Possible vaccine passport for Hawaii

[sugcarol]

Hawaii Vaccine & Health Passport Information for COVID-19 (hawaii-guide.com)

[Silver Sweethearts]

7 hours ago, sugcarol said:

Hawaii Vaccine & Health Passport Information for COVID-19 (hawaii-guide.com)

 

Not being old grumps, but one thing that bothers us is that the vaccine is not available here on Maui now unless you are in the 1A and 1B groups.  We are well into our 70's too, but there seems to be a lack of vaccine - and we can't just drive to a neighboring state to get our shots  

[CruiserBruce]

7 hours ago, Silver Sweethearts said:

 

Not being old grumps, but one thing that bothers us is that the vaccine is not available here on Maui now unless you are in the 1A and 1B groups.  We are well into our 70's too, but there seems to be a lack of vaccine - and we can't just drive to a neighboring state to get our shots  

Most states and counties are in 1b or 1c....in my area of California, we are later in 1b. I saw your vaccinated numbers yesterday...they were about the same as everybody else...about 12% have received at least one shot.

[sugcarol]

We had our second Moderna vax 2/6 in our city north of Dallas. providers here have so much vaccine. they are sending to other providers. Here, if a senior or in essential job they were vaccinating entire families, as long as they lived at the same address and over 18. CVS had a table at front of store. You had to make appt online but they had a laptop and if a senior came in not able to use a computer they were doing it for them which I thought was wonderful.  My son and I are high risk and unless vaccine is mandatory for all we will not cruise. Our cruise is in Hawaii November and they are using a health app on your phone. In the last week they have really ramped up to get tourists back, and seriously considering requiring visitors be vaccinated. I will be happy if I know all on the plane or ship are vaccinated. I know there will be a lot of people who dont want or cant get the vaccine but it is necessary for the good of all.

[princeton123211]

3 hours ago, sugcarol said:

I will be happy if I know all on the plane or ship are vaccinated.

However nice to think about, I don't think you will ever see a vaccine requirement to fly domestically in the US. Flying is essential-- cruises are not. 

[sugcarol]

37 minutes ago, princeton123211 said:

However nice to think about, I don't think you will ever see a vaccine requirement to fly domestically in the US. Flying is essential-- cruises are not. 

This is the Hawaii board and as of right now you cant fly to Hawaii without a Negative Covid test. Hawaii is watching closely and they feel that the Vaccine is a game changer. I have no idea what flights going to other places are requiring.

[princeton123211]

1 minute ago, sugcarol said:

This is the Hawaii board and as of right now you cant fly to Hawaii without a Negative Covid test.

Thats true-- I have travelled to Hawaii twice now under those rules with a negative test, but not having been vaccinated yet. 

 

You said "will be happy if I know all on the plane or ship are vaccinated"-- I was just saying that a vaccination requirement isn't likely to ever be required to fly to or from Hawaii. 

 

Vaccination passports may at some point be accepted in lieu of a negative Covid test to come to the islands and Cruise ships may require proof of vaccinations (which I think is great!). But it's doubtful that a vaccination will ever be required to fly to Hawaii (or anywhere else domestically in the US). 

[CruiserBruce]

31 minutes ago, sugcarol said:

This is the Hawaii board and as of right now you cant fly to Hawaii without a Negative Covid test. Hawaii is watching closely and they feel that the Vaccine is a game changer. I have no idea what flights going to other places are requiring.

Actually, you can fly to Hawaii without a Covid test. You just have to go into 10 day quarantine.

 

There are several of us on this board who have traveled many, many times to Hawaii, both pre, and post Covid. Yes, Hawaii has released a very tentative timeline on how to deal with vaccinated people. But the key word there is "tentative". There are reasons to be optimistic, certainly, but none of this is committed to, as yet. Some of the stuff I saw had "as soon as" written all over it. Many of the things Hawaii has done (they actually opened up with the test/quarantine procedure Oct 15, so its not a really recent development, and we have visited there since they opened) were actually proposed to start in early September. It, like a lot of other things, has been a slow process, with stops, starts and lurches. Fortunately, since opening, Hawaii's numbers have been pretty good, and not greatly affected by restricted tourism.

 

Agree with @princeton123211that I seriously doubt they will ever require vaccination to visit Hawaii. Even more likely, airlines will not require vaccination to fly.

[sugcarol]

17 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Actually, you can fly to Hawaii without a Covid test. You just have to go into 10 day quarantine.

 

There are several of us on this board who have traveled many, many times to Hawaii, both pre, and post Covid. Yes, Hawaii has released a very tentative timeline on how to deal with vaccinated people. But the key word there is "tentative". There are reasons to be optimistic, certainly, but none of this is committed to, as yet. Some of the stuff I saw had "as soon as" written all over it. Many of the things Hawaii has done (they actually opened up with the test/quarantine procedure Oct 15, so its not a really recent development, and we have visited there since they opened) were actually proposed to start in early September. It, like a lot of other things, has been a slow process, with stops, starts and lurches. Fortunately, since opening, Hawaii's numbers have been pretty good, and not greatly affected by restricted tourism.

 

Agree with @princeton123211that I seriously doubt they will ever require vaccination to visit Hawaii. Even more likely, airlines will not require vaccination to fly.

What was your experience in flying and staying in Hawaii post Covid? Did you have trouble getting tested and having results to give to Hawaii security before your flight? Did you just go to one island or more? Did you have to be tested before flying to other islands?

[CruiserBruce]

59 minutes ago, sugcarol said:

What was your experience in flying and staying in Hawaii post Covid? Did you have trouble getting tested and having results to give to Hawaii security before your flight? Did you just go to one island or more? Did you have to be tested before flying to other islands?

Only went to Maui. If you look at the Hawaii Safe Travels website, all the info for meeting the testing requirements is there. Doing it for the first time was a more than a little stressful, particularly as we waited too long to book our testing appointment due to other commitments, and we thought two weeks in advance was plenty. We ended up with an appointment 52 hours in advance when results could take up to 48 hours. But results were arrived in about 14 hours. Otherwise,  it was just a learning curve doing everything according to the rules for the first time. We are scheduled to go again the end of March.

 

The hardest part for you will likely be finding a convenient testing location in Texas. There are some, but not many as on the West Coast, for obvious reasons. 

[princeton123211]

1 hour ago, sugcarol said:

What was your experience in flying and staying in Hawaii post Covid? Did you have trouble getting tested and having results to give to Hawaii security before your flight? Did you just go to one island or more? Did you have to be tested before flying to other islands?

We've had a very similar experience to @CruiserBruce-- we went a couple days after the islands offered the Covid testing opt out to the quarantine and frankly things weren't well organized. We opted for one of Hawaiian Airline's partners for the test which was done by shipping you a kit and you shipping the test back. We got our results literally boarding the flight which was stressful.  We went back in January and it was night and day-- Hawaiian Airlines has a drive up testing site in Seattle which provides you results in 24 hours. For you in Texas you will most likely have to do the test remotely (there are only a handful that Hawaii accepts so you'll need to check) so I would have it preordered and take the test right at the 3 day mark before your flight.

 

If going to other islands you'll require an additional test. We were going to jump from Maui to Lanai the first we went for a couple nights but didn't do that because of the additional testing requirement. Also, there are extremely limited options right now to travel intra-island. Flights are significantly cut down from the usual schedules, ferries (like the one they run from Lahaina to Lanai) are operating only a couple times per week.

 

Places like Kauai, even for intra island travel, require a negative test, a 3 day quarantine in a resort bubble, followed by another negative test before you are allowed to leave your resort and see the island. Things like this are why cruising in Hawaii is most likely not going to get going this year, even with vaccines. 

[sugcarol]

We can do the rapid test at AA Dfw to Honolulu in the airport but cost is 249.00 per person you wait for results then upload to safe sail app. My hope is with vaccine and negative test we wont have to retest every inter island flight, or ports on POA. Hawaii is inches away from going to the higher tier.  There are cheaper tests we can do but getting a PCR with just 72 hours seems too stressful.

 

[princeton123211]

11 minutes ago, sugcarol said:

There are cheaper tests we can do but getting a PCR with just 72 hours seems too stressful.

Most places turn them around quickly now-- 24-48 hours is the norm. You most likely don't need to do the $250 test-- a less expensive one taken three days prior to departure will work. Just make sure to check that it qualifies-- Hawaii has very specific tests (by brand and lab names) they accept and those they don't. I saw folks at the airport told they had the wrong test. 

 

13 minutes ago, sugcarol said:

My hope is with vaccine and negative test we wont have to retest every inter island flight, or ports on POA.

Thats the million dollar question. Kauai is adamant that they will take their time in opening slowly with significant requirements like the 3 day resort quarantine bubble and I can't imagine them getting rid of that any time soon. Hawaii takes protecting their native population very seriously and is no major rush to completely open the floodgates for tourism. I would be very surprised if Hawaiian cruises start again in 2021. 

[AF-1]

Let's hope Hawaii's Gov approves waivers for those who vaccinated.    I was on Hawaii's covid19 site and saw Walgreens drive thru testing sites are on the approved list.  Walgreens does not charge for the test.  

[sugcarol]

3 hours ago, AF-1 said:

Let's hope Hawaii's Gov approves waivers for those who vaccinated.    I was on Hawaii's covid19 site and saw Walgreens drive thru testing sites are on the approved list.  Walgreens does not charge for the test.  

I checked with our local Walgreens in Texas that are doing the test for Hawaii and the PCR test is 129.00 and the Rapid test is also 129.00. If you have been exposed to Covid then Walgreens will do  the PCR for free, but not for travel to Hawaii. Carenow in the nearby city to us also does the test but they charge 250.00

[AF-1]

thank you sugcarol;  I appreciate the feedback