Hawaii Reinforces COVID-19 Travel Restrictions Ahead of Holidays

Hawaii is updating its COVID-19 travel restrictions ahead of Thanksgiving, Gov. David Ige announced on Thursday.

Starting Tuesday, November 24, travelers will be required to have their negative COVID-19 test results prior to departure in order to bypass the state's 14-day mandatory quarantine for out-of-state visitors.

Under the updated program, visitors' test results must be available before boarding the final leg of their trip, otherwise, they'll have to quarantine for 14 days or the length of their stay, whichever is shorter. Before, travelers were able to upload their results upon arrival to avoid self-isolation. However, some who arrived in Hawaii without confirmed results later tested positive for coronavirus.

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"We're taking this added safety precaution now in response to the dramatically increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the continental United States and around the world. The health of our residents and visitors is our primary concern, especially as more people travel to Hawaii to celebrate the holidays," said Ige.

Ige also announced that starting in mid-December, travelers flying from Canada to Hawaii will be able to bypass two-week quarantine if they take a COVID-19 test from labs identified by Air Canada and WestJet within 72 hours of travel. Those travelers will also need their negative results in hand to avoid quarantine.

"Many Canadians love to visit Hawaii during the winter months to escape the cold weather, so the timing for this works well. Hawaii has the most rigorous pre-travel testing program in the United States, and we're grateful to Air Canada and WestJet for making it available to their passengers," added Ige.

Currently, some hotels in Hawaii are offering travelers free nights if they participate in various volunteer projects during their stay.