WAILUKU >> Maui Mayor Michael Victorino is proposing changes to Hawaii’s COVID-19 travel restrictions, including a pilot “vaccination passport” program and mandatory rapid testing at Kahului Airport for arriving passengers, even if they’ve complied with current Safe Travel Hawaii rules requiring a pre-travel test with negative results within 72 hours of departure.

Even with pre-arrival testing, some passengers may still be contagious, and the idea is to “cut them off at the airport,” Victorino said during his daily news briefing today.

Those who fail to get pre-travel testing from an approved partner or who refuse to submit to the second testing at the Maui airport upon arrival will be subject to a 10-day quarantine, he explained.

Under Victorino’s proposal, the vaccination passport would be available to travelers who can show proof of having completed the two-dose series, with the final shot administered at least 14 days before departure for Hawaii. Those holding the passports would not be required to undergo testing.

The mayor did not provide further details of the proposals but said that after two weeks of drawing up guidelines, he has presented them to Gov. David Ige for approval and is hoping to have them in place by mid-April.

The programs would apply to both visitors and returning residents, Victorino said.