor infect anyone else…
If everyone lese played the same game, we wouldn’t have an issue with tourists, locals or whatever.
Tell the truth about the delta variant. I know people who have had this and it is nothing more than the flu. You make it sound much worst. Should we stay home when flu season begins unbelievable
Over 600,000 dead in the US alone. It’s worse than the flu. Thanks.
Thank you for this information. Unfortunately none of it helps me since I’m in Australia and our backward thinking governments seem to think that lockdowns are still working (despite evidence to the contrary) so I can only read with envy that people CAN travel to Hawaii. Eventually, one hopes, we will be able to travel internationally again, but in the meantime we face a seemingly endless future of lockdowns and restrictions. Stay safe people!
When Ige made his “request” on Monday, we just about panicked. We are arriving September 13th for 2 weeks. Condo is non-refundable unless the governor locks down the State. After reflecting and reading as much possible, it became clear: Why should we cancel our vacation and lose thousands of dollars because the residents of Hawai’i refuse to get vaccinated and continue to participate in activities that are spreading the virus among themselves?
We are fully vaccinated. We wear masks when and where it is appropriate. We practice good hygiene. We have already started limiting our outside exposure – a mini quarantine in advance of our trip. We don’t go to busy, crowded restaurants when we are on Kaua’i. We go to “get away” from crowds. We just want to hang out on the beach, go hiking and relax.
We are not the problem. The governor’s problem is his own people who refuse to get vaccinated and gather in large groups, and who do not test to return from places like Las Vegas and do not properly quarantine when they return.
So, we will see you in a little over 2 weeks.
Mahalo, BOH!
Hi Ed.
Thanks. We look forward to hearing about your trip.
Aloha.
AGREED!
My condo will NOT refund my money, especially after three reschedules. Airlines will NOT refund either.
Like yourself, we are all vaccinated and plan to be safe with our masks whenever in public.
We have plans to fly from Boston to Hawaii on Sept 4. We simply can’t afford to cancel as I have said before RCI will not allow it unless the resort closes or Hawaii goes into lockdown. RCI says “they need to stay in business”. What RCI is really saying is they don’t care about their clients. So we won’t cancel unless RCI let’s us. Most likely we will just hang by the pool for 2 weeks with maybe a bit of sight seeing. Sadly restaurants sound out of the picture.
Hopefully we can find some of the fabulous food trucks still working.
Thank you for the info.We have a family trip hopefully taking place in mid November. We are being optimistic. We are fortunate to come every year.When on the island we are respectful of the land,the residents, and we spend money to help the economy!
Thank you once again.
Hi Robin.
Thanks. We appreciate your becoming a commenter on BOH. Have a great time and let us know how it goes in November.
Aloha.
We are going to Kauai on August 31, 2021, we have both been vaccinated, and plan to test before we go as we stay with family and visit with locals. Just to be on the safe side.
I think when the Gov is talking about not having a Hawaii experience, he means a Honolulu experience. It’s like someone from Disneyland deciding that California cannot be enjoyed. If you visit Hawaii for restaurants, Luaus and shopping, yes there’s an issue.
That’s not why I go to Kauai. To me it seems like if you enjoy the outdoors, go to the market for food, and eat where you are residing, it’s manageable, and not unlike the precautions we have to take at home.
It is beautiful and peaceful on much of Kauai. What Kauai offers best — hiking trails, endless beach walking, stunning sunrises and sunsets, snorkeling (sometimes with large turtles–enjoy from a distance!) paddling, surfing, lounging at the beach — many things that cost little or nothing and create lifelong memories, are all abundantly available.
Plenty of restaurants are available on a moment’s notice — ask the locals for their favorites, including food trucks and stands. If you want the #1 rated sit-down restaurant, then yes, make a reservation way in advance.
If you want to go all the way north to hike the phenomenal Kalalau trail or swim at Kee beach, then yes, set your alarm for 11:58 pm exactly one month before you want to go and at the stroke of midnight (Hawaii time?) click on gohaena.com to make your parking reservation and get your beach pass. Otherwise just come and enjoy Nature’s bounty all over our beautiful island.
Hi Marian.
Thanks for the suggestions.
Aloha.
I am keeping my plans to go to Kauai in three weeks. I’m vaccinated, and when in Kauai I spend most of my time at beaches and on hiking trails, while Covid transmission typically occurs in doors in crowded environments. I’m staying in a vacation rental with a kitchen, and I’ll wear my mask while on the airplane and in the grocery store buying supplies. I believe my risk of catching Covid during and after my trip will be lower than if I stay home.
My daughter and I first planned this trip in February 2020, and we’ve had to reschedule it 3 times. Since we are scheduled to arrive in 2 weeks and 2 days, it’s too late to cancel it and expect to get any money back for our rentals. We plan to come as planned and mostly get take-out food for our meals. Most of our sightseeing is simply driving around and enjoying the beautiful scenery, so we should still be able to do that safely (if our rental car reservation is still valid). I disagree with Governor Ige that our vacation will be different than we expected because we don’t take “typical” vacations anyway.
I talked to a nephew with family in Hawaii about the negativity toward tourists I heard about. He said it’s important for tourists to realize that the pandemic has affected the service sector employment and things just take longer in restaurants etc. He urges tourists to be as patient as possible with the locals and have respect for the hardships they are facing.
This is true throughout the USA. Our mainland residence is near Yellowstone and GTNP. There was a record number of visitors to both parks this summer, despite the foul smoke-filled air blown in from the west coast fires. Over a million visitors to Yellowstone, alone, in July. Try showing up at a local restaurant without a reservation and you will be disappointed. Employees are scarce, and places that have been open 7 days lunch and dinner, and now typically only open 4 or 5 days, 4-9 pm only.
Agree completely. That is exactly how it is here at home. Our service sector is so bad, some restaurants were never able to hire enough to reopen. There are jerks who want what they want no matter what, and seem oblivious to what is going on in the world. The supply chain is bad again. The stores here have a lot of empty shelves. I run an Airbnb (with no contact check in) in a national park where we live. I had a woman contact me over the possible rain creating fog that might ruin her mountain photos for Instagram. Geez! I’ve read how the country came together and sacrificed during World War II (Victory Gardens, etc). People today have no such concept. As of right now, I’m still planning to go to Kauai in October. We’re fully vaccinated, safe, respectful. It is just my husband and myself (no children). I would EXPECT the supply chain and service to be worse (than here) on an island in the middle of the Pacific. If you visit Mackinac Island in Michigan, you will notice a lot of people who are flown in from Jamaica, to help the service sector during tourist season. The Florida Keys have the same problem… Again, NOT during a world pandemic! Why are people so clueless as to how things work? Maybe people should have to pass a simple test before the privilege of boarding a plane.
I’ve been trying to cancel my Airbnb trip scheduled for the big island on October 7-14th without any success. The Host and Airbnb refuse to give me a refund. Im trying to do the right thing and abide by the Governor’s request but Airbnb is not willing to budge.
What am I to do???
We have a business trip in late October, and a family trip in late November, and at the moment I don’t plan to cancel either of them. That could change assuming the Delta Variant continues to surge, but if it follows the path it took in the UK and India, it should recede by then. Of course, another variant could pop up, so I guess the best we can say is that we’ll have to see what the future brings.
Thanks BOH for keeping us posted on all of the changes.
Hi Lee.
Thank you too for nearly 100 comments. We appreciate it. Yes, we are looking at the same data and remain hopeful. Let us know what you decide, and if you come, how it goes.
Aloha.
Aloha-We are scheduled for two weeks on Kauai starting 10/8. Of things remain the same we will probably go. We have to decide by 9/8 to not lose $. Unfortunately I am afraid that restrictions may change after 9/8 which is what makes it such a tough decision. I am curious what others in the same boat are thinking.
Thanks
Hi Jon.
Thanks for nearly 100 comments! We too look forward to hearing what others are thinking.
Aloha.
We have a trip booked for 10/17 for five days. We are NOT cancelling…hoping that the Delta variant will have burned it’s way through and be declining by then.