Hawaii [may] require booster to be fully vaccinated and avoid quarantine

[sun starved Gayle]

Hawaii may require travelers have COVID booster shot to be 'fully vaccinated'

Hawaii may require visitors to the state receive a COVID-19 vaccine booster if they want to skip quarantine.

abcnews.go.com

 

[DianeG]

Not announced yet.

 

[sun starved Gayle]

Article says rule to go into effect January 24.

 

[csodjd]

Article says rule to go into effect January 24.

No. Not for travel to Hawaii.

"Last month, Maui Mayor Michael Victorino revealed booster shots would be required for locals to be considered fully vaccinated. The rule was supposed to go into effect on Jan. 8 but was delayed until Jan. 24 so people have time to schedule booster shots, reported KHON 2."

That's just the rule for Maui locals to eat indoors.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

Article is dated Jan 17. I read 2 weeks from now or Jan 31.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

I am assuming if you are already on the island you are okay

 

[sun starved Gayle]

Thanks for clarification.

 

[JIMinNC]

Article is dated Jan 17. I read 2 weeks from now or Jan 31.

This is old news that is just being picked up by ABC and other national media, but it was first reported in Hawaii last week. Gov Ige's comments were made last week and reported then by the Honolulu Star Advertiser. He was saying they would likely make the change to the definition of fully-vaccinated to include a booster, but no official announcement has been made as far as I have seen, and his implication then was that the implementation date would be no sooner than two weeks after any official announcement to allow time for people to adjust. As I said, I've seen nothing in the Hawaii press that indicates anything official has been announced beyond the Governor's comment on January 10 or 11. As a result, I don't think there is an implementation date that has been set.

Here is a report from last week on what he said from Hawaii News Now, and the ABC report actually linked to this almost week-old story

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2022/...afe-travels-program-booster-soon-be-required/

 

[DianeG]

Shoddy reporting by ABC, as explained above.

 

[daventrina]

Shoddy reporting by ABC, as explained above.

And every other Mainland news source. There are the same people that made it should like the entirety of the Big Island was going to explode or sink into the ocean when the last eruption started.

This statement is simply not accurate:
"Hawaii will likely require visitors to the state to have received a COVID-19 vaccine booster if they want to skip quarantine."

Best to trust local news sources for this type of information.

They also make it sound like you won't be able to travel to Hawai`i if you are not vaccinated with a booster. There is absolutely no indication from official sources own Hawai`i that the option to have a pre-test prior to arrival is going to be eliminated.

As of this moment, there has still been no official date for the implementation of the booster requirement.

Lt. Governor Dr. Green has been pushing for this for weeks.

 

[jacknsara]

And every other Mainland news source. There are the same people that made it should like the entirety of the Big Island was going to explode or sink into the ocean when the last eruption started.

This statement is simply not accurate:
"Hawaii will likely require visitors to the state to have received a COVID-19 vaccine booster if they want to skip quarantine."

Best to trust local news sources for this type of information.

They also make it sound like you won't be able to travel to Hawai`i if you are not vaccinated with a booster. There is absolutely no indication from official sources own Hawai`i that the option to have a pre-test prior to arrival is going to be eliminated.

As of this moment, there has still been no official date for the implementation of the booster requirement.

Lt. Governor Dr. Green has been pushing for this for weeks.

Not sure the date of this interview, but it was clearly before Dec 31.

 

[daventrina]

Not sure the date of this interview, but it was clearly before Dec 31.

It was Dec. 27th 2021


Here is the latest from one of our local news sources. I expect that boosters will be required 2 weeks after they complete these modifications. As hard as it seems these changes are being pushed , I might guess that boosters may be required as early a 3 weeks from now. Later than I would have liked but still a good thing,

 

[csodjd]

I guess by adding a booster requirement for use of vaccines as the method of being exempt from quarantine they hope/expect to reduce the risk of the person needing hospital care in Hawaii. Testing 3 days before is probably the weak link, however. If you are not vaccinated at all you can still come, and with omicron you have a couple days + airport + airplane + airport + Hawaii opportunities to become infected while there and are far MORE likely to need a hospital. Rather than adding booster (or in addition to it) I’d probably have tightened up a lot on those not fully vaccinated. Test closer to flight. Test on arrival. Test 1-2 days after arrival. Something like that.

 

[SmithOp]

We were on Oahu i early December, took a private island tour. We had interesting conversation with the guide, he was more afraid of unvaccinated locals than the tourists he knew were vaxxed.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[daventrina]

I guess by adding a booster requirement for use of vaccines as the method of being exempt from quarantine they hope/expect to reduce the risk of the person needing hospital care in Hawaii. Testing 3 days before is probably the weak link, however. If you are not vaccinated at all you can still come, and with omicron you have a couple days + airport + airplane + airport + Hawaii opportunities to become infected while there and are far MORE likely to need a hospital. Rather than adding booster (or in addition to it) I’d probably have tightened up a lot on those not fully vaccinated. Test closer to flight. Test on arrival. Test 1-2 days after arrival. Something like that.

The goal is to keep hospitalizations at a manageable level. Over the summer Hawai`i was about two dozen beds away from having to ration medical care. For a while the Big Island had arrival testing them switched to random percentage testing and then it was eliminated.

With all of the current testing of residents there isn't the capacity to test 100% of the visitors after arrival. only about 10% of arrivals are unvaccinated.
So, yes, testing at least a percentage of unvaccinated arrivals would be a good idea.

 

[daventrina]

We were on Oahu i early December, took a private island tour. We had interesting conversation with the guide, he was more afraid of unvaccinated locals than the tourists he knew were vaxxed.

Exactly. Visitors are at least either vaccinated or tested. We shop late if able to avoid crowds. Stay away from the beaches on weekends. If locals would stay away from large groups for a while we would be in much better shape. over 6000 new cases yesterday. Big Island reached 2.5% infection rate. So far the hospital capacities are doing ok. The labor force on the other hand is taking quite a hit.

 

[csodjd]

Exactly. Visitors are at least either vaccinated or tested. We shop late if able to avoid crowds. Stay away from the beaches on weekends. If locals would stay away from large groups for a while we would be in much better shape. over 6000 new cases yesterday. Big Island reached 2.5% infection rate. So far the hospital capacities are doing ok. The labor force on the other hand is taking quite a hit.

I am not now and have never been too convinced that the pre-travel testing option is very effective, even more so now with omicron and it's shorter incubation time. The hospitals are doing okay because a lot of people are vaccinated, many of those that are not are also younger and less likely to be hospitalized, and omicron is less severe in many people. Collectively, that greatly reduces the hospital concerns even with the large number of cases.

Regarding case counts, it's going to start dropping. Here is the Los Angeles County graph:

Though the 7-day average hasn't dropped much yet, look at the last three days. (We don't have 1-19 data yet.) It shows about a 50% drop.

And here is NYC:

Pretty easy to see the rapid drop in cases occurring in NYC, and seemingly in LA also (too early to be sure though).

 

[daventrina]

I am not now and have never been too convinced that the pre-travel testing option is very effective, even more so now with omicron and it's shorter incubation time. ...

If you look at the data for percentage of arrival case contributions they have remained constant between 3% (delta and earlier and 4% currently. Visitor rates have remained unchanged the entire time at 1%. In any case they remaina small factor with poor resident behavior (community spread - parties and gatherings) being our biggest problem.

 

[csodjd]

If you look at the data for percentage of arrival case contributions they have remained constant between 3% (delta and earlier and 4% currently. Visitor rates have remained unchanged the entire time at 1%. In any case they remaina small factor with poor resident behavior (community spread - parties and gatherings) being our biggest problem.

While not what some want to say, that doesn't appear to be in doubt at all. I suspect a visitor/tourist is a lot more likely to CATCH it in Hawaii than BRING it to Hawaii.

 

[daventrina]

I suspect a visitor/tourist is a lot more likely to CATCH it in Hawaii than BRING it to Hawaii.

Yep. Or in an airport on the way home. We are fortunate that all or our flights have had no mainland stops. Most everyone is vaccinated and nearly all that aren't are tested (within 72 hours coming home and 10 days going - hope they didn't catch it here)

 

[csodjd]

Yep. Or in an airport on the way home. We are fortunate that all or our flights have had no mainland stops. Most everyone is vaccinated and nearly all that aren't are tested (within 72 hours coming home and 10 days going - hope they didn't catch it here)

I read a piece recently about the "safest" place to sit on a plane. It basically addressed the obvious -- from any given seat, how many others are there within a certain distance from you. Worst was a middle seat on a group of 3, typical economy seating. You have 3 behind you, 3 in front of you, and one on either side. 8 people in close proximity. Best is first or last row of first/business, window seat. Only 3 near you, and they are farther away.

 

[daventrina]

... Worst was a middle seat on a group of 3, typical economy seating. ...

Our next few flights are 2 in 2/3 or 2/4/2 premium extra space

 

[The Colorado Kid]

Report from known Hawaii traveler just back from Hawaii (getting specific island) who said she only had to have her vax card with her - no testing required.

 

[DeniseM]

Testing hasn't been required for vaccinated travelers for a long time.

 

[csodjd]

Our next few flights are 2 in 2/3 or 2/4/2 premium extra space

If on Hawaiian Air, make sure you bring some wired headphones or ear plugs. Or $4. I spent 15 min trying to figure out why WiFi didn't work on my iPad. Turned out they didn't use WiFi, they had the old fashioned screens you'd pull up from between the seats. My Apple Airpods were not much help.