Hawaii Travel Restrictions to Change

Travelers to Hawaii will need to undergo COVID-19 testing and have negative results prior to entering the state, stresses Governor David Ige, as Hawaii travel restrictions get modified.

Effective a couple of days before Thanksgiving, stricter Hawaii travel restrictions are to be initiated. This is to halt the growing number of COVID-19 cases in the state, David Ige, the state’s governor proclaims on Thursday.

At the moment, visitors are permitted to reach Hawaii by using a pre-testing protocol. Upon reaching the state, travelers can simply upload their test’s negative results on the Hawaiian COVID-19 visitor database and bypass the 14-day quarantine used by other US states.

This current mandate is problematic, however, as more and more tourists later prove to be positive after being allowed passage into Hawaii. This issue, then, compromises the health and well-being of residents, resulting to the prevalence of new COVID-19 cases in the area. Hence, Ige points out the need to tighten border patrol to curb this rampant result.

The said tightening of Hawaii travel restrictions plans to take effect on Tuesday, just two days before the upcoming holiday celebration.

To forego, however, the 2-week quarantine protocol, tourists are required to take the proper COVID-19 test at any of the accredited testing centers or partners of the state. Nevertheless, if the results of the test do not arrive before flying into Hawaii, the tourist shall be forced to take a 14-day quarantine or even stay on lockdown for the duration of his visit, whichever is shorter.

It is essential to note that tourists who do not obtain their negative COVID-19 results before departure won’t be able to enter Hawaii even if the said information arrives just before they reach the state.

Travelers are still provided with the option to skip COVID-19 testing, however. Both tourists and residents who arrive at the border can still opt to take the 14-day quarantine, either at their designated hotels or at home. This option comes in lieu of the lengthy COVID-19 testing queues across the United States as more and more Americans are forced to get tested for the said virus.  

At present, the US still holds the topmost record of the most COVID-19 total cases in the world. As of writing, it already has a record of 12,078,831 positive cases. To prevent the upsurge of the same rapid transmission within Hawaii’s borders, the need to require negative COVID-19 results as part of the modified Hawaii travel restrictions is pointed out.

Nevertheless, Ige explains that the necessity of protecting Hawaiians from the possibility of inbound infection can be skipped by choosing to stay on a 14-day quarantine. Travelers can still opt to remain within their hotel rooms or head straight to their homes, eradicating immediate—and unprotected—contact with locals during the said time period. Thus, tightening Hawaii travel restrictions aims to halt rapid COVID-19 spread as everyone awaits news of an effective vaccine that may possibly help the country—and the world—revert to the unrestricted mobility experienced way before this unprecedented pandemic emergency.