Hawaii has had some of the strictest COVID entry rules in the US over the course of the pandemic.
They had a mandatory quarantine requirement for most of 2020, before switching to a COVID testing requirement via select sources that allowed the state to independently verify the result. Even then, you had to test again if you wanted to do inter-island travel.
I wrote about my experience with the Safe Travel Hawaii requirements to Maui and Molokai in February 2021 here. A friend of mine tried flying inter-island to Molokai via Oahu instead of via Maui and was denied entry and sent back after arriving in Molokai.
The island of Kauai remained closed for much longer than the rest of the state.
Hawaii lifted the testing requirement if you were vaccinated later in 2021, but kids still needed to get tested.
The restrictions inflected a lot of pain on the economy, but they did appear to lower the state’s COVID death rate compared to the mainland. 1 in 1,058 Hawaiians died of COVID-19 (1,338 deaths) compared to 1 in 345 in the US overall (953,000 deaths).
But over 2 years into the pandemic and as the state faces competition from a world that is reopening, Hawaii will finally ditch all Safe Travel entry restrictions on March 26th, though indoor mask requirements remain in place. No testing or quarantine will be required, regardless of vaccination status.
Beginning March 26, domestic travelers entering Hawaiʻi will no longer need to quarantine or show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test result.
— Governor David Ige (@GovHawaii) March 1, 2022
We’ve worked hard to protect our community. But the pandemic isn’t over. You don’t need an emergency proclamation to take precautions to keep yourself and your family healthy. If you feel sick – don’t go out. Don’t travel. If you have COVID symptoms, get tested.
— Governor David Ige (@GovHawaii) March 1, 2022
Will you travel to Hawaii?
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3 Comments On "Hawaii Lifts Safe Travels Restrictions, Will Keep Indoor Mask Mandate In Place"
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None of Hawaii’s interventions have made any difference. Some places get more Covid than others, regardless of interventions. It’s probably climate and/or natural immunity, but we don’t know why. The Pacific in general has had less Covid than other regions of the world. We know conclusively that masks do absolutely nothing to prevent Covid — and we knew this before Covid when we studied other respiratory viruses — but gov’t wanted to “do something” and people wanted to believe. Hawaii further shows their foolishness as others wise up and abandon the charade.
Keep on repeating the dillusions to yourself
it definitely makes it true. Hawaiii has 1300 covid deaths with a population over 1 million
Total idiot. I said it. Idiot.