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COVID-19 and your trip to Hawaii

Latest update (October 19, 2020): There are currently 14068 cases of COVID-19 identified in the state of Hawai‘i.

The unprecedented challenge of COVID-19 is disrupting many parts of our society, and it makes sense to ask yourself what it means for an upcoming trip to Hawaii, if you are in the lucky position of planning one.

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The information on this page is primarily meant for people with concerns about traveling to Hawai’i. While we cannot give you definitive answers, we can provide you with up-to-date information about the current status of the Coronavirus in Hawaii, and discuss some potential impacts on your vacation plans.

Disclaimer: While we are keeping a close eye on the situation in Hawai’i we are not an official resource. Please consult any of the official links we supply below for the most up-to-date information.

The Safe Travels Application

Safe Travels is the mandatory online application form all travelers entering Hawai’i must complete. It collects travel and health information in order to protect the health and safety of visitors and residents alike.

The use of this app is mandatory for both interisland and trans-Pacific travelers.

The app replaces and streamlines the visitor arrival process, you can find the Safe Travels application at https://travel.hawaii.gov.

How does the Save Travels app work?

If you are traveling to Hawaii you should create an account on the travel.hawaii.gov website and fill in your trip details before you fly. Then, 24 hours before your flight is scheduled to depart, you will be prompted by email and/or text to complete the Travel Health Questionnaire. After completing the questionnaire you receive a QR code. Make sure to save this QR code to your phone, as showing it at the airport will significantly speed up the arrival process.

Travelers that can’t show a valid negative test upon arrival still have to complete a mandatory 14-day quarantine (see quarantine restrictions).

The following video outlines all the steps you need to take to before traveling to Hawaii:

Key features of the Safe Travels app include:

  1. The ability to login using Email, Google or Facebook logins.
  2. A highly secured platform built on Google Cloud.
  3. The verification of passenger contact information before arrival to speed up their processing at the airport.
  4. Collection of health and contact information needed for arrival screening and public health monitoring.
  5. Creation of a QR code which airport screeners scan to review the traveler’s information for clearance or secondary screening.
  6. Automated generation of quarantine check-in reminders as emails and text messages.

New features and data elements will be added in future phases, as the Safe Travels process and State travel requirements evolve.

The Pre-Travel Testing Program

The pre-travel testing program is a way for travelers arriving in Hawai‘i to avoid the 14-quarantine requirements, provided that they can show a negative COVID-19 test result taken at most 72 hours prior to the arrival of their plane to Hawaii.

Additional testing is required for people flying to the Big Island, and pre-travel testing can in some cases also be used to skip the quarantine required for interisland travel. Read more below:

safe travels hawaii info

An overview of how you can bypass the 14-day quarantine when coming to Hawaii. Image credit: https://hawaiicovid19.com/travel/getting-to-hawaii/.

Outline of the pre-travel testing program

While the details of the pre-travel testing program are still being tweaked, the following is a current outline of what travelers can expect:

  • All arriving travelers will be required to use the Save Travels app. This app will also allow you to upload your pre-travel test results.
  • The state of Hawai’i ONLY accepts test results from trusted testing and travel partners. You can find an up-to-date list of these partners at https://hawaiicovid19.com/travel-partners/.
  • The test has been taken within 72 hours from the final leg of departure. If you have a multi-city itinerary, it’s the departure time at the last city before arriving at a Hawaii airport. Travelers themselves will be responsible for the cost of the test.
  • United Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, and an increasing list of other airlines offer pre-flight testing for Hawaii-bound passengers. Find a frequently updated list of the airlines here.
  • If your test results are not available by time of arrival in Hawaii, quarantine will be necessary until you can show a verified negative test.
  • The 14-day quarantine will remain in place for those who choose not to get pre-tested. Taking a test on Hawaii will not help you reduce your time in Quarantine (hence the name “pre-travel”)
  • Temperature checks will continue at airports across the state. Anyone with a temperature higher than 100.4 degrees or who is experiencing other symptoms will be required to undergo a secondary screening at the airport with trained healthcare staff.
  • Minors five years and older must take the pre-travel test.
  • If you have technical problems with the Safe Travels app you can contact the travels service desk at +1-855-599-0888? from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. HST.
Details of the pre-travel testing program for flights to Hawaii

Flying to Hawaii? This is what you can expect with the pre-travel program (October 2nd, 2020). Image credit: HTA.

Important: extra test requirements for the Island of Hawai’i / the Big Island

Out-of-state visitors arriving on the Big Island wishing to skip the 14-day quarantine will be required to take an extra “arrival” test when arriving on the Big Island.

The arrival test is a rapid-response COVID-19 and will be administered free of charge upon arrival at any of the three Hawai’i Island airports: Ellison Onizuka International Airport at Keahole, Waimea-Kohala Airport, and Hilo International Airport.

Test results will be ready within 15-20 minutes and there will be no additional quarantine measures imposed should the rapid test result be negative. Those testing positive for COVID-19 at the rapid test will be required to take a subsequent PCR test immediately and will be required to self-quarantine while awaiting the results of this test, which can be expected within 36 hours.

Read more about the arrival testing program on the county of Hawai’i website.

Pre-travel testing for interisland flights

The mandatory 14-day quarantine remains in effect for all interisland travelers, except for those arriving on the island of O‘ahu.

It is possible to skip the quarantine with a pre-test much like it does for travelers arriving from outside the state. The pre-test needs to be taken withone of eight trusted testing partners for inter-county travel, no earlier than 72 hours prior to departure. To skip quarantine you need to have a negative result.

This pre-test is enough for travelers flying between O‘ahu, Kauai and Maui.

In addition to the pre-test, the Big Island requires travelers to take a second test upon arrival to the island with a mandatory quarantine until the results are available.

Quarantine Restrictions for Hawaii

On October 13th Governor Ige issued the fourteenth supplemental proclamation, which extends the?mandatory 14-day quarantine for all travelers arriving in the state of Hawaii, as well as interisland travelers arriving to?Kauai, Hawaii Island or Maui County (Maui, Molokai, Lanai), through November 30.

Read more details below:

Self-quarantine procedure

Upon arrival, visitors are required to self-quarantine in a designated location in their residence. Visitors will self-quarantine in their hotel room or rented lodging. Self-quarantined individuals may only leave their designated location for medical emergencies or to seek medical care. Failure to comply with all rules and protocols related to quarantines is punishable by fines of up to $5,000 and/or imprisonment of up to one year.

See the Hawaii Tourism Authority website for more information on who should quarantine and how.

Inter island travel quarantine restrictions

The partial interisland quarantine has been reinstated (at least until? October 31st), and can be skipped by using a pre-travel test to avoid the 14-day quarantine.

Gov. Ige has reinstated the interisland travel quarantine only for travelers arriving to the counties of Kauai, Hawaii, Maui and Kalawao – it does not include interisland travelers arriving on O’ahu. The period of self-quarantine will begin immediately upon arrival and last 14 days or the duration of the person’s stay on the island, whichever is shorter.

Interisland travelers are required to use the Safe Travels app in order to travel to a neighboring island.

Trans-Pacific travel quarantine restrictions

Trans-Pacific travelers with a negative COVID-19 pre-test can visit Hawaii without having to quarantine. Read more about the pre-travel program above.

Trans-Pacific travelers are required to use the Safe Travels app in order to travel to Hawaii.

Specific Restrictions for Oahu, Maui, Kauai, and Hawai’i Island

To keep their residents and visitors as safe as possible our islands all have different challenges to deal with when trying to control the spread of COVID-19. For visitors this means that they still are bound by some more local restrictions about where they can go and what they can do, even after they have completed their potential 14-day quarantine.

The COVID response of the different counties of Hawaii exists mainly of a patchwork of emergency rules, orders, and proclamations. Some of these are universal for all of Hawaii, for example the requirement that people must wear facial masks when entering places of business, others differ between counties. Below we keep an up-to-date list of measures and emergency orders on a per-island basis, and link you to the most relevant official resources.

You can find the orders and rules for all counties in the state here. Highlights on a per-island base are summarized below.

Oahu local Restrictions

Oahu is currently under Emergency Order 2020-27 through October 31st. This Order builds upon the framework of the Second Stay at Home Order. Section I is most relevant as it sets forth the “Orders” which mandate what is and what is not permitted within the City at this time. You can see all proclamations and special rules for Oahu here.

You can find out more specific information about the COVID-19 response from the city and county of Honolulu at the Frequently Asked Questions section on the OneOahu website. Shortly summarized:

  • All individuals living within the City must stay at home unless they are traveling for Essential Activities, Essential Government Functions, or to operate or patronize an Essential Businesses.
  • City parks, botanical gardens, trails, beaches, and community gardens will be? open for the limited use of walking, running, biking, sitting, fishing, and other lawful activity, but only for groups up to five (5) people. Basketball and tennis courts, indoor swimming pools, and playgrounds shall remain closed.
  • State parks/trails and beaches are reopened for the above limited use as announced by the State Department of Land and Natural Resources consistent with this Amended Second Stay at Home / Work from Home Order.
  • Regular park closure hours remain in effect and social gatherings of any type and any number of people are still prohibited, both indoors and outdoors. All other State or City restrictions related to COVID-19 must be followed, including, but not limited to, any applicable quarantine restrictions.

Oahu Reopening Strategy

The City and County of Honolulu has a new framework for reducing the spread of COVID-19 on Oahu, with criteria set for loosening and tightening restrictions on businesses and activities to keep the residents of Honolulu healthy.

The framework includes four tiers (tier 1 through 4), with tier 1 being the most restrictive and tier 4 the least restrictive. Tiers are based on the level of community spread of COVID-19 within Honolulu, as determined by two specific criteria: The number of daily cases reported, using 7-day averages over two to four week periods; and the positivity rate, using 7-day averages over two or four week periods.

Oahu is currently in Tier 1.

Tier 1 includes, but is not limited to, the following changes:

  • Social gatherings are now allowed for up to five people.
  • Retail businesses may resume operations with 50% capacity or less
  • Restaurants may reopen to indoor dining for groups no larger than five from the same household/living unit and 50% capacity or less. No liquor sales after 10 p.m.
  • Hair salons, barbershops, and nail salons are allowed to reopen with conditions.
  • Public/private pools and golf courses can reopen with conditions.
  • Certain indoor and outdoor attractions can resume operations with conditions.

Maui Local Restrictions

The most up-to-date information about the COVID restrictions on Maui can be found on the Maui county website here. Some relevant rules for visitors, taken from the Public Health Emergency Rules for Maui County (amended August 26th), are:

  • Indoor and outdoor social gatherings are limited to no more than 10 people. Face coverings are required, and physical distancing of at least six feet between separate groups must be maintained.
  • Beaches and county parks are open.
  • Transient vacation rentals can be rented if you are not subject to the 14-day quarantine. See the following list of hotels that are approved quarantine locations.

Big Island Local Restrictions

The latest update on COVID restrictions on the Big Island was Emergency Rule 12 published on September 26th. You can find all emergency rules, together with other COVID-19 related news for Hawai’i County, on their website.

In short, indoor or outdoor social gatherings of groups up to 10 people are permitted. Face coverings in public spaces are required, and physical distancing of at least 6 feet between separate groups must be maintained. Members of a single residential or family unit who share the same address are not restricted by the 10 people limit.

The most relevant content of emergency rule 12 is that all County and State Beach Parks on Hawaii reopened October 1st. The following terms and conditions will also be in effect:

  • For beach and shoreline parks; All persons must abide by face covering, physical distancing, and gathering requirements of no more than 10 persons;
  • Sports training and competitive play are allowed if conditions and requirements are met; pickup play is allowed, with a maximum of 10 persons;
  • Camping at all beach parks and shoreline parks remains prohibited.

For more in-depth information see the county of Hawai’i COVID resources page.

Kauai Local Restrictions

You can find the most recent information for Kauai in the Kauai COVID-19 webpage. All emergency rules and emergency proclamations for Kauai can be found on the Kauai COVID-19 webpage. Some highlights include:

  • Under?Emergency Rule 12, short term rentals, transient vacation rentals and homestay operations may reopen. No person that is subject to the mandatory self-quarantine is allowed to stay in these operations, unless they are the owner of the property.
  • According to?Emergency Rule 13, indoor gatherings of groups of up to 10 persons are permitted and outdoor gatherings of groups of up to 25 persons are permitted. All gatherings are also subject to requirements to maintain physical distancing, wearing face coverings and complying with other requirements of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Kauai is also working on a “resort bubble” program, which would allow visitors to fulfill the quarantine requirement while being able to use resort facilities. This program is still being worked on but most likely will require visitors to wear a GPS tracking device to ensure they don’t leave the resort bubble while under quarantine.

When are you required to wear a mask?

All islands: visitors and residents are encouraged to wear a non-surgical face mask or covering of the nose and mouth while in businesses of any kind, and while waiting to enter these businesses. The face mask requirement applies to both business employees and customers.

extra requirements for O‘ahu: ALL individuals are mandated to wear face coverings while outdoors in public spaces when it is not feasible to maintain a physical distance of 6 feet from persons who are not members of the same household.

You do not need to wear a face mask if you are exercising outdoors and able to maintain physical distancing – for example, while walking, jogging, hiking or swimming. If you are unable to wear a face covering due to medical conditions or disabilities, you are encouraged to instead wear an individual face shield.

What will happen in the coming months?

Tourism is an essential part of the Hawaii economy and our government is trying to find a balance that keeps our inhabitants safe while allowing more visitors to visit respectfully. With the recently (June 16th) abolished and then partially reinstated (August 11th) interisland travel restrictions and the pre-travel testing program allowing travelers with a negative COVID-19 pre-test to visit Hawaii without quarantine, the state of Hawaii is in the process of carefully reopening.

Several things need to happen for the travel restrictions to be scaled back or completely lifted. The most important requirements are that local (community) spread of COVID-19 is well understood and under control, and that the occupancy of the local hospitals and ICUs is low enough to deal with an expected surge.

Questions and answers about your future/current travel plans

The following frequently asked questions might be useful if you are planning a trip to Hawaii, or if you already have one planned and booked, but are considering to reschedule.

First of all, because COVID-19 is especially high-risk for seniors and people with compromised immune systems, people in those categories should minimize their exposure. The best way to minimize exposure is to stay at home which means you should seriously consider postponing your trip to Hawaii.

For the “young and healthy” it is a more complicated decision. Keep a close eye on updates from the resources we link below (including the CDC and the WHO) to find the most recent information on possible health risks so that you can make a decision based on facts.

For those people still considering going to Hawaii it is smart to keep in mind that your travel plans might get impacted by quarantines. This means that any bookings you make should ideally be refundable and/or that you should get CFAR trip insurance.

The answer to this question depends on the site you used for your booking and/or on the details of your travel insurance. A good place to start researching this question is by first having a look at the specific policies of the website you used for your booking:

You can also always try to get directly in touch with the hotel /vacation rental you have booked with to discuss your options.

Many airlines are giving out waivers to allow for more flexible travel arrangement for newly booked flights. These airlines include Hawaiian Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, United, and more. Summarizing: if you are considering booking flights, get refundable tickets and make sure that you have good travel insurance.

Most tours here in Hawaii have a 48 hours cancellation policy so you should have no problem getting a full refund. Before booking any tour make sure to read the cancellation policy to be sure.

Travel insurance cancellation coverage policies offer full refunds only for a set of circumstances such as injury or illness, death, or natural disasters. Fortunately COVID-19 hasn’t made it to the ‘natural disaster’ status but that means you’d need buy extra coverage on your travel insurance if you want to have the freedom to cancel your trip for any reason.

Important: get travel insurance with CFAR coverage.

You have to check the fine print of your favorite travel insurance policy but most (if not all) will not cover cancellations due to a pandemic. The insurance you need to look for is the “cancel for any reason” (CFAR) trip insurance. This insurance typically covers up to 50-75% (depending on provider and plan) of pre-paid and non-refundable expenses and deposits if you want to cancel your trip (for any reason).

Note that there are conditions to CFAR insurance such as for example that your trip must be canceled within a certain number of days before the planned trip (usually two days). Make sure to familiarize yourself with the insurance conditions before choosing a policy.

Official Resources

Please rely on facts, and not rumors, to get your information.

If you have any questions regarding the COVID-19 virus we recommend following frequently updated official resources:

Featured image by eddygaleotti via depositphotos

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