Travel to Hawaii Update 10/16/20
Updated 10/16/20:
Visit Safe Travels Hawaii for more information.
Kauaʻi County has established a voluntary testing program the third day after arrival.
Maui County has established a voluntary post-arrival test.
Hawaiʻi Island will require an antigen test for all arriving transpacific travelers who are participating in the pre-travel testing program.
The City and County of Honolulu is exploring its capacity for post-arrival testing.
Update 10/02/20:
In a nutshell:
Starts October 15, 2020
Must take FDA approved NAAT (Nucleic Acid Amplification Test) for all inbound travelers to the state of Hawaii to avoid 14-day quarantine.
Must take 72 hours prior to arrival date.
Children 5 years and younger do not need to take the test.
If you are going to an outer island besides Oahu, you must fly directly to that island, layovers are acceptable, but you cannot leave the Honolulu International Airport.
Visit www.hawaiicovid19.com for complete information.
Love this for Hawaii residents because once October 15 comes, you can travel to the US mainland without having to quarantine coming back home, if you take a FDA NAAT test
Update 09/30/20:
Star-Advertiser interview with Lt. Josh Green:
Lt. Josh Green will hold a press conference on October 1, 2020 to review pre-travel testing program and more details on the program. For now he gave us a sneak peak:
Currently, if you call any of the pharmacies listed for the pre-travel program (CVS, Walgreens, Kaiser, Hawaiian Air, United Airlines, American Airlines, Alaska Airlines or Quest Labs) they will not have information on the pre-travel testing program as it is too early. Starting October 10, 2020, all of these labs should have all the pre-travel testing information.
If you take the COVID test 72 hours prior to travel, the test results should be available in less than 13 minutes.
Do an in-person test. The Lt. Governor does not think the mail-in tests will come back in time prior to your travel, so do not chance it.
Children under the age of 5 do NOT need to get tested. Children 5 - 12 years and older do need to be tested, however, none of these labs have announced they will test children between these ages, so for now, you will still need to do the 14-day quarantine, if you are traveling with children ages 5 - 12 years old.
Mayors on outer islands should be announcing soon, they will also implement the pre-travel program. However, it looks like even between islands, still need to be tested island to island.
International travel update - the state is working with Japan, Korea and Canada to implement a similar test to the CLIA COVID test which is only available in the United States currently.
Update 09/27/20:
United to offer rapid COVID testing for their San Fransisco to Hawaii routes. (please visit their site for more details).
Hawaiian Airlines to offer rapid testing for their Los Angeles and San Fransisco routes to Hawaii. (please visit their site for more details).
Original post was written on 09/24/20 below.
I receive a lot of inquires on traveling to Hawaii from the U.S. mainland. While I would love to book, many, many trips to Hawaii, I have been refraining in doing so because of the fickle rules and regulations made by the leadership in the government of Hawaii which can change on a weekly basis.
Hawaii has four major islands which are most frequently visited by travelers - Oahu, Big Island, Maui and Kauai. All islands are run by different mayors who ultimately get their decisions approved by the Governor of Hawaii.
Currently, Oahu is on its second mandated stay-at-home order. The first stay-at-home order was in March 2020. Due to increasing spikes in the positive COVID cases on Oahu, the state issued the second mandated stay-at-home order about two weeks ago and is set to end on Thursday, September 24, 2020. All outer islands (Big Island, Maui, Kauai, Lani and Molokai) are open for business, however, if you are traveling to these islands you will need to complete a 14-day quarantine. The Honolulu mayor just announced instead of opening everything on Oahu at once starting Thursday September 24th, the re-opening of this particular island will be in four stages or four tiers - similar to California’s opening stages.
Oahu is also working on a pre-traveler testing program to start October 15, 2020. However, the stages or tiers above will affect travelers’ experience while in Hawaii, depending on which tier Oahu is in when you arrive. Outer islands will either continuing the 14-day quarantine or also have travelers take a COVID test prior to arrival. This has not yet been announced and there are still many questions looming in regards to outer island travel once the pre-traveler program begins.
Let me summarize the order currently in affect for the entire state of Hawaii and the pre-traveler program which begins in a few weeks.
What to expect BEFORE you travel to Hawaii currently.
All travelers traveling to the state of Hawaii must complete a 14-day quarantine when arriving. Quarantines are in select Waikiki hotels. Before traveling to Hawaii, you need to create a profile account at travel.hawaii.gov and enter in your travel details. After completing your profile, you will receive a health questionnaire 24 hours before your departure on your profile account. After completing the questionnaire you will receive a QR code in your email account. You will need to print this code out or keep it on your phone to scan at the airport when you have arrived in Hawaii. Then this code will give you the process and next steps to follow when arriving and staying in your government selected quarantine hotel.
You can find more information on this at travel.hawaii.gov.
What to expect BEFORE you travel to Hawaii starting October 15, 2020.
When the pre-travel program begins on October 15, 2020, you will have a choice of doing the 14-day quarantine as detailed above or getting a COVID test 72 hours prior to travel to Hawaii. Your test must be negative prior to you arriving in Hawaii, this includes all the travelers in your party. Currently, the state is working with CVS and Kaiser, but as of now, they do not offer COVID testing for children under 12 years of age. Therefore, if you are traveling with children under 12 years of age, you go straight into a 14-day quarantine (again this is as of now. It could change as we get closer October 15).
If you do not receive your test results in time prior to arrival in Hawaii, you will have to quarantine until you receive your test results. When you do receive your test results, you are to submit your test results in an app which is then supposed to give you next steps to follow to get out of quarantine. The State of Hawaii is currently working on this process and has not announced the name of the app as of yet.
As of now, any travel to any outer island besides Oahu, you will need to quarantine 14-days or they are also discussing implementing COVID testing prior to your arrival (this is including if you are traveling from Oahu to an outer island).
What to expect when you arrive in Hawaii and during your trip.
As for outer islands, the mayors have not announced their plans once Hawaii begins the pre-traveler program starting October 15th. But, as of now, today, you are required to quarantine for 14-days when visiting any of the outer islands, even if you’re traveling from Oahu.
For Oahu, decide if you will quarantine for 14-days or take the pre-traveler COVID test, again, prior to your travel.
If you are traveling to Oahu, depending on which tier or stage Oahu is in, you will need to follow the restrictions listed in that specific tier. Currently, we are in tier 1. Which can have several impacts on your trip. Here are some that may affect you and the experience you have in Hawaii.
All restaurants can only fill 50% occupancy, and if you’re dining in, you and your party must be within the same traveling party (no more than 5 per party), and must provide name, address and phone number of each person you are dining with. TIP: MAKE RESERVATIONS!
All bars and nightclubs are closed for another three months.
Outside activity is limited to 5 people per group.
Zoos, sea life attractions, aquariums, museums and botanical gardens must limit the amount of people admitted at 50% occupancy and limited to 5 people per group. TIP: Call before hand and see if you can make reservations.
Excursions activities outdoor - limited to 5 people per group. TIP: Call before hand and see if you can make reservations.
Excursion activities indoor - must be at 50% occupancy, and 5 people per group. TIP: Call before hand and see if you can make reservations.
You can find a completed list of Oahu tier reopening plan at oneoahu.org/reopening-strategy.
It’s complicated …
Hopefully, there will be clearer direction from the state as the pre-traveler program approaches its start date. The questions I’d like to see answered are in regards to outer islands, and what travelers do if they want to visit Oahu AND outer islands. What that process will look like. Also, if travelers just want to visit Maui, Big Island or Kauai and skip Oahu completely, what that process will entail. Will they keep the 14-day quarantine, or will travelers also have a choice of taking a COVID test? Also, if travelers are traveling from Oahu, do they need to take another COVID test if going to an outer island or do they need to quarantine for 14-days?
The good news.
I’m here to answer any questions you may have on travel to Hawaii! I am your Hawaii travel expert!
Email me at april@travelchicworld.com.
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x May you always TravelChic ❤