Hawaii Pre Travel Testing Program Begins Today!

Hawaii’s Pre-travel Testing Program officially goes into effect today. It’s been a long road to get to this point, but Maui residents are excited to welcome back the tourism industry and return to some sense of normalcy. In the simplest terms, the Hawaii Pre-travel Testing Program will allow a traveler to forgo the 14-day mandatory quarantine if they can produce a negative COVID-19 test result within 72 hours of traveling from an approved testing source.

Maui’s Mayor Michael Victorino, introduced a multilayered plan to coincide with the state plan earlier this week. His plan covers 3 major areas:

Arrive Healthy: Get tested and obtain a negative COVID-19 test result 72 hours before traveling. This test is mandatory.

Stay Healthy: Get a second test 72 hours after arriving on Maui to ensure you are still healthy. This test is voluntary. The reason the Mayor is asking for this second test is because he wants to mitigate as much risk for the Maui community as possible.

Depart Healthy: Return home knowing that you did not become infected with COVID-19 while on vacation in Hawaii.

If it seems like this plan goes above and beyond what the state is asking for regarding testing, it’s because it does. The Mayor had this to say when asked about his opinion, “The rollout of Maui County’s travel testing program is largely thanks to the work of our residents and their effort to keep our case numbers down,” Mayor Victorino said. “This program is predicated on three major steps: we want travelers to arrive healthy by getting their pre-departure test; we want them to stay healthy by getting a second test; and we want everyone to return home healthy. If we can do these three things, we will be able to keep Maui County and our community healthy.”

It should be noted that you do not have to get a test done at all if you are traveling to Hawaii, but you will need to undergo a 14-day quarantine at an approved facility.

For more information about where to get tested as well as other resources, please follow this link.

Photo by William Zhang on Unsplash