Vaccination Passports/Safe Travels

[csodjd]

Good news - bad news.

The Governor is just announcing the start of a vaccination exemption for inter-island travel starting with travel on May 11. You must be at least 14 days (travel at least 15 days) after the last of your required vaccine to be considered "fully vaccinated."

That's the good news.

The bad news is it only applies IF you got your vaccines IN Hawaii. If you were vaccinated anywhere but Hawaii you are not eligible for this program currently. They hope to expand to those vaccinated on the US Mainland "this summer."

 

[lynne]

Good news - bad news.

The Governor is just announcing the start of a vaccination exemption for inter-island travel starting with travel on May 11. You must be at least 14 days (travel at least 15 days) after the last of your required vaccine to be considered "fully vaccinated."

That's the good news.

The bad news is it only applies IF you got your vaccines IN Hawaii. If you were vaccinated anywhere but Hawaii you are not eligible for this program currently. They hope to expand to those vaccinated on the US Mainland "this summer."

Hotels Require Hawaii Vaccination Passports + New Maui COVID Rules Detailed

Is this the future of Hawaii travel? Back in the news again today.

beatofhawaii.com

 

[TheHolleys87]

At least it’s a start! Hoping to visit a year from now....

 

[slip]

Good news, bad news for me too. I have a week off the first week of May and this doesn’t start until the 11th. I haven’t had vacation all year and I hate to push it back to the 15th.

I’m definitely ready to get back to Molokai but my daughter is visiting the week of Memorial Day so then I’d have to push it back another week to have two weeks straight.

I need to decide soon. At least my two. Oh annual audits are done.

 

[krj9999]

Gov. authorized the interisland passport program, and now hopes are for "late summer" for out-of-state arrivals. Sigh. Guess we'll be looking at getting covid tests in late June before leaving the mainland and later on Oahu before visiting Maui.

Gov. Ige authorizes vaccine passport program for inter-island travelers

The program will allow inter-island travelers to bypass quarantine and testing if they show proof they received their COVID vaccine in Hawaii.

www.hawaiinewsnow.com

 

[Tamaradarann]

Gov. authorized the interisland passport program, and now hopes are for "late summer" for out-of-state arrivals. Sigh. Guess we'll be looking at getting covid tests in late June before leaving the mainland and later on Oahu before visiting Maui.

Gov. Ige authorizes vaccine passport program for inter-island travelers

The program will allow inter-island travelers to bypass quarantine and testing if they show proof they received their COVID vaccine in Hawaii.

www.hawaiinewsnow.com

The interisland passport program sounds great. However, not getting the out of state arrival program up until late summer is unacceptable. They will miss the great summer vacation period when many people will want to travel to Hawaii. While getting tested is an option; there have been problems with the timing of the tests, reliabilty of the tests, the type of test that is taken, cost of the tests, and travel delay concerns. Being vaccinated seemed like the perfect solution to be able to travel to Hawaii.

 

[csodjd]

The interisland passport program sounds great. However, not getting the out of state arrival program up until late summer is unacceptable. They will miss the great summer vacation period when many people will want to travel to Hawaii. While getting tested is an option; there have been problems with the timing of the tests, reliabilty of the tests, the type of test that is taken, cost of the tests, and travel delay concerns. Being vaccinated seemed like the perfect solution to be able to travel to Hawaii.

I’m not sure they really care all that much… while it seems they may miss out some of the summer vacation period, it’s busy over there now, flights are full (and getting expensive very quickly), its hard to get restaurant reservations, or a rental car, and they are still trying to hire staff for hotels and restaurants. So, even with testing, they are bouncing back. We’re going over this week. Testing is annoying, to be sure. $125/person, and 90 minutes out of the day to drive down, get tested and drive home. But, oh well.

 

[Henry M.]

What is the current process for getting to another island if you have to change planes at HNL? Will a COVID test within 72 hours of the flight from the mainland or the inter island flight from HNL still suffice? My brother and his family have flights on Hawaiian Airlines AUS - HNL - OGG, with a short layover at HNL.

I realize things may still change between now and late June. I am mostly interested in what would have to be done right now.

 

[lynne]

What is the current process for getting to another island if you have to change planes at HNL? Will a COVID test within 72 hours of the flight from the mainland or the inter island flight from HNL still suffice? My brother and his family have flights on Hawaiian Airlines AUS - HNL - OGG, with a short layover at HNL.

I realize things may still change between now and late June. I am mostly interested in what would have to be done right now.

Travelers who successfully complete a pre-travel test will not be subject to the state’s 10-day quarantine program. The test has to be taken 72 hours from the final leg of departure AND the negative COVID-19 test result uploaded to the Safe Travels platform or printed out and in hand prior to departure to Hawai‘i in order to avoid the 10-day quarantine. FDA-approved NAAT tests, processed by a CLIA-certified laboratory are the only types of coronavirus tests currently approved by the state of Hawai‘i. The state of Hawai‘i will ONLY accept test results from TRUSTED TESTING AND TRAVEL PARTNERS.

 

[Tamaradarann]

I’m not sure they really care all that much… while it seems they may miss out some of the summer vacation period, it’s busy over there now, flights are full (and getting expensive very quickly), its hard to get restaurant reservations, or a rental car, and they are still trying to hire staff for hotels and restaurants. So, even with testing, they are bouncing back. We’re going over this week. Testing is annoying, to be sure. $125/person, and 90 minutes out of the day to drive down, get tested and drive home. But, oh well.

While they are certainly much busier than they have been in over a year the State of Hawaii is up to 2019 standards as far as arrivals. The things you point out indicating things are very busy are certainly true, but....

- Maui is almost as busy as ever, but Honolulu which is the number one economic driver in the State is getting about 2/3 number of arrivals. One of the reasons for this is the lack of international travel particular the Japanese, but Continental United States arrivals are also down.
- The Kalia Tower and one of the pure Hotel Towers at the HHV are still closed. All building at the HHV are usually extremely full.
- Restaurant reservations are hard to get because they are still distancing so the restaurants are not at full capacity.
- One of the reasons that hotels and restaurants are having a hard time hiring staff is that the unemployment benefits have been enhanced making staying unemployed more attractive.
- The number of tested positive in Hawaii continues to stay over 100 which is high for Hawaii. The vacination rate in Hawaii has been very good, however, my county with the same population as Hawaii, had as many as 2000 positives a day during the peaks, now has come down to just over 100 positives a day which I attribute to vaccinations. The residential population is still worried about the virus spread. People are arriving everyday that are not vaccinated. If they go to work in hotels and restaurants their job will be providing service to many of those unvaccinated people who may be bringing or spreading the virus since they are unvaccinated.

We are fully vaccinated and have never been tested.

 

[1Kflyerguy]

The testing process is pretty easy. We did that in Feb for a trip to Maui, and just tested yesterday for a trip to Big Island this week. I used City Health, and got my results back in just over 24 hours, so plenty of time and no stress. They even billed our insurance for the test and we only had to pay a nominal fee for the Hawaii documents.

We are both fully vaccinated, which i hoping will help with the post arrival testing at the KOA airport.

 

[slip]

While they are certainly much busier than they have been in over a year the State of Hawaii is up to 2019 standards as far as arrivals. The things you point out indicating things are very busy are certainly true, but....

- Maui is almost as busy as ever, but Honolulu which is the number one economic driver in the State is getting about 2/3 number of arrivals. One of the reasons for this is the lack of international travel particular the Japanese, but Continental United States arrivals are also down.
- The Kalia Tower and one of the pure Hotel Towers at the HHV are still closed. All building at the HHV are usually extremely full.
- Restaurant reservations are hard to get because they are still distancing so the restaurants are not at full capacity.
- One of the reasons that hotels and restaurants are having a hard time hiring staff is that the unemployment benefits have been enhanced making staying unemployed more attractive.
- The number of tested positive in Hawaii continues to stay over 100 which is high for Hawaii. The vacination rate in Hawaii has been very good, however, my county with the same population as Hawaii, had as many as 2000 positives a day during the peaks, now has come down to just over 100 positives a day which I attribute to vaccinations. The residential population is still worried about the virus spread. People are arriving everyday that are not vaccinated. If they go to work in hotels and restaurants their job will be providing service to many of those unvaccinated people who may be bringing or spreading the virus since they are unvaccinated.

We are fully vaccinated and have never been tested.

This is what I was going to say, well said.

I love Hawaii and I would definitely take the test and come if I didn’t live here. It can be stressful, especially your first trip but odds are everything would go well.

 

[csodjd]

Restaurant reservations are hard to get because they are still distancing so the restaurants are not at full capacity.

That is certainly at least in part true. Also true that some restaurants are not open, also impacting demand. However, all that means is that if MORE people were coming into Hawaii, it would just be that much worse.

We’ll be at HHV in a few days. My wife called to ask about what bars/restaurants have opened since we were last there about a month ago. She was told they have opened several of the on-property bars, then got a full-throttle pitch to attend an “owners update” at the now open HHV office in the Lagoon Tower. My wife told her we already own 3 TS units at HHV, but that didn’t deter the sales pitch as she pivoted to, yes, but we’d love to tell you all about our new Maui location. They offered a free dinner or something, so my wife said sure… never mentioning that we just bought a condo across the street.

 

[slip]

That is certainly at least in part true. Also true that some restaurants are not open, also impacting demand. However, all that means is that if MORE people were coming into Hawaii, it would just be that much worse.

We’ll be at HHV in a few days. My wife called to ask about what bars/restaurants have opened since we were last there about a month ago. She was told they have opened several of the on-property bars, then got a full-throttle pitch to attend an “owners update” at the now open HHV office in the Lagoon Tower. My wife told her we already own 3 TS units at HHV, but that didn’t deter the sales pitch as she pivoted to, yes, but we’d love to tell you all about our new Maui location. They offered a free dinner or something, so my wife said sure… never mentioning that we just bought a condo across the street.

Is your condo all set up yet or do you still have some work to do?

 

[csodjd]

Is your condo all set up yet or do you still have some work to do?

Work. Work. Work. It is in the midst of the construction right now. Hope to be (almost) fully done In about six more weeks. Our sectional sofa, however, is about 6-7 months out. Our range is about 8-10 weeks from delivery. Our bedroom sets, I’m not even sure when they are coming. So by July 1 we’ll have mattresses, but maybe on the floor, a dining set, and almost all our appliances. It’s a process….

 

[slip]

Work. Work. Work. It is in the midst of the construction right now. Hope to be (almost) fully done In about six more weeks. Our sectional sofa, however, is about 6-7 months out. Our range is about 8-10 weeks from delivery. Our bedroom sets, I’m not even sure when they are coming. So by July 1 we’ll have mattresses, but maybe on the floor, a dining set, and almost all our appliances. It’s a process….

That’s what I was thinking. Everything takes longer in Hawaii. It will be worth it when it’s done. At least you can come and check on things.

 

[csodjd]

That’s what I was thinking. Everything takes longer in Hawaii. It will be worth it when it’s done. At least you can come and check on things.

Making good use of those HGV points. That’s a great feature of their TS system.

 

[Tamaradarann]

That is certainly at least in part true. Also true that some restaurants are not open, also impacting demand. However, all that means is that if MORE people were coming into Hawaii, it would just be that much worse.

We’ll be at HHV in a few days. My wife called to ask about what bars/restaurants have opened since we were last there about a month ago. She was told they have opened several of the on-property bars, then got a full-throttle pitch to attend an “owners update” at the now open HHV office in the Lagoon Tower. My wife told her we already own 3 TS units at HHV, but that didn’t deter the sales pitch as she pivoted to, yes, but we’d love to tell you all about our new Maui location. They offered a free dinner or something, so my wife said sure… never mentioning that we just bought a condo across the street.

The point is why are they not open? One reason is that some were so financially damaged by the servere shutdown of tourists for so many months that they closed for good The last 2 points in my previous post try to explain some of the other reasons why restaurants are still closed. Owners who collect salaries as workers can collect unemployment benefits. The fear of the virus seems to be greater in Hawaii than in many of the other states.

 

[CPNY]

Has anyone used the app Verifly? I received an email from American to download that app and upload all of my testing and health visa results. The app isn’t updated with new requirements as the Bahamas doesn’t ask for testing if you’re vaccinated. The verifly app American is using doesn’t allow for vaccine status for my Bahamas trip. Hoping it’s easier for the return trip from Cancun in July.

 

[Tamaradarann]

Travelers who successfully complete a pre-travel test will not be subject to the state’s 10-day quarantine program. The test has to be taken 72 hours from the final leg of departure AND the negative COVID-19 test result uploaded to the Safe Travels platform or printed out and in hand prior to departure to Hawai‘i in order to avoid the 10-day quarantine. FDA-approved NAAT tests, processed by a CLIA-certified laboratory are the only types of coronavirus tests currently approved by the state of Hawai‘i. The state of Hawai‘i will ONLY accept test results from TRUSTED TESTING AND TRAVEL PARTNERS.

You upload the negative COVID-19 test results to Safe Travels yourself? How do they know that the results are legitimate and not somewhat falsified?

 

[csodjd]

You upload the negative COVID-19 test results to Safe Travels yourself? How do they know that the results are legitimate and not somewhat falsified?

There is a long list of things we self-report under criminal penalties for lying. State and Federal taxes for instance.

Right now, when you go to a restaurant in Hawaii, they ask you to complete a form with your name and contact info in order to enable contract tracing, and there are many instances where you are asked questions about recent symptoms designed to screen for possible COVID. Neither has any verification beyond your representation.

 

[MrockStar]

I guess i will pass on going there for a least a year.

 

[1Kflyerguy]

You upload the negative COVID-19 test results to Safe Travels yourself? How do they know that the results are legitimate and not somewhat falsified?

I am not 100% certain, but my guess is that the approved testing partners are passing the test results to the state of Hawaii. Or at ;least enough information that they can perform some level of verification.

 

[VacationForever]

You upload the negative COVID-19 test results to Safe Travels yourself? How do they know that the results are legitimate and not somewhat falsified?

In layman's terms, I suspect there are embedded headers and footers codes that Safe Travels reads from the document to ensure validity. Kind of like the old check-sum technique.

 

[Tamaradarann]

In layman's terms, I suspect there are embedded headers and footers codes that Safe Travels reads from the document to ensure validity. Kind of like the old check-sum technique.

There is a long list of things we self-report under criminal penalties for lying. State and Federal taxes for instance.

Right now, when you go to a restaurant in Hawaii, they ask you to complete a form with your name and contact info in order to enable contract tracing, and there are many instances where you are asked questions about recent symptoms designed to screen for possible COVID. Neither has any verification beyond your representation.

I got 3 different answers to the question about self reporting/validity of negative test results on the Safe Travels Portal. The reason I asked is that I was wondering if the same method could be used for vaccination validity and that would set up a system that I would like to see Hawaii go to for all arrivals including flight crew, military, constructors etc. Vaccinated you can come, not vaccinated and you can't. I say this not only for my vaccinated family going in the Fall, but also because we plan on staying there for quite a long time.

Where we live on Long Island there is so few people coming from other locations that I do not have a major concern about outsiders bring the virus to our home there. However, Hawaii is an International travel destination with as many as 30,000 arrivals a day. In the course of a year millions of people come to Hawaii who could be bringing the virus to Hawaii. Most people want to be able to go back to living like we did in 2019; living safely around people without masks and social distancing. I believe maximum vaccination is the way to accomplish that.