227 thoughts on “No Recovery Yet For Hawaii Travel. Here’s Why.”
D P
We went to Maui February 2-10 and experienced no problems. Flew Hawaiian and tested with Worksite Labs, everything went very smooth. A little different having to wear a mask most everywhere we went but wearing a mask in paradise is not that bad.
Marilyn c.
Aloha sad for the residents since many small business is hurting. My sister has been in hnl for approximately a week. They will stay til April and they seemed to have a rather complicated time arriving there but they made it. Mahalo for your updates.
Beat of Hawaii
Hi Marilyn.
Always good to hear from you. Glad they made it over and hope that they are enjoying their time in Honolulu now.
Aloha.
Jason W.
The only thing that is going to fix this situation for me is vaccine travel that doesn’t have a short time limit. Period. I have three kids and my wife’s work schedule is set 3 months in advance. A slow test or, God forbid, a positive test would wreck our vacation plans and still cost a bunch of money (because we would lose the money from our vacation rental). And don’t talk to me about trip insurance until you have tried to get your money back from a trip that was cancelled due to COVID–I’ve been down that road once and don’t care to do it again. The current plan for vaccine travel doesn’t help because my kids won’t get vaccinated for a long time and my wife’s vaccine will “expire” in 6 weeks according to the current 3 month limit. Sigh.
Tamara T
We are in Hawaii Hell. We have had reservations for almost 8 months for Kauai at the end of April. It is our 50th anniversary and our family took their only vacation time to be able to join us to celebrate. 3 of us are fully vaccinated against covid but the other 2 aren’t in age group that can get the shots yet. The line in the sand keeps changing and where it is going changes on any given day by the officials who change what they say. Do we have to go to another island first and if so for how long? Will the house we rented and paid for be able to accommodate our possibly changing plans? Your people are losing business and health insurance. Covid rates are down. Vaccinations of Kauai population is moving along at a pretty good speed. We are asking for some clear communication of what is going to be required in a timeliness that allows us to make final decisions. I know we are not the mayor’s people but we are people who need some grace and mercy extended to us.
Jon M
I had my test (the approved type) done at my modern local hospital. They do heart surgery there. But Hawaii would prefer a test performed at Walgreens or CVS. That makes no sense what so ever. Just another example of people in government making the wrong decisions because they can. Our town in Wyoming has no CVS and the Walgreens there could not guarantee the test results would be available in allotted time. We have citizens that work the oil fields in Alaska. Two weeks on and two weeks off. They use the Hospital because the test are accurate and results are available in a timely manner. Hawaii needs to recognize these tests performed by accredited hospitals.
Thanks you for passing this on. With luck, someone in the Governors Office will read it. Having been born and raised here, we look forward to our annual visit. It’s difficult enough without our government making it more difficult than it should be. It is painful to see our friends and relatives suffer the job losses they are enduring.
Aloha
Beat of Hawaii
Hi Jon.
The state knows that the trusted partner program isn’t adequate. That’s why the governor announced plans for a major revamp and expansion. We hope that will come sooner than later.
Aloha.
Chris G
What about vacation rental occupancy, how does that compare? Around the country people are gravitating more towards vacation rentals during the pandemic.
Lizzy S
Aloha! It was super easy to get tested ahead of time in Seattle with King Country free testing centers. I did two separate companies to make sure one arrived prior to departure and then they tested upon arrival on the BI. I’d do it again in a heart beat. So nice to get away from the mainland for a bit. Mahalo for keeping me updated
Beat of Hawaii
Hi Lizzy.
Thanks for the update on the free testing in Seattle for your Big Island trip.
Aloha
Lee S.
According to data from Moderna, which tracked the people in the test group, only 11 mild cases of covid out of 15,000 vaccinated. Not sure what the tracking period was. That’s a pretty good record. Hopefully Pfizer is also tracking, and will release data to CDC soon. Hopefully by the time we travel in June, this will all have been worked out. But I’m losing faith in any of the systems.
Thanks for keeping us up to date.
Beat of Hawaii
Hi Lee.
Thanks. Yes we too are seeing favorable data coming from the vaccine manufacturers and are hopeful. Let us know how your June trip planning goes.
Aloha.
Chuck F
We were looking to travle to Hawaii for the first time in May however due to the thier COVID requirements and the uncertainty surrounding them, we have opted not to go and are planning to go elsewhere with less uncertainty. We are bummed but dont want get our trip all planned out and have to spend the entire time in quarantine.
Rob L.
I think people just don’t want to spend thousands on a vacation where they have to worry about getting tested, worrying about getting test results in time, wear masks all the time, have restricted seating at restaurants, questionable rules at popular attractions and excursions. Why spend that money when you have so limited freedom. If all you want is to get some sun on the beach, there are plenty of places along Florida’s shores to do just that, without all the hassles that Hawaii is imposing. And about the CDC…. In a previous post, BOH said that CDC’s rules were that you must travel within three months of your second vaccination. In other words, they have no idea of the vaccine’s effectiveness beyond three months. So what about people who have already had two shots, but they are not planning a Hawaii vacation until after June? I think all this weighs on people’s decisions to visit Hawaii. I feel for you guys at BOH, but the low numbers do not surprise me.
Beat of Hawaii
Hi Rob.
Thanks for your fast-approaching 100 comments. We appreciate your participation.
Aloha.
Comments are closed.
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We went to Maui February 2-10 and experienced no problems. Flew Hawaiian and tested with Worksite Labs, everything went very smooth. A little different having to wear a mask most everywhere we went but wearing a mask in paradise is not that bad.
Aloha sad for the residents since many small business is hurting. My sister has been in hnl for approximately a week. They will stay til April and they seemed to have a rather complicated time arriving there but they made it. Mahalo for your updates.
Hi Marilyn.
Always good to hear from you. Glad they made it over and hope that they are enjoying their time in Honolulu now.
Aloha.
The only thing that is going to fix this situation for me is vaccine travel that doesn’t have a short time limit. Period. I have three kids and my wife’s work schedule is set 3 months in advance. A slow test or, God forbid, a positive test would wreck our vacation plans and still cost a bunch of money (because we would lose the money from our vacation rental). And don’t talk to me about trip insurance until you have tried to get your money back from a trip that was cancelled due to COVID–I’ve been down that road once and don’t care to do it again. The current plan for vaccine travel doesn’t help because my kids won’t get vaccinated for a long time and my wife’s vaccine will “expire” in 6 weeks according to the current 3 month limit. Sigh.
We are in Hawaii Hell. We have had reservations for almost 8 months for Kauai at the end of April. It is our 50th anniversary and our family took their only vacation time to be able to join us to celebrate. 3 of us are fully vaccinated against covid but the other 2 aren’t in age group that can get the shots yet. The line in the sand keeps changing and where it is going changes on any given day by the officials who change what they say. Do we have to go to another island first and if so for how long? Will the house we rented and paid for be able to accommodate our possibly changing plans? Your people are losing business and health insurance. Covid rates are down. Vaccinations of Kauai population is moving along at a pretty good speed. We are asking for some clear communication of what is going to be required in a timeliness that allows us to make final decisions. I know we are not the mayor’s people but we are people who need some grace and mercy extended to us.
I had my test (the approved type) done at my modern local hospital. They do heart surgery there. But Hawaii would prefer a test performed at Walgreens or CVS. That makes no sense what so ever. Just another example of people in government making the wrong decisions because they can. Our town in Wyoming has no CVS and the Walgreens there could not guarantee the test results would be available in allotted time. We have citizens that work the oil fields in Alaska. Two weeks on and two weeks off. They use the Hospital because the test are accurate and results are available in a timely manner. Hawaii needs to recognize these tests performed by accredited hospitals.
Thanks you for passing this on. With luck, someone in the Governors Office will read it. Having been born and raised here, we look forward to our annual visit. It’s difficult enough without our government making it more difficult than it should be. It is painful to see our friends and relatives suffer the job losses they are enduring.
Aloha
Hi Jon.
The state knows that the trusted partner program isn’t adequate. That’s why the governor announced plans for a major revamp and expansion. We hope that will come sooner than later.
Aloha.
What about vacation rental occupancy, how does that compare? Around the country people are gravitating more towards vacation rentals during the pandemic.
Aloha! It was super easy to get tested ahead of time in Seattle with King Country free testing centers. I did two separate companies to make sure one arrived prior to departure and then they tested upon arrival on the BI. I’d do it again in a heart beat. So nice to get away from the mainland for a bit. Mahalo for keeping me updated
Hi Lizzy.
Thanks for the update on the free testing in Seattle for your Big Island trip.
Aloha
According to data from Moderna, which tracked the people in the test group, only 11 mild cases of covid out of 15,000 vaccinated. Not sure what the tracking period was. That’s a pretty good record. Hopefully Pfizer is also tracking, and will release data to CDC soon. Hopefully by the time we travel in June, this will all have been worked out. But I’m losing faith in any of the systems.
Thanks for keeping us up to date.
Hi Lee.
Thanks. Yes we too are seeing favorable data coming from the vaccine manufacturers and are hopeful. Let us know how your June trip planning goes.
Aloha.
We were looking to travle to Hawaii for the first time in May however due to the thier COVID requirements and the uncertainty surrounding them, we have opted not to go and are planning to go elsewhere with less uncertainty. We are bummed but dont want get our trip all planned out and have to spend the entire time in quarantine.
I think people just don’t want to spend thousands on a vacation where they have to worry about getting tested, worrying about getting test results in time, wear masks all the time, have restricted seating at restaurants, questionable rules at popular attractions and excursions. Why spend that money when you have so limited freedom. If all you want is to get some sun on the beach, there are plenty of places along Florida’s shores to do just that, without all the hassles that Hawaii is imposing. And about the CDC…. In a previous post, BOH said that CDC’s rules were that you must travel within three months of your second vaccination. In other words, they have no idea of the vaccine’s effectiveness beyond three months. So what about people who have already had two shots, but they are not planning a Hawaii vacation until after June? I think all this weighs on people’s decisions to visit Hawaii. I feel for you guys at BOH, but the low numbers do not surprise me.
Hi Rob.
Thanks for your fast-approaching 100 comments. We appreciate your participation.
Aloha.