Hawaii travel restrictions might loosen as CDC guidelines change for those fully vaccinated

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now saying that fully vaccinated travelers can travel safely in the U.S. and don’t need to get tested for COVID or self-quarantine.

Safe Travels Hawaii, the state’s pandemic travel entry program, still requires quarantine for those who don’t enter with a valid pre-test.

As of Friday the state still had not approved easing travel requirements for vaccinated passengers. In view of the CDC’s Friday guidance, Hawaii officials are slated to meet again Monday.

The CDC’s new guidance removes one sticking point to allowing a travel entry exemption for fully vaccinated people. Lack of technology remains a problem.

Lt. Gov. Josh Green said there’s a 60% chance that FirstVitals could have it developed by May 1. In the meantime, Green said he is pushing for Hawaii to immediately begin accepting vaccine cards.

“I made the request for a vaccination passport two weeks ago. As of Friday the state had not approved a vaccination passport,” Green said. “I’m redoubling my efforts. The leadership team will meet again on Monday.The CDC has advised that it is safe travel for those that are vaccinated, and I feel strongly that Hawaii should adopt this recommendation and use a vaccination passport to clear people for travel to Hawaii without quarantine.”

Green said there is already a provision in the emergency proclamation per the state Attorney General’s Office to enable a vaccination passport or digital solution once the rules go into place.

“As soon as validation, processing and enforcement issues are worked out, it can be implemented,” he said.

Green said he hopes Hawaii can quickly work out the details to allow vaccinated passengers to immediately travel to Hawaii without testing or quarantining even if a vaccination passport or a digital solution isn’t fully developed.

“I’m personally OK with people showing their card and us checking their ID. Very few people will take the risk of fraudulently representing their vaccine. The penalties are very high,” Green said. “Also, our risk is dropping. We will be over 1 million shots given by May 1.”

Most in Hawaii’s tourism industry say delaying implementing the CDC’s new travel guidelines while Hawaii tries to catch up in its technology puts the state and counties at risk of losing their place as a sought-after 2021 destination.

Hawaii, which saw 27,527 travelers screened by Safe Travels Hawaii on Thursday as part of the spring break rush, is poised for an even stronger summer. But tourism industry leaders say travelers who had accepted the state’s pre-testing protocol are likely to be less tolerant when CDC guidance doesn’t support it. That could hurt what so far has been a promising recovery, costing Hawaii millions of dollars in tourism revenue and jobs.

Keith Vieira, principal of KV & Associates, Hospitality Consulting, said, “They keep on saying to follow the science. But we aren’t following the science. We’ll lose our share of tourism to other markets if we don’t allow the vaccination exemption.”

Still, starting the vaccination entry program in Hawaii before a digital solution or vaccination passport is ready is not a calculated risk all are ready to take. Some in the industry fear that Gov. David Ige, who is known for caution, will want to minimize the risk of fraudulent vaccination cards by delaying making changes to Safe Travels until a digital solution or vaccination passport is in place. After all, problems with Safe Travels Hawaii’s technology were part of the reason that the state thrice pushed back the start of its pre-testing entry program, which didn’t get up and running until Oct. 15.

Ige sent the Star-Advertiser an emailed statement Thursday saying that he was “hopeful that some kind of reliable and safe mechanism to verify vaccinations will be ready toward the ending part of the summer. Clear and CommonPass are both expanding their platforms to include vaccination verification.”

“We continue to ask the CDC for specific guidance about travel — whether fully vaccinated individuals can carry the virus, get sick from it or transmit it,” Ige said. “The CDC is very concerned about the current 60 thousand new cases and 900 deaths a day on the mainland, saying these numbers are too high right now for us to let down our guard. Lifting interisland quarantine is still under discussion at this time.”

In the meantime Hawaii’s travel entry policies vary by island.

“The governor should be saying we’re doing it one way. All the islands should be the same way, although Kauai doesn’t want to hear it,” Vieira said. “If the spike were coming from the visitors, that would be a different story, but since it’s not, why not have our community get back to work? Sometimes it seems to me that the mayors want to look like heroes who are saving the community, when what they are doing is hurting the community.”

Hawaii island still requires a free second test at the airport for most travelers.

Heading into the Easter break, Victorino has asked for a second test at the airport and a vaccine passport.

Victorino said Thursday that he did not support lifting interisland travel restrictions for those who have not been vaccinated at this time. But he had asked Ige to consider approving a “vaccine passport”-type program for Maui, which had been rejected.

Kauai, which is rejoining the Safe Travels program on Monday, doesn’t require a second test, but has put together a discount program to incentivize travelers to take one.

There’s so much pent-up demand for less-restricted travel to Hawaii that travel sellers said Friday that their phone lines were jammed by confused travelers who believed that the CDC’s travel guidance automatically applied to Hawaii. It doesn’t.

The debate about the best way to further reopen Hawaii for tourism continues, only now the talking points are in flux.

Before the CDC issued its updated travel guidance Friday, opponents to allowing a vaccination-based travel exemption now justified it because the CDC still wasn’t recommending nonessential travel. Although Safe Travels Hawaii did nothing to ban nonessential travel, the selling point was that it allowed Hawaii to screen travelers, thereby making travel safer.

On Friday the CDC said it “recommends delaying travel until you are fully vaccinated, because travel increases your chance of getting and spreading COVID-19.”

Those advocating a wait for vaccination-based travel exemptions in Hawaii are quick to point out that statewide COVID-19 infections are on the rise and Hawaii has not yet reached herd immunity, and probably won’t until at least summer.

State Department of Health officials Friday reported 136 new coronavirus infections statewide, bringing the state’s total since the start of the pandemic to 29,927 cases. DOH reported Thursday that some 634,442 cumulative doses had been administered. So far, about 28% of Hawaii’s resident population has received at least one dose of the vaccine.

Another criticism by the wait-and-see camp is that the messaging on vaccinations in Hawaii and elsewhere hasn’t been clear.

A day after Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky suggested people vaccinated against COVID-19 would not become infected with or transmit the disease, the CDC backtracked on the comments.

“Our data from the CDC today suggests that vaccinated people do not carry the virus, don’t get sick,” Walensky told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Monday. “And that it’s not just in the clinical trials, it’s also in real-world data.”

On Thursday the CDC told The New York Times that Walensky was speaking “broadly” in the Maddow interview.

“It’s possible that some people who are fully vaccinated could get COVID-19,” a CDC spokesperson told the Times. “The evidence isn’t clear whether they can spread the virus to others. We are continuing to evaluate the evidence.”

The risk that some vaccinated people might carry the virus, the fact that the nation and Hawaii haven’t reached herd immunity and it’s still a race against time to get there before COVID-19 variants spread were among the themes shared Wednesday by testifiers who opposed Hawaii Senate Bill 266, which would mandate one travel plan for the entire state.

Mufi Hannemann, president and CEO of the Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association, said decision-making on SB 266 was deferred until Wednesday, and he’s glad it’s still in play.

“The opponents are trying to paint the worst-case scenario if this kind of legislation goes through,” Hannemann said. “But right now people are looking for relief. We still have the highest unemployment rate in the nation. We still have over 70,000 people who are unemployed.”

Green said if Hawaii’s travel demand holds, the state could “easily get 750,000 travelers per month” — about an 80% recovery of pre-pandemic numbers. Green said every 750,000 travelers who come to Hawaii restore about 15,000 jobs.

Hawaiian Airlines was just one of Hawaii’s local businesses to share their support Friday for easing travel restrictions for fully vaccinated travelers.

“We are hopeful the state of Hawaii will update the Safe Travels program to align with (the CDC) recommendations,” Hawaiian Airlines spokesman Alex Da Silva said in a statement. “The CDC’s guidance underscores the effectiveness of vaccinations, as well as the comprehensive health and safety protocols adopted by the airline industry. While we must all continue to take personal responsibility to protect ourselves and each other, it’s time to restore freedom of travel to allow families and friends to reconnect and generate crucial economic activity.”

Hannemann said while tourism officials and other stakeholders are pushing for a complete vaccine exemption for travelers, there’s room for compromise.

“Everything doesn’t have to happen at once,” he said. “Unfortunately, the lieutenant governor seems to be out ahead of where some of the other elected officials are. Given where the governor is and the mayors are, to take the whole manapua right now is something they’ll be hesitant in doing. Certainly, we’d like to see it applied to trans-Pacific travel if they are ready. But we could start with interisland travel, which would benefit local people and would encourage more people to get the vaccine.”

CDC’s updated traveler information

>> Fully vaccinated travelers are less likely to get and spread COVID-19.

>> People who are fully vaccinated with an FDA- authorized vaccine can travel safely within the United States:

• Fully vaccinated travelers do not need to get tested before or after travel unless their destination requires it.

• Fully vaccinated travelers do not need to self-quarantine.

>> Fully vaccinated travelers should still follow CDC’s recommendations for traveling safely, including:

• Wear a mask over your nose and mouth.

• Stay 6 feet from others and avoid crowds.

• Wash your hands often or use hand sanitizer.

The CDC recommends delaying travel until you are fully vaccinated. If you are not fully vaccinated and must travel, take the following steps:

>> Get tested with a viral test one to three days before your trip.

>> Follow CDC’s recommendations for traveling safely, including:

>> Wear a mask over your nose and mouth.

>> Stay 6 feet from others and avoid crowds.

>> Wash your hands often or use hand sanitizer.

>> Get tested with a viral test three to five days after travel, and stay home and self-quarantine for a full seven days after travel.

• Even if you test negative, stay home and self-quarantine for the full seven days.

• If your test is positive, isolate yourself to protect others from getting infected.

>> If you don’t get tested, stay home and self- quarantine for 10 days after travel.

>> Avoid being around people who are at increased risk for severe illness for 14 days, whether you get tested or not.

>> Self-monitor for COVID-19 symptoms; isolate and get tested if you develop symptoms.

>> Follow all state and local recommendations or requirements.

>> Visit your state, territorial, tribal or local health department’s website to look for the latest information on where to get tested.

Source: CDC

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The Associated Press contributed to this story.