Lieutenant Governor Josh Green posts a short, but informative COVID-19 summary video every day on his Facebook page. For would-be travelers to Hawaii, the June 9th video had some hints of encouraging news.
Of course, nothing is official yet, but the lieutenant governor seems to indicate that a plan to reopen tourism is about to come together. He calls it “Travel with Aloha” and it involves pre-testing for COVID-19 prior to a trip to Hawaii. If a visitor tests negative within a window of time (perhaps 48 or 72 hours) prior to a trip, they would be able to come to Hawaii without a 14-day quarantine.
In the June 9 summary video, the lieutenant governor says that the state is working with a number of entities with a goal to pre-test travelers to Hawaii. He said, “We should have a decision in the next couple of days. Right now it’s looking pretty good to do this. So, this will make it safer to come to Hawaii. We won’t have to worry about a surge…”
You can watch the lieutenant governor’s briefing video from Facebook that we’ve embedded below. It’s less than 90-seconds long.
Travel with Aloha has been in discussions for more than a month. We first wrote about it on May 12. Alaska has already implemented a similar plan. Now, it appears that Travel with Aloha may become a reality. We’ll definitely be keeping a close watch on any news towards this plan and post accordingly.
When could this plan be in place? Per this KHON segment/article, the lieutenant governor is pushing to have a pre-testing plan in place by July 15 if the governor approves.
As a reminder, currently there is a 14-day quarantine required for all incoming travelers to Hawaii. That order is in effect through at least June 30, 2020 July 31, 2020.
*** Post publishing update: In the governor’s press conference on June 10, 2020, he announced that the 14-day quarantine will be extended though July 31, 2020. See the resulting article and more details. ***
