Effective January 4th, Hawaii no longer requires tourists to complete a health questionnaire prior to boarding their flight to the islands. Previously the state required the questionnaire be submitted before issuing a QR code that could reduce processing time upon arrival. With the revised requirements, travelers are issued a QR code once their trip information is submitted to the Safe Travels website. The QR code is sent to the traveler again, via email one day prior to their flight departure.
Hawaii also revised their quarantine requirements for travelers who are unvaccinated and do not test Negative for COVID. The mandatory quarantine period was reduced from ten days to five days. This pretty much follows suit what the CDC did a few days earlier. Visitors who are fully vaccinated or have tested negative for COVID do not have to quarantine or isolate upon arrival.
Although the State has relaxed entry requirements, some of the individual islands are implementing certain stricter measures. On January 5th, Oahu’s Mayor reduced the number of people allowed at indoor events, down to ten people. On Maui, proof of full vaccination or a recent negative COVID test is required to get into restaurants and bars. The difference from this latest rule vs prior ones, is that fully vaccinated means a person must also have had their Booster shot. I anticipate that a similar rule will be initiated on Oahu before long.
As always, for the latest and most accurate information regarding travel to Hawaii and their Safe Travels program check out their website. Additional information is available at:
https://hawaiicovid19.com/travel/faqs/
This link will take you the State’s FAQ page for the Safe Travels Hawaii website.
PLEASE NOTE: In yet another Mandate, the Governor of Hawaii has changed the 14-day quarantine to a 10-day quarantine effective 12/17/2020.
Please Note, the requirements for traveling to Hawaii and bypassing the 14 10-day quarantine have recently changed. On November 16, Governor Ige of Hawaii announced his 15th COVID-19
Emergency Proclamation and Mandate. Part of that mandate changed the requirements for trans-Pacific arriving in Hawaii and being able to bypass the 14 10-day Quarantine requirements. In the interest of accuracy, I’ve pretty much done a “Cut & Paste” of information from the State’s website and included links to additional information.
Aloha! The State of Hawaii Safe Travels Hawaii program is a multilayered process designed to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in our community from trans-Pacific visitor and resident passengers arriving at airports/ports across the Islands.
This enhanced entry into Hawaii includes a pre-travel testing program, the Mandatory State of Hawaii Travel and Health Form, and temperature screening at all Hawaii airports upon arrival. TEMPORARY: On Kaua‘i, as of Dec. 2, 2020, all travelers must quarantine 14 10-days upon arrival with or without a test.
The state of Hawaii will ONLY accept Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAAT) from a certified Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment (CLIA) lab test results from TRUSTED TESTING AND TRAVEL PARTNERS.
A 14-day mandatory quarantine will be required for trans-Pacific travelers arriving WITHOUT a confirmed negative COVID-19 test taken within the 72 hours before departure of the final leg of their trip to Hawaii. Travelers will not be able to obtain a Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAAT) upon arrival at any Hawaiʻi airport.
All trans-Pacific travelers who board a plane on the final leg of their trip to the Hawaiian Islands without first securing a negative test will be subject to mandatory quarantine. Tests must be taken with trusted testing and travel partners with 72 hours of departure.
The negative test result must be uploaded onto Safe Travels prior to departure or printed out prior to departure and hard copy in hand when arriving in Hawaii.
Travelers without a negative test result before boarding the final leg of their flight MUST quarantine for 14 days or the length of their stay, whichever is shorter. It is important travelers consider the duration and considerable expense of possible quarantine before embarking.
Travelers from Canada and Japan may also bypass the State of Hawaii’s mandatory 14 10-day quarantine by securing a pre-travel test from a trusted testing and travel partner 72 hours prior to departure on the final leg of their journey to Hawaii. Travelers from Canada and Japan who do not secure a negative COVID-19 test BEFORE departure will be subject to the same mandatory 14-day quarantine regulation as other trans-Pacific travelers. The negative test result must be uploaded onto Safe Travels prior to departure or printed out prior to departure and hard copy in hand when arriving in Hawaii.
For travelers from Canada, please visit Air Canada or WestJet.
For travelers from Japan, please visit Hawaii Tourism Japan (Japanese).
At this time, there are no other enhanced entry options available for international travel.
Please click HERE if you would like to be directed to the Safe Travels Hawaii Overview.
Ko Olina closed their lagoons to the Public (and resort residents) fairly early in the COVID-19 pandemic for safety reasons. The lagoons were opened once or twice during the past few months, but the parking lots remained closed. If you wanted to swim in the lagoons at this time, you had to either walk to the lagoons, or have someone drop you off. There were periods when you could swim in the lagoons but were not allowed to sit on the beaches. Other times the lagoon walkways & comfort stations were closed and those who wanted to walk in the resort had to walk along the streets and sidewalks rather than the lagoons.
Like with a lot of rules and restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic this became quite confusing to most everyone involved. All this was done in the interest of safety. Trying to keep the public, resort residents and resort employees safe.
The closing of the lagoons and beaches, perhaps along with the confusion upset quite a few people. Residents of the resort complained, as did neighbors of the resort. There were editorials written in the local papers and comments left on news sites and of course on social media. Eventually, the City & County of Honolulu told resort management they had to open the beaches and parking lots. After what seemed like several days of discussions between the city and the resort, the beaches. and lagoons were opened to the public on October 16.
As of this writing, social distancing must still be practiced while at the lagoons and on the beach. Groups at the lagoons are limited to a maximum of five people and masks must be worn when people are not in the water. Some of those restrictions will be relaxed if the County moves into Tier 2 of their reopening plan. Although the lagoons, beaches and parking lots have been opened, parking at lagoons 1 & 4 is at only 50% at this time with every other parking space blocked off.
Social Distancing for Cars?
Maybe Cars Can Transmit the Virus?
The lagoons, beaches and parking lots are open again. Yes, there are restrictions and parking is more limited than usual but I believe most people are happy about all that. Even on a recent cloudy day the beaches were busy with families enjoying themselves. Remember, COVID-19 Virus is still a danger and Ko Olina Management is trying to keep people safe.