The article says that if the quick test is positive they require you take a PCR test and then quarantine until they get the results (later that day or overnight).
Not much unless people aren't wearing masks. It's not a perfect solution but it's the best we have until we get a vaccine. Actually I, as a passenger, am more concerned about the crew who haven't been tested than the other passengers who were tested before they got on the plane. But thats a risk that I have chosen to accept.
Great question. CovidActNow estimates that Hawaii has only about 16% of the COVID tracers that they need to track positives and notify those with whom they've come into contact.
covidactnow.org
When we opened up for tourists I was honestly pretty uncomfortable. We opened up right as Arizona had their big outbreak and when the city was full of AZ plates and lots of folks weren't wearing masks it was frustrating as we wanted to open up more businesses and couldn't afford to go backwards in our case numbers. But it seems like between having most people wear masks plus social distancing, we've continued to make progress. Other counties in the state haven't fared as well, so we are frequently a tourist destination since our numbers are good. It doesn't bother me quite as much now as it did in June. It will be an adjustment for everyone to see tourists. At least yours have been tested. We get anyone who can drive here and there's nothing that we can do about it.
You have to wear a mask on the flight, so that's not an issue. Plus, you've not had that 2nd test yet, so the risk of false negative is still lingering. The ONLY reason for a 2nd test requirement at the airport upon arrival is to catch the false negatives (that primarily arise from being tested too soon after exposure). With two tests 3 or so days apart, there is pretty small risk you're actually infected. Even the CDC says, for a person WITH COVID, once they have two negative tests 24 hours apart they aren't contagious anymore.
I believe they said the test would be repeated with a NAAT/PCR test and you'd have to quarantine until that comes back (couple days). If it is negative you're good to go. If not, quarantine.
They only contact trace when you've had extended or close exposure. Certainly the person you're sitting next to. But the crew has only brief passing exposure.
I guess my point is is there a plan to put people who are positive in a designated location? I live here in hawaii and im not hearing of any such plan. A 2nd test accurate or in accurate does nothing wo a plan.
I don't think that's true. Prolonged exposure in a confined space is COVID's preferred breeding ground and there are no domestic flights more prolonged than those from the East Coast to Hawaii - BOS to HNL is *the* longest domestic flight. And there are certain aircraft facilities you can't avoid using on a 12 hour flight.
Of that there is little doubt...though there is always the chance that SARS-CoV-2 will follow SARS-CoV-1 into oblivion after a few years.
To my knowledge, they expect you to quarantine in your stated destination.
Yup. And the big island had the least enforcement of all the islands. Kauai was the strictest. But what about hotels and timeshares that are now stating you cannot check in wo a negative test. Its going to be a mess.
I don‘t care about any of that... every person on the flight will have been tested for COVID before boarding the flight. Comparing apples to apples, that makes it safer than a flight that may be full of people with active asymptomatic infections irrespective of the length of the flight. I’ll take my chances on a flight full of pre-tested passengers over one without.
We’ve got trips scheduled for Jan-Feb and Mar-Apr time periods. But our real “on edge“ is a week in Ireland followed by a Viking river cruise on the Danube scheduled for June (rescheduled from Sept. 2020). So, hopefully, we’ll have some trustworthy vaccine options by ~ April, and Europe will have their act together.
It would be wonderful if that was a true statement, however, the testing is not mandatory and those passengers who determine that they will not take the test and are subject to the 14 day quarantine will put everyone at risk. As stated previously, enforcement on the Big Island is almost non-existent. I think many of these people consider breaking quarantine a sport. The cluster issue at the University of Nations in Kona had the largest outbreak as they allowed students to arrive from the mainland and not quarantine resulting in a school and community outbreak. Not only did some of these students not stay at their location, a few boarded flights to Oahu to go shopping.
Yup . This is 100 percent the concern of most Hawaii residents. If all passengers were required to be testes before boarding the plane there would be much less concern on our end. But its not required. And its giving those that do test a false sense of security that the flight is safe.
Try living someplace where anyone can visit, no test, no quarantine. Then the visitors refuse to wear masks. Living in a tourist destination is not all it's cracked up to be.
Your thought about requiring ALL passenger to be required to be tested would be great, but Hawaii as a State and not the Federal Government can't dictate that. That is why I have been advocating the publisizing and instituting a law that anyone who doesn't get tested with a negative result before the flight will be Escorted to a Guarded Quarantine Facility for the 14 days of Quarantine. No one will want to endure that so everyone will be tested before hand or not come and that is what you want.
That would probably do the trick alright. I live in a tourist destination and it is nerve-wracking watching local 'essential' businesses fill up with out-of-towners who, as stated, make a sport out of not wearing a mask (dangling below the chin appears popular). We had great #'s so Gov opened up hotels, restaurants, the borders - 2 months later we have crises level #'s. Most are from surrounding states with high C-19 #'s. Just saying there are no EASY solutions. It's going to be ongoing change for the foreseeable future. One deep breath after another is about all I can do, that and watch & wait.
Yes, that is true and my comment is inaccurate to that extent. However, I don't expect many to come over and be subject to a 14-day quarantine when all the need is a test. But, beyond that, if we assume 10% of the travelers are not tested beforehand and intend to quarantine, that's about 25 on a plane, but with surveillance rates at 4%, that means if that 25 is a random sample, that's one person. But travelers to Hawaii are not a random sample. The highest risk people out there for infection, those working in low-wage jobs that can't work from home, factory workers, farm workers, etc., the workers that make up a disproportionate number of the cases, aren't really hopping on a plane to Maui at the first opening of Hawaii.
Yes, it has all the hallmarks of a cluster-**** at the airport if going to the Big Island.
