Hawaii just announced highest ever – 2,205 cases today. Something is going to change. Could this be next as Hawaii moves to change Covid travel tests?
63 thoughts on “Is This Hawaii Travel’s New Covid Testing Model?”
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Hawaii just announced highest ever – 2,205 cases today. Something is going to change. Could this be next as Hawaii moves to change Covid travel tests?
Comments are closed.
This would be a nightmare trying to figure out the timing for the testing if it’s based on arrival time. We leave in 4 weeks for Maui, but are overnighting at LAX “just because”. There’s no way we will be able to get tested within 24 hours of arrival unless testing is offered at LAX by some miracle.
I’ve already booked a backup stay in March in case things get too crazy…
LAx does.
ktla.com/news/local-news/rapid-covid-testing-site-opens-at-lax-international-terminal-amid-omicron-concerns/
Thanks for that information, Diana. The worry would be that Hawaii does not drop their ludicrous “trusted partner” requirements and whether the testing center at LAX would be added to the list.
All travelers need to manage this aspect of their travel, or go to somewhere like COVID central, Florida, for vacation. It’s no different for us residents when the resident restrictions come into play in the past or for trips to MX, etc.
Except, no one has tried to manage a trip to Hawaii with 24 or even 48 hour testing requirements. Most people traveling back from Mexico (I assume that’s what you mean by “MX”) are able to utilize testing provided by their hotels, and is based on departure time not arrival time. That is far different than trying to get tested within 24 hours of arrival to Hawaii.
Florida is not Covid central. Florida had no lockdowns, no mask mandate and no jab mandate yet, their numbers are far better than California which is locked down like a prison! It’s time to resume life again. If we get the vaccine then thats all we can do. Omicron is only a mild flu and is NOT filling hospital beds. Everything I’ve read says that Hawaii locals account for the majority of cases in Hawaii.
BTW I don’t live in Florida
Mahalo,
TJ
Clearly you are not tracking data on Florida and cases per population number, deaths, etc. Of course, please go visit the place you think is so safe then, and leave HI for post-pandemic.
So good for LAX – what about all the other mainland departure airports. Not everyone travels thru LAX!
Great, Barbara. You are correct. But Ed C asked about LAX, NOT everywhere in the country. You can do research using google for your location, Barbara.
DIANA… You are correct and I misread. But this will be our second trip during COVID so I am very familiar with what is offered locally (which in the past has been nothing) and at our departure point (which costs $250 per person!).
DIANA… Great that there is on-site testing – which just went up from $200 per person to $250!
Traveling during a pandemic has negatives. There are other places you can travel if you do not like HI policies.
Hawaiian Airlines tests in 24 hours I do it all the time. In LA. In Culver City near the airport at Worksite Labs Testing/Hawaiian Airlines. Look it up.
They have never let me down.
Aloha
STEPHANIE… Good for you – but not everyone travels through LAX!
OR maybe not panic over positive tests, and instead worry about whether there is a problematic impact on Hawaii’s “limited health care resources.”
As of December 24, there were 73 patients with COVID in HI hospitals statewide, including a dozen in ICU. The HIEMA does not breakdown between visitors or residents, vax status, age, or anything else. According to hearsay, most hospitalized nationwide are at least over 50, obese and unvaxxed.
Or panic over positive tests and go full Aussie.
No, to a new testing model. Those pushing for this 1. Have no data to back up the need 2. Have no clue how hard it was to get an approved test even last summer let alone in the winter 3. Just how expensive these tests cost. The ner effect of doing this would be an immediate shut down of the key segment of hi economy for no purpose as the SA variant has a tenth of the hospitalizations. I don’t think tathit’s test upon arrival would work as too many arrivals
Au contraire. We live in HI, needed them to travel in state and out, and managed to get them for both, with approved partners, and results back in less than 24 hours.
DIANA… Good for you. Until recently, we had to travel 7 hours to get a Rapid Results test and as for the “plain-ordinary” PCR test – you could only make a reservation three days in advance and had to get on-line at 12:01am to get a reservation! Oh, and did I mention that once we made that 7 hour trip, the cost was $200/person (now up to $250). Guess you’re luckier than most!
Despite a global pandemic causing economic, shipping, supply, and travel issues, you decided to book a trip, most likely one that included a very cheap airfare. If you can’t deal with the concomitant travel issues that a pandemic brings, it’s best to stay home.
International travel should never have been reopened Nov 8th. Test kits for Covid should have been a priority. Therapeutics should have been approved and made available. Now we all will suffer from the poor leadership that has made 2021 more deadly than 2020.
How many people are willing to have a booster shot every 10 weeks? Are there long-term dangers of multiple boosters?
If most people are using at home Covid tests, the true number of Omicron cases may be much higher than state numbers.
I find the entire thought process over safety travels one big farce. It’s very clear no one in the scientific world knows what to do or maybe not willing to disclose what they in fact do know. I see a common thread globally over omicrom that seems to be more politically motivated and less scientific. There has been an enormous amount of hypocricy over the past two years to validate this conclusion. omicrom? Whether vaxxed or not thosee who are “tested” most are not ending up in the hospital. Wh
A new record. Things need to go back to socially distanced inside. And all travelers must be tested to come into HI. Resident, vaxxed, or not. And hopefully NOT 72 hours, but 24 hrs.
If you aren’t limited to a “trusted” partner to test it will make it easier for travelers to get test results within 48 hours. We are fortunate to have “trusted” testing at the Sacramento Airport that provides results within 24-48 hrs. When we pretested last April for our Kauai visit we got results within 26 hours. If results were required within 48 hrs that’s as close as I’d want to cut it.
for some reason they are not offered in CA but the walgreens in reno have the IDNOW test and we usually get results in an hour. so if youre on the east side of sac this is not a bad option
JAMIE… Keep checking. Until very recently, not a single “Trusted Partner” in our entire state offered Rapid Results. Now they do – and in our state, the cost is $0 as the state absorbs the cost of any and all testing.
My husband and I recently returned to Kauai after a visit to Seattle. We are both triple vaccinated. Some very sick young children sat next to us on the flight. My husband developed symptoms on day 5 of our return. He tested positive later that day. It took 5 days to present. How do we deal with that when trying to screen our tourists?
Dang it – if they do this, I’ll have to figure out what time it is here locally when we arrive versus what time it is on Kauai when we arrive. I thought this was going to be a mental vacation as well as a physical one! And they better make an announcement soon – if that is what’s going to happen – because appointments are scarce and you could “blow it” if you miscalculated!
And Puerto Rico is one island! WOuld Hawaii be what time you arrive in Honolulu (if changing planes) or at your final destination (Honolulu would be what I assume).
Frankly, I doubt any testing system is going to work. Omicron is there already and it’s going to go through a population with few immunities due to recent immunization or having had it already.
And since the immunized can get it, but generally don’t end up hospitalized, get vaxxed.