The state of Hawaii’s COVID 19 website has just been updated to reflect changes preparatory to reopening next week. Here’s where it stands as of today and what’s up with testing companies and the airline partners both. Also read on for apparent Hawaii approval for Abbott IDNow rapid test, which many of you have been asking about. We’re sorry to say this still isn’t all that clear, although more information is coming out each day.
Below is the list of trusted partners from the state, which does not include the airlines themselves.
AFC Urgent Care – COVID-19 tests are available at clinics on the AFC Urgent Care website. Schedule in advance to guarantee appointment availability. A printed version of results is provided prior to leaving the clinic. Information and costs can be found at afcurgentcareportland.com/traveling-hawaii.
Carbon Health – Carbon Health offers IDNow COVID-19 tests at dedicated testing sites with results delivered within two hours. Registration instructions and costs can be found at carbonhealth.com/alaska-airlines-to-hawaii-rapid-covid-testing. “Carbon Health utilizes the Abbott ID NOW rapid test, which meets the requirements of the State of Hawaii’s pre-travel testing program.” That according to the Alaska Airlines website. You need to reserve your appointment a minimum of 72 hours before your flight. Carbon Health can test infants as young as Hawaii’s minimum test age requirement of 5 years.
CityHealth Urgent Care – CityHealth Urgent Care and its team of expert clinical staff and infectious disease physician consultants offer testing utilizing state-of-the-art Abbott Lab instrumentation for results in 15 minutes. Information and costs can be found at bayareacovid19testing.com.
Color Genomics. Color announced the first COVID-19 testing program in partnership with United Airlines. Information can be found at color.com/united-airlines-testing-program. Testing is available in San Francisco, Alameda County, and Marin County.
CVS Health. Starting October 10, travelers may schedule an appointment up to two days in the future at select CVS Pharmacy drive-thru locations. Pre-registration is required. Registration instructions and costs can be found at cvs.com/selfpaytesting.
Discovery Health MD. Starting October 12, travelers to Hawaii may schedule testing online with the same and next day results at designated testing sites, currently only in Seattle. A limited number of walk-ups can be accommodated. Information can be found at discoveryhealthmd.com/covid-19-services/test-to-fly.
Kaiser Permanente. Members-only can schedule a test online, or contact the appointment call center or nurse advice line in their home region for further instructions. Kaiser Permanente members returning home to Hawaii may call the Away-from-Home Travel Line at 951-268-3900 for scheduling instructions. Information can be found at kp.org/travel.
Quest Diagnostics. Tests can be ordered and scheduled via the company’s COVID-19 Active Infection Test online by selecting from more than 500 Walmart drive-thru pharmacy locations offering a nasal swab test. Instructions and costs can be found at questcovid19.com/hawaii.
Vault Health. At-home tests with a real-time Zoom based supervisor are available with Vault Health. They are offering the first FDA-authorized saliva test. Vault says that tests are mailed with accurate results “after 48-72 hours of testing.” Information and costs can be found at learn.vaulthealth.com/state-of-hawaii.
Walgreens. Testing is available at no cost to eligible individuals who meet CDC criteria. We aren’t sure what that even means in relation to Hawaii travel. All drive-thru testing locations operate outdoors and patients do not leave their vehicles. Appointment required. Information can be found at walgreens.com/covid19testing.
Airlines and Hawaii COVID tests.
The airlines are not offering testing themselves but are developing specific partnerships for their passengers flying to Hawaii.
Alaska Airlines. Testing available in Seattle through Carbon Health, and approved by the State of Hawaii according to their website (link above).
American Airlines. Its Hawaii testing approval appears to still be in process. The airline plans to begin preflight testing at its DFW hub for customers traveling to Hawaii, “in partnership with LetsGetChecked, CareNow, and the DFW Airport.” Those partners are not currently listed as approved by the State of Hawaii. The company still plans at-home test from LetsGetChecked, with results expected in 48 hours on average, in-person testing at CareNow locations, and onsite rapid testing by CareNow, at DFW.
Hawaiian Airlines. The company plans to offer testing “in partnership with Worksite Labs for a cost of $90 per person with results guaranteed within 36 hours at LAX. They will also offer day-of-travel express service for $150 per person.
We don’t see a confirmed date for these to begin, although Hawaiian says, “SFO and LAX opening October 2020; other airports will be announced. Check back soon for more information.”
Worksite Labs is not currently listed as an approved partner by the State of Hawaii. Obviously, there is some misinformation there, as Hawaiian testing was specifically mentioned at the most recent press conference.
Southwest Airlines. Previously listed by the state of Hawaii as a partner but as of today, we still are unable to find any information about their testing.
United Airlines. United is partnered with Color Genomics, which is offering testing only in the Bay Area at this time.
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Is rite aid an approved rapid test pharmacy?
Nope we are in Quarantine because they won’t accept rite aid even though rite aid is a 24 billion dollar public traded company wh has partnered with project baseline which is a clinical trial sponsored by Stanford U Google etc
Is rite aid covid testing Hawaii approved?
Do the Hawaii officials look strictly at the hour you take the test? For example, my flight departs at 10:50am. If I take the test 3 days prior at 8:00am, would they disqualify the results? Do they look at the exact time of the last leg of the departure flight and if you are one or two hours outside the window, you are disqualified? There is also a Vault mail-in option but in order to get the results back within the 72 hour window, you have to mail it via UPS by 10:00am 3 days prior. If my flight isn’t until 10:50 am on a Monday, 3 days prior would be 10:50 am on a Friday. I wouldn’t be able to mail it via UPS by 10:00am to get the results in time. Does anyone know if they look at the exact hour of the test or do they just look to see that it was done within 3 days prior?
Aloha,
Have you heard anything about Delta offering pre testing as a partner? If so, what kind of test and cost are they offering? It seems that most of the other major airlines are offering them, so what about Delta?
Mahalo!
Hi Gayle.
Until Delta gets added as a trusted airline partner, it would be safest to just stick with the current offerings.
Aloha.
Hello, I live in Seattle, Walgreens has a 48 he turnaround on the results. It is free, and you can see out 3 days. It is not as deep a penetration in your nasal cavity as I have experienced.
Discovery is not up and running in the Seattle area, yet. I have signed up for updates
Hawaiian airlines program, VAULT, is not available in WA.
I am testing, and preparing to meet and exceed the 72 hr. window of hopefully avoiding quarantine on Kauai.
That being said, I will volunteer to be tested upon arrival. I want to be an appreciative guest in Kauai, Drew
Our Covid 19 PCR test for traveling is being conducted at an Urgent Express Care clinic but results are coming from Quest Diagnostics who is on the approved list. how can i find out if this will work? the issue is that we couldn’t test anywhere else as we have children. Walgreens and CVS in our area will not test children under 12.
Mahalo!! So if that is the case and I fly to Miami, then connect in a city somewhere as there are 4 options, then on to Kauai, it is from the time of that flight 72 hours on departure. Are any of the tests being offered by approved partners instant or a couple hours results? Otherwise I would have to hang out in a city to get the results. I appreciate your time.
Hi Mounque.
Yes there are same-day tests available. Suggest looking at the city options together with the testing options to see what your best options are. An example is LAX and SFO Worksite Labs in conjunction with Hawaiian will offer same-day tests, although they aren’t saying exactly when that will start. Confusing at best.
Aloha.
Thank you!
Mahalo for your great on going info. Please re-clarify. Is it a negative test 72 hours before departure? or arrival? My plane schedule needs an overnight on the way from where I travel from arriving international in Miami. It can be 17 – 24 hours to get there before arrival. I am trying to see if there is an instant test I can take if I overnight in Miami, or Dallas, or Phoenix or somewhere that I would connect. I may have to fly into a city to take a test and then stay until the result. I am going to inspect, meet with my manager and get my condo completely ready for possible renters. Thanks
Hi Mounque.
Thanks. The test needs to be within 72 hours of your final mainland point of departure prior to landing in Hawaii.
Aloha.
To those who don’t get it. The rule is that only testing partners results are accepted by the state. Got that
Why would anyone Travel to Hawaii right now. Stupid and selfish people.
Well, we first booked for last March. Then Covid came and everything was cancelled. We rebooked for October thinking surely seven months will be plenty of time. We ended up cancelling Maui because of the the stricter guidelines. We lost several hundred dollars in the meanwhile.
Now the Governor has cleared the way for travel without quarantine. We are not breaking any laws. We are testing and following this states guidelines. The condo owners who are hosting us have been in contact the whole time and are grateful that we didn’t cancel.
We are neither selfish or stupid. This trip has been well thought out and saved for.
Mahalo!
Where can Canadians get tested that is approved by the State of Hawaii? BPlease and thank you
Hi Brian
There are the test by mail options but we don’t know if those will work in terms of timing. Otherwise, there are no provisions for Canadian visitors yet, but that is in the works.
ALoha.
Thanks anyway…i canceled my trip…too much drama cause the state did not clearly define guidelines weeks ago…had enough notice it was coming
As you said to me, put your health first…..travel later…unfortunately, it is truly Hawaii’s loss….i must admit Governors office i contacted and they responded to give suggestions to help.
East coast is not for now easily assimilated in the plan, as per now. Signing off to recuperate truly. Mahalo. Looking forward to reentry for the 37th time as soon as travel requirements are available easily for all. 72 hours is rediculous per Naat.
Hi Jeanne.
Thanks for your update.
Aloha.
Beat of Hawaii,
Traveling to Kaua’i in November. The CVS link you provided is really helpful. Looking forward to returning to Kaua’i. Make no mistake, I will be following all the rules, I will respect the people and the island.
Mahalo!
Pete
Hi Pete.
Thanks for your comment and glad that is working out.
Aloha.
There is free testing at the Oakland Airport.
Any Clues to What lab Delta Airline is using to test flying out of Seattle?
We have CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, Carbon, then there is University of Washington, one
of the Nations Leaders in Covid 18 testing?
I don’t see how these systems can possibly work on a reliable basis. Here is the scenario we are facing as a group traveling one stop from our home city in Montana to Salt Lake City and then from Salt Lake City to Honolulu.
1, our flight departs 6:00 am on November 26. The connecting/qualifying flight out of Salt Lake City, from which our 72 hour max test taking requirement runs is 11:30 am.
2, the CVS system clearly says that it takes 2 (48 hours) to 3 (72 hours)days to get results, or more if they are busy. That means that we have to take the test, at $140 per person, no earlier than 11:30 am on November 23, exactly 72 hours prior to departure from Salt Lake City (but 4.5 hours after we will have already departed on our first flight – no refunds at that point). Any earlier and our test will be invalid. Any later and we could end up not getting results until we land in Honolulu, with the cost of the flight gone and deadlines for cancellation of our hotel expired too.
So, the theory for a party of 4 is that I am supposed to lay out an extra $560 in testing fees for the chance to avoid a 14 day quarantine for what is a planned 10 day trip. I could very well end up learning if our tests came back negative or positive (or split among a party of 4) only upon landing in Honolulu with well over $10,000 in sunk costs that could be a complete bust.
Anyone who thinks the average traveler is going to come to Hawaii under those circumstances is incorrect. Unless this process gets a lot more flexible between now and November, we will be canceling and will miss our first Thanksgiving in Hawaii since 2003. Break those kinds of traditions with inconsistent messaging and avoidable red tape and people will just find new traditions. That is where we are headed at this point.
Lance
Can you test at CVS in Montana? We cannot in Utah. CVS says its unavailable.
Awwwww poor baby
Pat D.
What is wrong with you? Just another example of unnecessary nastiness?
I just checked details on two of the “approved” provider sites that serve the San Francisco Bay area:
Color says results are available in 3-5 days and they won’t give you the rapid test unless you’re an emergency worker.
Quest says results are available “when they are ready and in in no less than 30 days.”
Not a big help.
If flying from Oakland, free testing there.
Aloha,
I have Feb 6-12 2021 booked at the Royal Hawaiian in Waikiki. I’m bringing my mother and father as well. We have never been to Hawaii nut we have all dreamed of coming before. This constant wishy washy change of plans is really getting frustrating to read but I hope things are more stable in February. This has been by far the most informative site I have found for news and updates about Hawaii and Covid testing. Mahalo and keep up the good work guys…
Hi Mike.
Hope your February plans go without a hitch. Thank you.
Aloha.
The conflicting info on the states websites is getting ridiculous. One website says an approved NAAT test from a CLIA certified lab is accepted, the other website said only tests from the accepted travel partners.
Do you know which is answer is correct?
Mahalos for your answer!
Hi Laurie.
The correct answer is only approved partners at this time.
Aloha.
Leaving for Hawaii on Oct. 16 ……rescheduled from March thinking seven months would be plenty of time…..paid over $200 for Covid tests for my wife and myself at a certified and approved lab in Seattle. So confused about trusted partners….there is nothing in our area thus we are taking a ferry to this lab. Sure is confusing and difficult to figure out what Hawaii wants.
I am still very confused. Rapid testing isn’t approved by the state and yet that is what by Carbon Health for Alaska Airlines. I know this is a work in progress and things change daily and sometimes hourly but travellers need definitive answers and guidelines from the state.