Interisland travelers to Hawai‘i County may be able to avoid the 14-day travel quarantine.
Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim announced the new plan will be effective tomorrow, Wednesday, Oct. 21. Interisland travelers older than 5 may either test for COVID-19 no more than 72 hours before traveling to Hawai‘i Island, or be tested after arrival. A negative post-arrival test would allow the traveler to be released from quarantine, though travelers must stay in quarantine until they have a negative test. The Mayor’s office says this means that Hawai‘i County will now be in line with the statewide interisland 72-hour pre-travel test policy.
But the Mayor’s order leaves questions. Travelers will be responsible for finding and paying for their own test before or after they arrive on the island. It appears that interisland travelers will not be allowed to take the County-sponsored quick tests at the Hilo, Kona, or Waimea airports now offered free to all trans-Pacific arrivals. The order says they must have a “State-approved test.” Generally the State has approved NAAT tests, Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests, but for trans-Pacific travel, the State is only accepting tests by specific vendors, and the same is true for waiving the interisland quarantine for travel to Kaua’i and Maui.
When the Governor approved exemptions from interisland quarantine for Kaua’i and Maui, it included a list of State-approved test entities, but several have no Big Island locations (Hawaii Pacific Health, Minit Medical, Urgent Care Hawaii) or some of their locations don’t offer COVID-19 testing on the Big Island (CVS/Longs Keauhou and Palani Road in Kailua Kona, and the Kilauea Ave. and Puainako Street locations in Hilo). Clinical Labs requires an order from a Hawaii physician. CVS/Longs Pahoa does offer COVID-19 testing for those 12 and older, by appointment–the only CVS/Longs on the island currently offering COVID-19 testing. Kaiser Permanente offers COVID-19 testing for members. Walgreen’s is on the list but the Hilo location is closing permanently in early November.
The Mayor’s order does say travelers may take advantage of the free County-sponsored District testing, which is every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at Ali’i Health at Keauhou Shopping Center (behind Regal Cinemas) and at other Hawaii Island sites as announced weekly by the Mayor’s office.
Negative rest results must be submitted online to the State at www.travel.hawaii.gov The website references the State’s “trusted testing partners,” and says only tests from the following will be accepted: AFC Urgent Care Portland, Bartell Drugs, Carbon Health, CityHealth Urgent Care, Clinical Laboratories of Hawaii, Color, CVS Health, Discovery Health MD, Hawaii Pacific Health, Kaiser Permanente, Minit Medical, Quest Diagnostics, Urgent Care Hawaii, Vault Health and Walgreens.
“The new system allows people to determine how long or if they’ll be quarantined,” said Mayor Harry Kim. “We wanted to come up with a policy that would address the current system’s problems, such as the large number of people that had to be quarantined for 14 days and the inability of the County to monitor and enforce the quarantine policies.”
“This new policy is simpler, more sustainable and gives people a choice,” the Mayor said. “It will also lessen the number of people under quarantine.”
The Mayor has issued a new order, Amendment No. 2 to Emergency Rule 12, effective through Nov. 30, 2020, which covers details as they are known now:
2020-10-20-Amendment-2-Extension-to-Mayors-COVID-19-Emergency-Rule-No.-12-signed-certified
The online form for seeking an exemption from the self-quarantine for one-day medical trips and for those who are considered critical infrastructure workers, if submitted 5 days in advance, is at the Hawaii County Civil Defense website. Click here for direct access to the form.
As the County responds to questions about the interisland quarantine waiver, this story will be updated.
For more information, please call Civil Defense at 935-0031.
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