As Hawaii COVID-19 cases were headed on their highest surge yet, Governor Ige, asked visitors and residents to reduce travel to and from Hawaii through October. Since then, case counts and hospitalizations have come down significantly. As such, Gov. Ige announced that visitors and residents are welcome to travel to and from the state starting November 1, 2021.
Yesterday, at an event on Hawaii Island, Ige stated, “Beginning November 1st, we want to invite and encourage fully-vaccinated visitors and residents to travel for business or leisure, trans-Pacific and inter-island.” (Source)
While Ige’s statement specifically welcomes vaccinated visitors, no new travel rule changes were announced for Hawaii’s Safe Travels program. That program currently allows non-vaccinated visitors to bypass quarantine by presenting a negative pre-travel COVID-19 test.
Several Hawaii rules and business policies are moving towards catering to the vaccinated visitor and resident. Some examples are:
- Safe Access Oahu – fully vaccinated customers are allowed at restaurants, bars, gyms, museums. Non-vaccinated customers must provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken within the previous 48 hours. These rules apply to persons age 12 years and up. See this link for more details about these rules.
- Maui County – fully vaccinated customers are allowed in restaurants, bars, gyms, spas. Non-vaccinated customers must provide proof of a negative COVID-19- test taken with the previous 48 hours. These rules apply to persons ages 12 years and up. See this link for more details about Maui’s rules.
- Some Hawaii hotels are only open to vaccinated guests.
To our knowledge, Hawaii’s Big Island and Kauai have not instituted rules limiting access to only vaccinated visitors.
Sheila Beal
4 comments
We actually just got back from Hawaii yesterday. I know we were suppose to wait but we would have lost our money. So we risk it and went. It was a great experience. We got our wrist band at DFW and therefore got to pass go at HNL. Everyone was extremely nice, we did mostly “To Go” orders because our balcony was awesome! The times we did go inside to eat, it wasn’t difficult, we showed our Vaccine card and ID, put our name down, where we were staying and phone number. It sounds like a pain but nothing was. Yes, we wore mask. Not outside unless we were walking toward a crowd, then we’d pull ours up. We didn’t have any issues or problems, it was actually smoother than usual. I’m glad that folks will be able to fully start coming again. It’s still an amazing place!
Thank you Darlene! We are going to Hawaii December 1st and this information was very helpful!
Is there any news on when Maui will lift their mask mandate for visitors?
There’s no change on the horizon for the indoor mask mandates. That’s a statewide requirement.