134 thoughts on “T-48 Hours: Hawaii Testing Failure – No Availability”
Pam M
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.
Beat of Hawaii
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.
Kathy S
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.
Owen P.
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.
Owen P
Also, we got results in <5 hours. Great for peace of mind.
Beat of Hawaii
Hi Owen.
Thanks for letting us know how that worked out for you.
Aloha.
Lee A
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!
Suzy M.
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!
Loub
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!
Steven V
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
Beat of Hawaii
Hi Steven.
We have to believe it will all be running a lot smoother by February. Thanks.
Aloha.
Ken B
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.
Ken B
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.
Lynn
It’s not going to work. In CA you can’t get a test result within 7 days.
Renard D.
Unfortunately it seems a staycation is still the best option.
Lisa S
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!
Comments are closed.
Aloha!
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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!