Good News: You Can Finally Visit Hawaii Again

Testing before you go means you can skip a two-week quarantine

Hawaii from an airplane window
Travelers can enter Hawaii again if they've had a recent COVID-19 test.
Alvis Upitis / Getty Images

Very, very slowly the world is opening back up to tourists. While most other countries remain hostile to visits by Americans, you can at least add Hawaii back to your destinations bucket list.

When we last checked in, the island state was pretty much closed to visitors through October 1, due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic (essentially, you’d have to arrive and immediately undergo a two-week quarantine).

However, the travel publication One Mile at a Time reports that visitors may now enter starting October 15 if they’ve had a negative coronavirus test within 72 hours of visiting. While it’s a welcome development, it has its own issues. “Requiring pre-travel testing is no perfect solution — research suggests that pre-travel coronavirus testing would prevent 80-90% of potential cases from visitors,” the site notes.

Hawaii
Hawaii.gov

Visitors will also have to fill out health forms and get their temperatures checked when arriving. But if all prerequisites are cleared, visitors can enter and will be under the same rules and restrictions as residents.

One interesting twist: While you’ll need a test, you don’t actually need the results before you travel; you’ll just have to declare that upon arrival and quarantine until you get your hopefully negative answer.

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