We are coming down to the wire on reopening Hawaii for travel.
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134 thoughts on “T-48 Hours: Hawaii Testing Failure – No Availability”
We are coming down to the wire on reopening Hawaii for travel.
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I live in San Diego, California. On Saturday, October 10, my son flew from San Diego to Honolulu where he lives. His healthcare provider is Kaiser and he was able to get the required test from them within the required time period. The only problem he encountered was the need to make an appointment well in advance for the COVID-19 test as there no walk-ins allowed.
I go through this every time I return to the isands with my dog.
Health check within 10 days
And a flight within that 10 days. Filing of a notarized affidavit also within that window. And costs totalling anywhere between 375.00 and 500.00.
And all of this to prevent the introduction of rabies. Due to a Law enacted in 1919…Rabies. Not Covid19…..So welcome to my world.
I am a Honolulu resident who needs to go to Big Island to help with family child care. Since Ige is so secretive about inter island travel rules, I bought the HNL-SFO-KOA ticket in order to be a “visitor”. I have not scheduled my test yet because CVS and Walgreens will not let me reserve a week in advance. I hope it works out.
Hi,
We live in Denver and plan to fly to Kona through SFO on 10/24. We have AFC Urgent Care facilities that offer the rapid test with an appointment but the link is for Portland facilities. Do you know if any AFC Urgent Care facility is accepted as a trusted partner? On the other hand we are flying via United so I’m also wondering if we are eligible to take the test in SFO if we are first flying in from Denver.
Really appreciate all the info you’ve been sharing throughout this process.
Thanks!
Hi Rodrigo.
Perhaps the safest bet from visitor comments would be the Vault mail-in option which can be done from anywhere. On the other hand to check AFC for other locations, we’d suggest checking with the state’s help desk for confirmation. 1-855-599-0888.Regarding United, suggest checking with them since they are also a trusted partner.
Aloha.
I was abke to get an appointment with city health urgent care in San Francisco. When i booked on Thursday, they had quite a few openings. They are one if the listed testing partners.
They are also trying to mandate a second test after you get here. Also, don’t forget that bars and music are closed down til next year, you have to show your papers if you want to eat in a restaraunt, you have to be able to prove the 4 people or less lives with you, and if your mask blows off, it’s a 5k fine AND a misdemeanor. The idiots even arrested the us surgeon general for taking pictures in the closed parks. Btw big island doesn’t accept the tests, 2 week quarentine only. “I went to Hawaii on vacation and came home with a criminal record 😃👍”
Thank you for the updates. I’ve been trying to visit my family for quite some time now and keep hitting roadblocks. When Hawaii announced the pre-test program and the requirements of a CLIA certified laboratory using the nucleic acid test, I started doing my research. My son and I could test at a local hospital for free and meet all
The requirements. We live in the Midwest. Now, with the partner system, we had to pay quite a lot for the Vault testing. I just hope there are no more road blocks, I want to see my family.
Hi Kaysey.
Here’s hoping for smooth sailing for you. Others have reported no issues with the Vault testing, although we’re about to see proof of all this as the first post-quarantine visitors arrive.
Aloha.
It is unbelievable that Hawaii is shut down. Been going for 20 years for a month at a time.
How could they not want any travelers to visit their beautiful state? We are scheduled Nov and Dec hopefully it will be open.
Good luck finding testing. We got in for Melecular testing and hoping that’s good enough.
NAAT takes at least 5 days for results and that’s the one they want!!!!!!
My husband and I went to an Urgent Care which is now Carbon Health in Encinitas. We applied online, got 2 different appt times. I went with my husband and they let me change my appt time and were very accommodating. CVS and Walgreens all had no appt available. Also, they took our insurance info and said our insurance co gets charged and then reimbursed by the cares act $$ so there is no charge. We’ll see if that’s true or if we end up getting a bill. However, they said results take 4 to 5 days. Just download the Carbon app and it will tell you a testing site in your area. Very easy.
Please know that many residents are feeling anxious about tourists arriving. I am personally disappointed in doing away with the two week quarantine, as the model we are implementing has failed in other places. This makes our sacred place vulnerable to a COVID outbreak. Please be respectful and understand you may not receive lots of Aloha from all.
Hi Beth K, dont worry about aloha when your condoning discrimination and mistreatment of other americans! Im sure the many homeless and tourism industry workers that lost jobs will give hawaii their version of aloha very soon with looting rioting etc when there is no food on the table and rent etc has to be paid. Or they will leave and everybody for themselves we will see.
I am one hundred percent sure tourists and the rest of the modern world knows what locals want and think by now. Let locals pay the bills. Tourists dont want to and shouldnt have to pay for any testing. Period. Ugly opinions and ugly reasoning of locals will keep digging them further and further into the hole, while they will keep getting covid regardless.
What a total fiasco! They should just identify what types of tests are accepted and what qualifications of providers and skip this trusted partners non-sense! Many of these “partners” are not medical facilities or labs anyway. Ridiculous! I just hope they can figure this out by next summer. We kept moving our trip back and finally gave up and pushed it as late as we can go without losing our timeshare points. Hawaii is a totally disorganized mess right now.
This is going to be a big failer!! Any agency should give you money back, when you book a Hawaii trip and they will test you positive , including rental car and fly tickets. Nobody changed that yet and that’s a big problem!!!
So glad we rescheduled our Nov 1 trip to next Sept. It was getting just too stressful worrying about how to get tested in North Seattle and Bellingham area, and just what things would be like in Kona once we arrived. That’s not the right frame of mind to start a girls-only vacation that my long-time friend and I had been planning for two years. It was disappointing to have to reschedule in Jul to Nov; but the decision to reschedule to next year was easier after reading all the latest updates. We both decided we were beginning to lose sleep worrying about the whole trip; testing, wearing masks on plane for hours, greater exposure to COVID-19, etc., so we decided to wait until (hopefully) things are better next year. Thank you BOH for all the updates and information. Your Blog was invaluable in keeping us updated and allowed us to make an informed decision. Prayers for everyone traveling to Hawaii and Hawaii residents. Hoping the re-opening goes better than expected and everyone stays healthy and that COVID-19 cases don’t rise.
Hi Lesley.
Thanks for the update. We look forward to welcoming you back again soon.
Aloha.
I am a kaiser member,and last week I checked with kaiser and they still don’t offer covid testing for travel, only for people with symptoms.
This is not the case. We are *hoping* (but expecting to cancel) to arrive in Kauai on 11/6. We are Kaiser members and had no problems scheduling tests at Kaiser for the date we needed prior to travel. That being said, it takes some time to navigate through Kaiser’s website to find out that airline travel for any reason is an acceptable reason to request a test.
Great news!
Vault.com is amazing… I received my kit on Friday. The instructions were very clear not to open the text kit box until I was connected on the Zoom call. Called in yesterday at 11am (71 hours before my flight) – the nurse was very nice and the saliva collection was easy. Took it to the local UPS Store (I was advised not to use the drop box or a retail counter other than the UPS Store). At 2:30 this afternoon, I received an email that my test is clear. I will print it out and have it with me on Friday.
The cost was $150 I am sure that cost will be reduced as the program goes forward.
Mahalo, Jeff and Rob…your information is always the most accurate!
Hi Melissa.
Thanks very much for the update. We just had another visitor give a thumbs up on the Vault test and its timing. Great to know. Safe travels.
Aloha.
Hawaiian airlines at lax ?? For testing ?? Please advise if can do day of travel or?? Thank you.
Hi Frances.
Here is all of the information that we are aware of in that regard. https://www.hawaiianairlines.com/COVIDTesting.
Aloha.
Trying to get information on testing for 23 Nov flight out of DFW. It is my understanding that testing will be available for American flts thru care Now. Tried to get info from American and they say they dont know call care now. Called care now and cannot get a call through. We are finding it’s very difficult balance testing within 72 hrs without guessing when results will be available.Donald
We ordered the saliva tests (approved ones on the partner list) from Vault Health. Ordered on Saturday. Received them yesterday. We’ll do a ZOOM call with a physician on Saturday morning and then drop the tests off at a UPS site. When we send them in, they told us to write “HAWAII STAT!” on the package and our tests will leap frog the standard queue and we will have our results NLT Tuesday morning – most likely Monday afternoon.
It’s $150 but well worth it if it goes as described and we get priority over the standard queue line.
Good luck to others.
The largest testing center in Las Vegas, UMC, needs to be added as a testing partner. They are the only one who tests kids. They could also be used for Hawaiians returning from Las Vegas.
This morning I was able to find a local Walgreens in my area for testing. It is free in NJ and results are expected within 24 hours . However , I cannot find one that will allow children .
I also went to click on the calendar to make an appt for my December travel and saw that you cannot schedule anything more than 3 days in advance . This system is extremely flawed. My insurance accepts Quest diagnostics so I’m not sure why I can’t go to directly to a quest diagnostic lab for testing for my son . If hey are approved then why do I have to go they Walgreens who will not test children . Makes no sense !
I made a COVID test appointment in Salem Oregon, Kaiser Permanente, on Friday, October 9, for my return to Maui on Thursday, October 15. They set up the appointment for today, Tuesday, October 13.. It was a short swab, which I was very thankful. I will receive my results tomorrow and if all goes well I will return to Maui on the 15th and not need to quarantine.
Hey Paula,
Did you receive your result from KP on time? I also will be testing with them tomorrow for my trip on Sunday and was wondering if you were able to get your result in time.
Does have appointment, in Oakland (Oct 19th) and SF (Oct 18th), but not in San Leandro.
I wonder if Gov Ige signing the order today will effect the partners being more prepared or updated for travelers (I doubt it).
Brad
Once again, mahalo Beat of Hawai’i for being the light in the darkness on this debacle.
In my humble opinion, the government of The Aloha State isn’t showing any Aloha to anyone.
I’m not believing my eyes, and you guys are the only truth out there.
I’m so sick of the talking story by Gov Ige and his “new crew” I’m getting a headache trying to figure out if they know their backside from a hole in the ground.
Blessings and Aloha to all.
Hi Pam.
Thank you! We are sure hoping for a little more clarity and pulling together between the islands. Visitors just can’t be expected to figure it out as it stands right now. Heck, we barely can.
Aloha.
Thanks to all those who have commented. I must agree that any clia certified lab providing a pcr test should be accepted. It is not clear why a “trusted partner” is required. Each state utilizes resources available in thier locale to provide testing to its citizens. Trusted testing partners cannot meet all testing needs in most communities. Trusted partners such as Quest cannot meet turn around times for COVID tracing needed by states so how are they going to meet testing needs for asymptomatic travelers? Agreed, Hawaii Department of Health needs to adjust this policy immediately.
I live in Seattle, and booked a trip to Maui back in July believing that the pretest would start in August or September. Fortunately, our arrival date was the 15th, so that worked out well.
I originally scheduled our tests with the king county testing site, which uses an FDA approved PCR test performed at a CLIA lab. Of course last week they decided that wasn’t going to cut it. We’re flying Alaska so I scheduled with them as soon as they started taking reservations last week.
Testing was easy, and despite the lack of appointments there was no one else there but us 3 when we were tested.
We’re heading to Kona in December, so I appreciate the notice about appointments. I scheduled them tonight.
I did notice that there were available spots (2-3) every day from Thursday on for at least the next week. I’m guessing some people are cancelling, or double booked, so if you couldn’t schedule, try again.
Also, we got results in <5 hours. Great for peace of mind.
Hi Owen.
Thanks for letting us know how that worked out for you.
Aloha.
Booked our trip to Maui back in April thinking “Rona will be done by Oct 15, don’t you think?” What a rollercoaster since then! Got our tests done at a Walgreens in Salt Lake City, about 49 miles from home. Three day scheduling, results were back in two days. Good to go!
FYI, we, too, are San Jose Kaiser members who took their COVID test for travel to Alaska in July. At the time, we were told that travelers would receive test results back in 4 days, rather than the 48-72 hours for symptomatic members. It took almost 2 weeks to get our negative results. I hope you get results back in s more timely fashion! We cancelled our annual trip to Kauai scheduled for Oct 14-Nov 18 because of all the uncertainty with testing and whether Marriott Beach Club would even be open. Rescheduled for April-May 2021 and hoping for the best!
Pure insanity! No partners are available and no one to call! My friend is willing to pay what it takes but still cannot find anyplace in California. I think the partner idea is bad even though I want tourists to have a complete test! I wish there was a test that was universal and accepted! Maybe next year!
I scheduled our NAAT/PCR tests with the local FDA-approved, CLIA-cert lab that tests ages 2+ but after the ‘Trusted Partners’ stipulation I was forced to cancel our Hawaii trip once again. I had to break the news to our 8 &10 year olds this morning. Hurdles after hurdles, and now bottlenecks are unfortunately crippling this restart. I will retry for Feb ‘21. Mahalo
Hi Steven.
We have to believe it will all be running a lot smoother by February. Thanks.
Aloha.
Traveler from SLC here. There is 1 Walgreens facility in the greater SLC area (Woods Cross) doing the PCR test. From there, LabCorp picks up the tests at Noon and 5PM. We got tested today at 9, for a 1:30 Thursday connection in LAX to OGG. Also important to note is that when I talked with the pharmacist there, she indicated that the actual time that the test was taken does NOT show up on the test report (only the day). So if you try to maximize the 72 hours, you might get caught out with no way to prove that the test was indeed taken 72 hours ahead (rather than say 73 hours). Once I get my result, I’ll update if that’s not the case.
People are correct in that the Walgreens site allows only bookings two days in advance. However, it appears that a new day’s schedule opens at Midnight Eastern time, so folks on the west coast or mountain time zones should start looking at 9 or 10 pm.
Walgreens is free. In the questionnaire, I answered “no” to all the symptom questions and just checked the “I live in an area of community spread” box and qualified for testing.
The state of HI is making this way more complicated than it needs to be. Glad we’re traveling on the 15th so we can get in before the state decides to shut trans-Pacific travel down again.
Results received at 1PM Local time (25 hours post lab pick-up). Our test report DID include the time the sample was taken, so there is no ambiguity about when in the day the test was actually done.
It’s not going to work. In CA you can’t get a test result within 7 days.
Unfortunately it seems a staycation is still the best option.
MY flight from Seattle to Lihue leaves at 5:30 pm on Thursday. Carbon Health was booked up. CVS has no testing sites in the area. Quest said I did not qualify for a test. I originally was able to schedule an appointment with Walgreens at 9 am, Tues morning(they had no evening appointments on Monday night, 72 hours before my flight). I was worried that I would not get my results back in the 60 hours between Tues at 9 am and thurs at 5:30, so I decided to DiscoveryHealthMD and pay the outrageous price of $267! my results will come back overnight.
My advice? Plan many weeks in advance!
I just completed the Covid test today with hope of a 48 hr turnaround time at Walgreens. I had to drive 60 miles to one that had availability. Flying out of Seattle on Thursday!
Flying to the Big Island on Friday and had our COVID tests done today at CVS. There were plenty of reservations available and it was a smooth transaction…$139, so not cheap, but we got it done.
Now we’ll see what Mayor Kim has in store for us once we land.
Did you already get your results back?
Where are u flying from?
Aloha,
What do think happens if you do not have your test results when you arrive?
Do you quarantine until you get you results?
We are taken a “CVS Hawaii travel test” tomorrow for a Friday arrival. the cost was $139.00.
Thanks for keeping us informed on ALL this craziness.
Hi Judy.
Yes, you quarantine until your results are uploaded to the website. Thanks.
Aloha.
Thanks for info.
Is quarantine while awaiting results ok in your prebooked short term rental or do you have to go pay for a hotel for those nights since Hawaii does not allow quarantine in short term rentals?
Hi Katie.
That hasn’t been clarified. What we can say is that up to this point, vacation rentals were only permitted for those not in quarantine.
Aloha.
just cancelled our Maui trip on Oct. 20 due to difficulty in obtaining required test in Lincoln, CA
thank you
Hi Erika.
Sorry, that didn’t work out. With many new partners coming on-board, it should get better soon.
Aloha.
Our Federal Govt Needs to assist all states in providing an Efficient, Accurate and Rapid Test, for all to use and be accepted by all States. One Test. Available to everyone who wants it
This is just ridiculous. There are so many labs around that do testing prior to a surgical procedure but because ithey are not a “partner’ the results from those labs are not acceptable. I am going to play devil’s advocate here and say the only reason there are exclusive “partners” is that the state of Hawaii must be getting a kick-back from the partner labs. Surely if a lab is trusted enough to guarantee the results of their tests prior to surgery, those results should be acceptable for entry in to the state of Hawaii. This seems just like another case of follow the money.
Hawaii really blew its opportunity to reopen to travelers once its mandated Trusted Partners only fro teh Covid tests. They are hundreds of NAAT Clia certified labs doing testing all over the US, and many of them do testing for Hawaii, but they are not on the list. Its just ridiculous. Its unfortunate that travelers are going through incredible stress to make the trip only to most likely have to quarentine for a day or two until the test results arrive.
Yesterday I got the correct phone number to call Kaiser as I am a member. Called the travel nurse have a phone Appt to set up drive through testing for Monday Nov 2 and my flight for the 4th to Kona. The test is free to members.
Thanks for your info too.
Hi Renae.
Appreciate your letting us know about Kaiser. That is what we had heard.
Aloha.
Mahalo nui loa for your wonderful site! I’m now subscribed. I am also a Kaiser member and I husband and I had no problems scheduling tests for 11/3 in advance of our 11/6 flight from San Jose, California to Lihue. Kaiser now allows members who are traveling to get a test where as before, you had to have either symptoms or exposure. I’ll be checking Beat of Hawaii several times a day to read your updates and the comments.
Hi Laura.
Glad that worked out at Kaiser, as others are also now reporting. Have a great time on Kauai.
Aloha.
We are keeping our fingers crossed. We have flights from Denver to Honolulu, leaving Denver at 6:30am this Thursday, the 15th. We are traveling on Southwest and going through Oakland. The only place we could get tested was at a WalMart drive-through pharmacy about 45 minutes from our house. Tests are run through Quest. We asked the pharmacist if he knows about how long it is taking to get results back. He answered, “2-7 days.” Hmmm… take test within 72 hours, but could take longer than that to get results – and this from a “trusted partner.” There’s nothing we can do except wait and see if we get results in time. If not, we can’t go. 🤦♀️