Hawaii Sets Re-Opening Date

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For many people, Hawaii is their ultimate dream destination. I’ve been fortunate to have gone dozens of times to Oahu and made multiple visits to the other major islands like Maui, Kauai, Hawaii (The Big Island) and Lanai.

In fact, my family and I were all set to spend Easter in Maui in April but of course, COVID-19 had other plans for us.

Since Hawaii has limited resources, they took some extreme precautions to protect their residents. They implemented a strict 14-day quarantine for anyone visiting or returning to the islands. And this isn’t executed like other states, where the quarantine is done using the honor system. You have to provide your information, follow up and there are locals watching and reporting on quarantine breakers. Anyone caught would either receive a hefty fine, get arrested and or be escorted to the airport.

Obviously not many tourists can afford to spend 14 days locked up in a hotel room or a house and tourism to the islands plummeted. July saw a 98% decrease from 2019. Insane!

When is Hawaii reopening?

Hawaii devised a plan to allow tourists to enter the islands if they had a negative COVID-19 test in the last 72 hours. It was set for August 1 but was pushed to September 1 after they saw a spike in cases. Then it was pushed to at least October 1. Well, Governor David Ige just announced yesterday that the new re-opening date for Hawaii will be October 15, 2020.

Here’s what you need to know:

All travelers must either pre-test or go into 14-day quarantine upon arrival to the state
All travelers are required to have temperature checked and complete a health & travel questionnaire
As an alternative to quarantine a traveler must produce evidence of a negative COVID-19 test no earlier than 72-hours prior to their flight arrival in Hawai‘i
The interisland quarantine for anyone arriving on any island other than O‘ahu continues through Sept. 30, unless terminated or extended by a separate emergency proclamation
FDA-approved NAAT tests, processed by a CLIA-certified laboratory are the only types of coronavirus tests currently approved
Currently approved trusted testing partners are CVS and Kaiser Permanente
The State has produced an extensive list of questions and answers associated with the Safe Travels Pre-Testing Program. See the FAQs at: https://HawaiiCovid19.com/Travel/

https://hawaiicovid19.com/hawaii-covid-19-daily-news-digest-september-16-2020/

For anyone who loves Hawaii, like I do, and has been dreaming of visiting, whether for the first time or the tenth, this is exciting news and hopefully a sign that things are going to start turning around.

H/t to Star Advertiser.