73 thoughts on “Will Maui Stray Next After Kauai Travel Gets Approved”

  1. Thank you Beat of Hawaii for providing us with the almost every day irritating, but essential, news on how our planned trip, scheduled to start on 3/31 for 9 days on Maui & moving on to Kauai for 2 weeks has changed. It’s proven to be a moving target. We have a SafeTravels account, and we’ve put Maui’s required AlohaSafe Alert app on our phones; we have our appointment to take the pre-travel test within 72 hours of our flight from San Jose to Maui; we’ve set up an account to do our pre-travel 72 hour test appointment on Maui, required by Kauai, so that we won’t have to quarantine on Kauai – and oh yes, we both had our 2nd Pfizer vaccination this past Monday. With the great news that Kauai is rejoining SafeTravels on 4/5, comes the bad news that Maui may be going “rogue”, as Kauai previously did. By following all the steps required, we thought we were prepared to avoid having to quarantine, but if Maui adopts the same protocol that Kauai did, that will no longer be the case. Making adjustments to our trip isn’t an option at this time, since time spent on both islands is at our timeshares – but we’re not ready to give up yet on this trip that has been scheduled since last June. We’re hoping the next news from Beat of Hawaii will be nothing but good news for those of us who have travel plans to the beautiful and the previously welcoming islands of Hawaii.

    1. Hi Donna.

      Thanks. We hope your trip plans go off without a hitch. Please let us know.

      Aloha.

  2. “ Travelers cannot be expected to adhere to different rules for each island,”
    Well actually yes they CAN be expected to do whatever their ‘vacation during a pandemic’ destination requires them to do! If it is inconvenient, either adapt or postpone your vacation. The lives and health of our residents is of paramount importance: not the convenience of visitors!

    1. I have postponed Hawaii vacations. Several of them actually. From what I’ve read in the Honolulu SA daily newspaper, 99% of infections have been linked to your own residents. Please stop demonizing tourists as the culprits in your Covid-19 spread.

      1. Well said. Hawiians love to blame tourists. I blame it on having the worst education in the country. They actually think visitors leave trash on the beach when it’s always the drunk locals and countless meth heads the county caters to.

  3. I understand the need for interisland testing, especially since most of the Covid cases are residents. But why can’t each island administer a Rapid test for free? No cost testing and immediate results seems to be a win-win. I never understood the “trusted partner only” testing requirement. A Covid test is a Covid test. Last time I checked, results from a non-trusted testing facility are counted towards National totals so why would it matter who the vendor is???

    1. Why should the state pay for the tests? That burden would come right out of the tax payers pockets. You wanna travel during a global pandemic? Cool….follow our protocol without whining and pay to get tested. Eazy peazy. Thanks

  4. ……..the majority of Kaua’i is ready to reopen and has been for a long time, but i am trying to figure out what’s going to happen if we are still going by the “tier case count for Kaua’i Business and Recreational Guidelines.”

    If this has not been altered, then this whole thing is a joke.

    Liars can figure, but figures don’t lie.

    Or do they?

  5. Oh, good grief! What good does it do to even have a governor if the mayors are permitted to go rogue? It is way past time for the state legislature to take over and put a stop to this nonsense. Enough is enough. Never mind what this means for the tourists… this is just killing the citizens of Hawaii. How in the world can they even attempt to bring some kind of normalcy back in to their lives when the mayors seem bent on destroying their ability to provide for themselves and their families?

    1. In today’s world ever politician wants to show his
      Power couldn’t care less for the good of the people

  6. We just returned from a trip to Hawaii. Spent five days in Maui, two in Oahu and one sitting in the airport in Kona because we didn’t have a recent test. The travel rules are ridiculous! I’ve been researching articles for months and thought I understood how the system worked. I knew that Kauai was outside the safe travels program but somehow missed that The Big Island required something that Oahu didn’t. Hawaii needs to get its act together as a unified state and soon. What a plantation mentality!

    1. Maybe you shouldn’t be traveling during a global pandemic, and if you choose to, no complain about the rules. Every island is a different county, with different needs and hospital space…this ain’t the mainland. Stop being selfish please

      1. I have had two lovely 1mo remote working/vacations in Hawaii ( Big Island and Maui) during the pandemic. If you follow the rules, you will be fine. We have had a combined 5 Covid tests taken during this period. Do your research. Stop complaining. You are going to paradise and once you are there it will be wonderful.

        If you can’t figure it out, perhaps it isn’t the best time to go for you.

        I recommend everyone go to Hawaii. Few Covid cases, far less than any of the states in the mainland, and if you are vaccinated, great for you. That still doesn’t mean you can’t get Covid nor that you can’t transmit it.

        Thank you Beat of Hawaii for the information and State of Hawaii for keeping your people safe and tourists you are allowing to come and enjoy your islands.

        1. Hi Julieta.

          Thanks. We appreciate you sharing about your two recent Hawaii vacations.

          Aloha.

      2. So 1% of world gets covid and 1% of those people die and the world has to shut down for a year? Tests are fine, but if most businesses cease to exist then what was the point?

      3. Not sure where you get those statistics, but you’re wrong. The US has an infection rate above 3 percent, and while your hypothetical ‘1%’ may sound great, is it still great if one of your family or close friends who dies due to Covid is in that 1%? All this just so you can selfishly travel? We’ve already seen what rushing back to ‘normalcy’ has gotten usj

  7. I wanted to honeymoon in Hawaii because I wanted to support the rebuilding of the economy. I had even booked it but the crazy and inconsistent rules (inter island flights and seemingly constant changing standards) made me not have confidence in what may be required so I had to cancel the trip and chose another location. It’s astonishing the level of incompetence demonstrated by the leadership in the state. They are destroying the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people.

  8. hahahahahahaha… Every small town, suburb or district is better run than this State.

    What a joke it is out here.

    1. Aloha Sean! The State of Hawaii has the lowest numbers in the Country because they have controlled the tourist population to protect their permanent residents! Kauai County for example, has reported zero new cases for the last 2 weeks or more. Take a look at the State and County where you live. There isn’t one place on the mainland that has controlled and contained the devastation from the pandemic like Hawaii has.

      1. Because the locals have no where to go to get the virus since all tourist activities have shut down and that’s what locals do for their livelihood

      2. The State of Hawaii is the most isolated place on Earth. 2500 miles from the nearest land mass. It also has 4 counties all separated by 30+ miles of water. It would be an utter disappointment if it wasn’t statistically the best. It was never gonna be that hard to have the ” best” numbers. And it was never a contest to begin with. best covid numbers, sure. Worst economy, absolutely. Highest unemployment, you betcha.

        I live out here. The fact that a year later you still cannot travel freely even between counties shows that the State hasn’t handled this well. Locking down and throwing away the key is not a recipe that takes much thought. It just shows their lack of solid ideas.

      3. Also, once the eviction moratorium, and foreclosure moratorium is lifted, how do you think it’ll go?

        During the recession, Hawaii was down roughly 10% in tourist numbers… The forecast for Hawaii over the next year or two doesn’t have the recovery surpassing 70%…and there are many businesses closed for good, not because off the virus, because of the Gov’t lockdowns. Those jobs aren’t coming back for locals.

        Also, the recession started in roughly 2007. The low point out here occurred in almost 2011. Maybe you don’t have kids, are retired, or wealthy, but I wonder what would be worse. Catching a virus with a 99.0+% survival rate, or living out of your van with kid?

    2. Aloha Sean,
      Having only 31 ICU beds on Maui is no joke. As hard as the states guidelines seem, it would be impossible to keep up with a major outbreak of this disease on any other islands. Today, 20 of those ICU beds on Maui are occupied, only 2 by covid patients. Staying healthy must remain a priority.
      Malama pono

          1. A bad flu season, or even a bad bus accident could overrun things. All these mayors and the State have had year to figure out capacity plans.

            We live in the nicest weather location in the US. The military can set up temporary traige sites, or use any number of facilities. ( Kaiser, Maui medical etc)

            No State ever ended up overrun. Full, sure. But much like an airline, they need to have rooms filled to mmoney. bey. In California, hospitalizations kept rising, doom was predicted, hospitalizations rose more, more doom, whoops, it all ended up ok. I don’t recall stepping over any dead bodies during my multiple trips to the coast…..

            Anyone guess the last time hospital capacity was a concern? yup, the 2018 flu season.

            The hospital capacity nonsense has been fact checked false. Even in open States. How did Florida’s hospitals do btw? Don’t recall seeing much in the way of imploding hospitals.

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