The team at My Vacation Lady is keeping our fingers crossed that the Oct 15, 2020 date is the beginning of the return to Hawaii tourism.
Sunrise over Haleakala
There have been questions about the kind of Covid tests that Hawaii will accept and now that 2 airlines (United and Hawaiian) are offering day of testing in limited airports, we need to make sure we really understand these new rules.
According to Travel Agent West Magazine,
On Friday afternoon (September 25, 2020), Hawaii’s Lieutenant Governor Joshua Green, a former emergency room physician heading up the destination’s pretesting planning effort, said the Aloha State will not accept results from a self-collected, mail-in COVID-19 test option announced Thursday by United Airlines for its passengers flying to Hawaii from San Francisco.
Touting its close work with Hawaii officials, United Airlines said last week it has partnered with GoHealth Urgent Care to offer passengers flying to Hawaii COVID-19 test results within 15 minutes at a facility inside the San Francisco International Airport. That service is slated to launch Oct. 15, and the rapid tests will cost $250 per person.
United also announced details Thursday about an $80 mail-in, self-test option for SFO travelers headed to Hawaii, with which passengers could collect their own samples 72 hours before boarding their plane.
“The governor has decided that the state will not accept unobserved tests for the start of the program,” Green said Friday of the mail-in test kits. “The State of Hawaii will accept United’s other test option, the rapid Abbott ID NOW COVID-19 test, which provides results in about 15 minutes and will be administered by trained professionals.”
United spokesperson Annabelle Cottee said today that the airline “will continue working in partnership with the state and our healthcare providers to ensure our COVID testing meets all local requirements for entry into Hawaii.”
Green’s comments about the inadmissibility of United’s mail-in test option came not long after an announcement made Friday by Hawaiian Airlines, outlining a partnership with Worksite Labs to operate facilities near Los Angeles International Airport and San Francisco International Airport, where passengers can receive a drive-up PCR COVID-19 test and get results 72 hours prior to departure for $90 or pay $150 for day-of-travel express service.
Like United, Hawaiian said its COVID-19 drive-up facilities are scheduled to open around Oct. 15 and would allow passengers — who test negative at least 72 hours before boarding their flight — to bypass the Aloha State’s mandatory 14-day quarantine for arriving trans-Pacific visitors, fulfilling the pretest approach Hawaii Gov. David Ige has said will now begin Oct. 15.
We also just heard that the state’s testing partners will NOT administer the Covid test to kids younger than 12
On Sept. 21, in an interview with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser streamed live on Facebook, Ige said the state’s testing partners will not administer the coronavirus test to children younger than 12, and there will not be exemptions from the quarantine. Therefore, a family traveling to the Islands could have the parents test negative and eligible to forgo quarantine, but any child under 12 would still be subject to quarantine.
The governor went on to say that they are working to expand the program and hope to find a partner that is willing to test children. Those who take tests within the allotted time window but do not receive results prior to arrival must quarantine until a negative test result is confirmed.
To top this all off, My Vacation Lady has been in contact with our Hawai‘i Visitors & Convention Bureau contact and we were told:
We are awaiting more information on inter-island travel and should be getting some answers this week. As of right now there is an inter-island quarantine in effect until October 31.
To our loyal readers, you know that My Vacation Lady LOVES Hawaii and would live there is we could afford a shack on the beach with a nice bathroom and WiFi but at this point, we are waiting until later October to start booking our clients to Hawaii until we have more information. Again, with the all of the constant changes, we want to give our clients, the best and most up to date information.
As both a top rated travel agency located in NJ, top rated honeymoon specialist located in NJ and a Hawaii Destination Specialist, let the professional team at My Vacation Lady help you plan your next vacation or honeymoon.
