Using the Hawaii Coivd website for Safe Travels to the islands? Many issues remain to be clarified.
204 thoughts on “Total Confusion Reigns on Hawaii Rules and Testing Partners”
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Using the Hawaii Coivd website for Safe Travels to the islands? Many issues remain to be clarified.
Comments are closed.
I would like to know about this please as I have a trip planned for 3/25!
“Walgreens is offering two different testing options, with one available at some locations and the second offered at the other: (1) “PT-PCR Diagnostic Panel” and (2) “Rapid Point of Care (“POC”) Test”. I cannot find on the Walgreens website whether either or both are the “NAAT test conducted at a CLIA-certified laboratory” as required by the Hawaiian authorities. Do you happen to know whether one or both of the test options offered by Walgreens meets the requirements for Hawaii’s travel program?”
Hi Cynthia.
Best advise we can offer is to check with the state’s Safe Travels help desk at 1-855-599-0888 between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. Hawaii Standard Time.
Aloha.
I work for a COVID testing site. We send all our samples to a CLIA approved site. I wanted to know can I use my site or does it have to be a “partner”? No one can seem to answer this. We are flighing the Hawaiian Airlines. Thank you for the help.
Hi Sierra.
Here are the rules. It needs to be a trusted partner. https://hawaiicovid19.com/travel/travel-partners/
Aloha.
The 72 hr timing is confusing me. We arrive in Hawaii at 430pm on December 3rd. Our test is scheduled in Michigan at 10:30 am on Monday Nov. 30. Are we gonna be good with the 72 hours
I called Walgreens here in San Diego as it is one of the places offering free tests. They said they are not offering the rapid test but their results come back in 48-72 hours and are more accurate than the fast one.
Can someone please tell me where in southern california, i can get a rapid test. please be specific. we need to test on a saturday
we live in san diego but will drive as far as los angeles
Hi Beth.
Plenty of folks on here from So. Cal. so hopefully others will chime in. The Vault mail in tests are available anywhere in the US.
Aloha.
We flew to Lihue last Thursday (5th). Southwest nonstop from San Jose. Airfare dirt cheap ($129 one-way). Plane not even 1/3 full. We had taken/shipped Vault tests on the 2nd, and received our results emails late on the 3rd. You “print” the first page (only) of the results email as a pdf, and upload the pdf on your trip profile on the HI web site. This can be easily forged (not that we did that!). You need to wait until one day before your flight to answer the health questions on the HI web site, which is what triggers the QR code email from HI. Keep that email!
The exit process at LIH took maybe 3 minutes. No paper print outs were needed/wanted. The guy at LIH (“Kimo”) asked me to locate/open the QR code email, enter my password, and hand him my phone. He scrolled around a bit, and handed my phone back along with a little paper “admit one” ticket. Same for my wife. Then we made our way to the little security area that has AC (those of you that fly to LIH know what I mean) and a kid in a national guard outfit wanted to see the paper ticket, after which you must toss it in a waste bin. Then you are done and can exit through the baggage claim.
If you rent a car, they will also want you to click onto that same QR code email and enter your password (and just hand them your phone, it goes faster). We have a house here, so I don’t know about hotels and vacation rentals, but they probably also ask. We were told some restaurants may ask, but that hasn’t happened, yet. One place did take our temperature. Mask wearing is about the same as on mainland. Wear one in stores and for entering/exiting restaurants, but take it off when you sit down.
Flight attendant said you can get free tests with fast results at OAK that HI accepts. I was told Walgreens in CA also offered free tests with fast results. We did Vault because our home state WY paid for them, and it is less invasive to spit than have a swab shoved into your brain.
Thank you SO much for posting this! I booked on American so I could fly through Dallas and use their on site rapid testing. This morning I noticed that neither of their testing partners were on the approved list. Yet AA still tauts that these providers will work. Now I have to change my flights or cancel. I thought it was my imagination being paranoid until I saw your article. T
If you are aware of any updates or changes, please advise.
Thank you
Hi Lara.
Perhaps someone who has had experience with AA out of DFW can comment, as we don’t know. Alternatively, try contacting the state’s Safe Travels helpline at 1-855-599-0888.
Aloha.
I believe if AA is a trusted partner, the test is good. I used United airlines partner, GoHealth at SFO. Since United is a trusted partner the test is accepted, even though GoHealth is not on the list. I would call AA and confirm.
I flew American Airlines and tested at the Rapid Testing Center in Dallas. American uses CareNow which is on the list of trusted testing partners. I had no problem getting in. Good luck!!
Hi Tim and others.
We appreciate you all giving Lara a hand.
Aloha.
Also, the Rapid Testing took place between Gates D40 and B1. I believe the flights to Hawaii are leaving out of the D terminal. The entire process took me 30 minutes.
Circling back because we are about to go through the ordeal. We have Vault test kits (they are on the “trusted partners” list), which must be taken with a Zoom call proctor, then UPS’d to their lab. That is the easy part (I think).
We are scheduled to fly from San Jose CA to Lihue this Thursday at 9 am, so we will wait until 10 am Monday to take the tests. My concerns, based on prior comments on this blog, are:
[1] Does Vault “time stamp” when the test is taken and is it shown on the results? Have people had Vault test results rejected for lack of a time stamp showing is less than 72 hours? The alternative is to take the test on Tuesday, but that greatly decreases our chances of getting results back before departure.
[2] If we do not receive the results in time to post them on the safe travels web site or print them out before we have to board our flight, but we instead get them while in mid-air or after landing, are we stuck with 14 days quarantine or returning to mainland as a result? Or has the state started to “approve” test results posted on the save travels app after someone is initially stuck with quarantine? That is a “really sucks” situation and I have seen comments that this was happening – not sure if it still is??
Thank you, again, BoH guys for having this blog, and to all of you commenters out there contributing your experiences to try and help others.
Hi David.
Great questions. Also, please let us know how it turns out after the fact. Hopefully, we’ll hear from some of those who’ve already done the Vault route. Overall the feedback in comments has been very positive.
Aloha.
Aloha, so my friend arrived from the mainland with a negative test from a trusted partner and was told she still had to quarantine because afc urgent care from Colorado was not accepted and only afc urgent care of portland was. For days and many, many calls we have been contacting and talking to everyone we can to get this corrected to no avail. All we want to do is have a chance to communicate our story to whomever is making these decisions. Through all of our work, we have narrowed it down to the attorney general office and the department of health. Have you heard of anyone reversing there quarantine?? The sad thing is that they watched other people on there flight with the same issue get cleared! There is no clear direction to this and everything decision is up to the worker making it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated
Hi Jeff.
First, sorry to hear about what you have been going through. We did see on the state website that AFC Portland was listed but no other AFC locations. That’s confusing at best. We hope other visitors who have had some experience with similar situations can share answers,
Aloha.
Hi Jeff,
Very sorry to hear this. The frustrating thing about this is they started off with just something like “AFC Urgent Care” listed (without specifying “Portland”) and then later changed it. While it’s nice that the state has been continuously updating this website with new info, there’s also something to be said about changing info that can greatly affect someone’s ability to follow the rules. I had been keeping a constant check on the HawaiiCovid19 website prior to our arrival, and the repeated changes really makes it look like there has been no clear / stable decision-making.
Thanks.
Hi Nathan.
True that. We continue to be hopeful that as a little more time passes, this will all get easier.
Aloha.