UPDATE - Effective January 23, 2021
Changes to Pre-Travel Testing Program Travelers are reminded that if they do not want to be subject to a 10-day mandatory quarantine, a pre-travel COVID-19 test must be taken and come back negative prior to arrival in Maui County. All interisland and transpacific travelers who want to avoid the 10-day quarantine by pre-testing negative for COVID-19 within the State's Safe Travels Program must also: (1) Download either the AlohaSafe Alert application or another Google-Apple Exposure Notification System application (2) Or enable their exposure notification setting on their mobile device. If you are coming from another state that has their own system and you have that on your phone already, you would need show it to the screeners. Those who arrive on Maui and have not downloaded the app will be asked to download it. On iPhones, there's a way to flip a switch and it is turned on, without having to download anything. Interisland travelers now need to have their pre-travel test uploaded before they leave for Maui, and you have to use the Aloha Safe Alert app or another Google-Apple Exposure Notification System application. Proof of registration is showing your phone as you go through. Failure to register with an exposure notification system prior to arrival within Maui County will require a mandatory 10 day quarantine. There are exceptions: Those under the age of 18 without mobile devices, or adults without a mobile device, at least one individual in their traveling party must comply. Interisland travelers whose negative COVID-19 test results are not uploaded upon arrival must quarantine for 10 days or the duration of their stay in Maui County, whichever is shorter. Previously this was only effective for trans-Pacific travelers. Now its effective for both trans-Pacific and inter-county travel. Those subject to quarantine who need to pay commercial lodging must quarantine at an approved hotel those are listed at the mauicounty.gov website. They may not stay at a short-term vacation rental or bed-and-breakfast or transient vacation rental. This amendment provides consistency for interisland and trans-Pacific travelers with pending test results. Critical infrastructure workers and others with limited quarantine requirements who are seeking an exemption to traveling into Maui County must first request the exemption through mauicounty.gov, and provide all required documentation prior to travel. Once registered and all documents are received, an approval notice will be sent. Those who obtain a limited quarantine exemption must also download and present the screeners either with the Aloha Safe Alert app or some other approved application. The newly amended public health emergency rules are posted in their entirety at the County of Maui website.
UPDATE - Effective November 24, 2020
All transpacific travelers must have a negative test result from a Trusted Partner lab accepted by the Safe Travels program before their departure for the State of Hawai'i, in order to bypass the 14-day quarantine. Transpacific travelers heading to Hawai'i must upload their negative test result to the Safe Travels system prior to departure or, as an alternative to uploading the form, present a hard copy of their negative test result to be verified by government officials upon arrival in the islands. The State of Hawai'i highly recommends that all transpacific travelers bring the hard copy of their negative test result as a backup, even if they upload their negative test result to the Safe Travels system. Transpacific travelers who do not have a negative test result prior to departing for Hawai'i, must self-quarantine for 14 days or the length of their stay, whichever is shorter, without exception.
The policy change means that test results will not be accepted once a traveler arrives in Hawai'i. Travelers who did not have a negative test result prior to departing for Hawai'i, must self-quarantine for 14 days, without exception.
Post-arrival testing and results will also not be accepted once a traveler has arrived in the State of Hawai'i.
See more information about traveling to Maui County
See more information about traveling to Kauai County
See more information about traveling to Hawaii County
See more information about traveling to Honolulu, Oahu County
The State of Hawaii is now set to accept national and international visitors who have had a CoVid-19 pretest within 72 hours of arriving in Hawaii.
Travelers who complete an FDA-approved nasal swab COVID-19 test within 72 hours of their flight arrival in Hawaii and are able to produce evidence of negative test results will be eligible to forego the state's 14-day quarantine instructions.
In addition to the test results, travelers to Hawaii must undergo a health screening process and temperature checks upon arrival. Before boarding their flights, they must fill out travel and health forms, which will provide a QR code to speed up the arrivals process.
Maui County saw average daily arrivals jump to 2,447 in the first four days since the state launched it's pre-travel COVID-19 testing program on Oct. 15. That's up from the average daily 530 travelers logged in the 12 days prior between Oct. 3 and 14, before the reopening program took effect; but less than half of the 5,590 average daily domestic arrivals reported in Maui County over the same four days last year.
While the first half of the month was dominated by residential arrivals, a stark shift to visitor arrivals occurred upon the program's launch.
Under the program, trans-Pacific travelers can take a Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAAT) from a testing partner approved by the state within 72 hours from the final leg of departure to Hawai'i; and if given a negative result for COVID-19, are allowed to bypass the state's 14-day mandatory quarantine.
Over the Friday to Sunday (Oct. 16 to 19) weekend travel period, a total of 8,247 passengers arrived in Maui County, according to data from the State of Hawai'i Safe Travels Application. This included 6,401 visitors and 1,946 residents.
The breakdown by destination included: 5,435 arriving in Kahului; 61 landing in Moloka'i; and 23 traveling to Lana'i City Airport.
Based on airport screening and temperature checks over the three day period, 99.9% of travelers arrived healthy to Maui County; 83% arrived with a negative pre-departure test; 17% of travelers stopped in transit; 12% of travelers were required to quarantine (including travelers awaiting their pre-departure test results); and 5% were inter-county travelers with work exemptions.
Maui Managing Director Sandy Baz said, only a very small percentage of travelers coming into Maui County had elevated temperature or self-reported that they weren't feeling well. These travelers are ordered to follow all directions from the State Department of Health's Maui District Health Office.
Maui Mayor Michael Victorino addressed public concerns about reports of long lines at the airport holding area. The main reason is the number of people coming off the planes, especially when we have a compact of three or four flights within a two hour period of time. They're getting 150-200 people coming off of a plane, some within 10-20 minutes of each other.
All travelers must follow the County of Maui's Public Health Emergency Rules which includes the mandatory use of face masks in public. The County of Maui provided the following highlights: