www.wsj.com
My dad sent a link to a headline from the Wall Street Journal stating that United Airlines will be offering testing to its customers. It’s behind a paywall - can any of you who have access to WSJ summarize the article, please?
United to Offer Covid Testing to Some Hawaii-Bound Travelers
United Airlines will offer Covid-19 tests for a fee to passengers flying from San Francisco to Hawaii, as airlines look to testing as a way to reopen some destinations that have been largely closed to travel during the pandemic.
www.cnn.com
More information is coming out about the United program at other news outlets too:
United Airlines to offer Covid-19 testing for some passengers
United will offer Covid-19 testing for Hawaii-bound passengers beginning October 15 out of San Francisco, in a pilot testing program that the airline hopes to extend to other destinations.
according to Bloomberg, the test will be 250 USD ppMore information is coming out about the United program at other news outlets too:
United Airlines to offer Covid-19 testing for some passengers
United will offer Covid-19 testing for Hawaii-bound passengers beginning October 15 out of San Francisco, in a pilot testing program that the airline hopes to extend to other destinations.
From the WSJ article - "United said it worked with Hawaiian officials to ensure the tests will meet its requirements. The quick airport test will be administered by GoHealth Urgent Care in the San Francisco airport’s international terminal, and passengers who test positive won’t be allowed to enter security or travel, a United spokeswoman said."
On other forums I have to keep reminding people that mainlanders never stopped going to Hawaii. And that while incoming passenger numbers into HNL have varied day by day they divide into three more or less equal groups - visitors and new residents, returning Hawaiians, and those exempt from quarantine (largely though not exclusively military personnel and airline personnel).
To be clear, NAAT is a broad category of molecular testing of which PCR is the primary method. NAAT testing involves/requires amplification of the viral RNA, allowing detection of very small amounts, which is why it takes some time. (PCR testing became famous in the OJ Simpson case as that was used in a big way for the first time to find traces of his DNA in the mixed samples of blood.)
However, the Abbot ID Now test, which IS a rapid nucleic acid amplification test performed by a CLIA certified lab and it provides results in 15 minutes or less. It received FDA EUA approval last week.
Abbott ID NOW COVID-19 Assay
ID NOW™ COVID-19 assay performed on the ID NOW Instrument is a rapid molecular in vitro diagnostic test intended for the qualitative detection of nucleic acid from the SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA in direct nasal, nasopharyngeal or throat swabs and nasal, nasopharyngeal or throat swabs eluted in viral...www.cardinalhealth.com
I suspect/hope that between now and Oct 15 there will be more clarity. For instance, it's still not clear/certain if 72 hrs means 3 days, or 72 hrs. And if the latter, 72 hrs from when to when? How do you address a test result that doesn't have the time of the test on it? What does "arrival" in Hawaii mean? Touchdown? When it's your turn at the front of the line? What about a flight to Maui that stops in Honolulu for 45 min? Understanding 72 hrs to mean 3 days makes all those testy questions go away. But if 72 means 72, those all have to be answered.
At the moment, the issue of travel to an island that isn't O'ahu is still completely in up in the air. Interisland travel from O'ahu is still subject to a 14-day quarantine and in Gov. Ige's recent interview with the Star Advertiser he said he expected it to remain in place after October 15th because of the scarcity of testing and medical facilities.
I believe the FAQ says that if you don't leave the airport in Honolulu and you connect to another island that's okay, it's like one flight. But if you leave the airport and, say, your connection flight is the next day, then that connection flight is an "inter-island" flight and those rules apply.
They are using the Abbott ID Now rapid test initially only at San Francisco for flights to Hawaii from what I read today. The interesting thing is that it appears the Abbott test satisfies the Hawaii rules. It becomes easy to imagine, if necessary, a "Hawaii Travelers" checkin area at the airport where you go to get your COVID test an hour or 90 min before your flight. The center would have its own CLIA approved lab running the Abbott machines, and the cost shared by the major airlines flying to Hawaii.More information is coming out about the United program at other news outlets too:
United Airlines to offer Covid-19 testing for some passengers
United will offer Covid-19 testing for Hawaii-bound passengers beginning October 15 out of San Francisco, in a pilot testing program that the airline hopes to extend to other destinations.
Eh, nobody likes to be burdened with details. So, yes, I'm guessing nobody's actually ever looked, or they looked at their own that had it and have not considered labs around the US. More good reasons NOT to be on the first light over on Oct. 15.
As of today the interisland quarantine from Kona to Kauai is still in effect with no dispensation for COVID testing. But I would be very, very surprised if that was still true in April.
