Up and running for a solid month now, the state’s pre-arrival testing program — a key component in Hawaii’s multilayered strategy for safe travel and economic recovery amid the pandemic — is delivering a gradual return of trans-Pacific passengers.
After a choppy mid-October debut that saw hours-long lines as travelers from the mainland awaited Safe Travels Hawaii screenings, airport foot traffic is moving at a smoother pace. And thanks to an agreement that allows pretested Japanese travelers to visit under the same program as domestic passengers, international travel is now underway with a trickle of arrivals.
Also, just opened at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport is a new mobile testing laboratory, which serves as a post-arrival testing option. It could boost travel here, with daily capacity to crank through 10,000 COVID-19 diagnostic tests, with a turnaround time of three to six hours, from registration to test results.
On average, the pre-arrival program is clearing the way for about 85% of travelers to bypass the state’s 14-day quarantine, owing to a negative COVID-19 test. Assessing the program’s success to date, Lt. Gov. Josh Green said last week, “People are doing pretty well. It can’t be perfect, but our state is doing more than any other to prevent spread.”
All this slow-but-steady progress, however, might now be further slowed, due to COVID-case surges across the mainland. And dishearteningly on Friday, the governors of California, Oregon and Washington issued travel advisories urging against nonessential out-of-state trips, and encouraging their residents to voluntarily quarantine for 14 days upon return.
This, unfortunately, will likely dampen travel demand to Hawaii, which has worked mightily to reopen travel by controlling COVID risks from visitors and returning residents alike. The imperative for safe travel is huge, since our far-flung location leaves us vulnerable to infection surge that could quickly overwhelm hospitals and health care services.
Given the rapid rate at which U.S. records are being shattered on daily new cases and hospitalizations, Hawaii’s ability to maintain public health while continuing to revive our tourism-dependent sectors will be increasingly stress-tested in the coming holiday season.
Greeting the new year with further gains will require strict enforcement of coronavirus-related travel rules, and strict adherence to mask-wearing, physical-distancing and other protective directives in both tourism and residential circles.
Bolstering confidence in Hawaii’s travel-safety measures are the results from post-travel surveillance testing, in which travelers in the pretesting program volunteered to take a second test here one to four days after arrival. Early results show a positivity rate of just 0.1%, meaning that fewer than 1 in 1,000 travelers infected with COVID-19 had slipped through the cracks of the state’s program.
That low rate should reassure residents about tourism. For now, the data is showing that it’s local community spread — not visitors — that are largely responsible for infection rate upticks here.
In mid-August — a few months after Gov. David Ige lifted an interisland quarantine because cases had dropped to a perceived non-threatening level — the state’s daily new-case number hit the highest count to date, 355. At that time, trans-Pacific visitor numbers were very low as all out-of-state travelers were still subject to a
14-day quarantine.
As Oahu has slowly reopened to tourism, it has remained mindful to monitor the health of industry workers. Through the end of this month, the city is making free self-administered nasal swab COVID-19 tests available at various locations, including the Waikiki Shell. Visitor industry workers and others in front-line roles are rightly prioritized — though residents and travelers can, and should, get tested, too.
While there’s good reason to hope that an effective COVID-19 vaccine will soon secure federal approval, for now Hawaii’s ability to effectively fend off the public-
health threat depends heavily on everyone taking personal responsibility to avoid infection. Also crucial, of course, is Hawaii’s management of testing, tracking of hospital capacity concerns, and contact tracing.
Last week, in a Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s Spotlight Hawaii interview, state Health Department epidemiologist Emily Roberson said the state’s contact tracing program has identified coronavirus clusters spreading among households, workplaces and small gatherings of friends and family. A fast course correction is in order to avoid more of these “community-driven” outbreaks.
It will be a long, tough winter for Hawaii, as we work to keep local spread in check, while trying to be agile to deal with mainland outbreaks that will affect tourism here. We can control only what
we can control — and that means being steadfast in refining a solid Safe Travels program, and redoubling of personal vigilance to prevent community spread.
