Maui Discussion

Maui County’s new post-arrival testing program for unvaccinated trans-Pacific arrivals from the continental US debuted today (May 4, 2021), with hundreds of travelers undergoing rapid COVID-19 testing at Kahului Airport.

What you need to know about Maui Post-Arrival Testing and Inter-County Travel: Requirements differ between trans-Pacific travelers and those who are in Hawaiʻi and plan to travel to Maui from another county.

Beginning May 11, fully vaccinated travelers who received their vaccine in Hawaiʻi may travel inter-county (Kauaʻi, Maui, and Hawaiʻi) without having to take a pre-travel test or quarantining for 10 days. The announcement was made by Gov. David Ige during an afternoon press briefing.

Individuals who are fully vaccinated in Hawaiʻi may soon get the opportunity to travel inter-island without having to take a pre-travel COVID-19 test.

Depending on what Maui’s mayor decides, Maui residents could be in for a lesson that no county ordinance, no matter how well meaning, can overcome the basic rules of economics.

Next year, the Queen Ka’ahumanu Center in Kahului should be celebrating its 50th anniversary, but no one knows if there will be any reason to commemorate the milestone as Maui’s largest mall goes through foreclosure.

Here on Maui, April numbers are exceeding pre-pandemic levels for the same period in 2018 and 2019. The DBEDT preliminary data shows that so far in April, there’s an average of 6,441 passengers arriving daily to Kahului Airport on domestic (including mainland and interisland) flights, up 7.2 percent (433 more passengers) from two years ago in 2019, and up 14 percent (793 more passengers) from three years ago in 2018.

Proposed changes have been approved by the governor for the state’s Safe Travels program in Maui County. Trans-Pacific travelers arriving at Kahului Airport will soon be required to undergo a mandatory secondary COVID-19 rapid test upon arrival, or face a mandatory 10-day quarantine. Mayor Michael Victorino said he had hoped to start the program this […]

“It might have parts of the country first and then add more as they go. It’s hard to peg a date, but it wouldn’t surprise me that by summer we could have this going, and have that as an availability for all the people that want to come to Hawaiʻi,” said Chief Information Officer of the state’s Office of Enterprise Technology Services, Doug Murdock.

Under the program, fully vaccinated individuals, with at least two weeks of incubation since their final vaccination dose, would be able to bypass the state’s 10-day quarantine without having to take a test. The vaccine passport program is proposed for both visitors and returning residents alike, according to Mayor Victorino.

“We are looking at maybe reducing their hours even further if necessary,” said Mayor Victorino during a Friday afternoon press briefing. “But I’m trying to allow time for them to clean up–reestablishing and reevaluating how they’ve been serving the people of Maui County and the visitors alike.”

The mission of the group is to “reclaim their fundamental rights, and take a stand against excessive coronavirus restriction measures.”

Mayor Michael Victorino expressed his disappointment and frustration after receiving the Hawaiʻi Department of Health’s report of 41 new COVID cases in Maui County on Thursday.

Puʻu Ōlaʻi sometimes referred to as “Little Beach” in Mākena State Park on Maui’s south shore, will reopen tomorrow, Saturday, March 13, after being closed for several months.

Hawaiian Airlines launched its new, twice-weekly nonstop flights from Honolulu to Orlando on Thursday. The carrier also announced it is increasing service between Hawai‘i and Florida to three weekly flights from June 1 through Aug. 10 to meet summer demand.

This is the second pandemic that DeClerck has lived through, according to family members who say that in addition to surviving the COVID-19 infection earlier this year, the centenarian lived through the Spanish Flu when she was only two years old living in Wailuku.

There were 106 COVID-19 cases reported in Hawai‘i on Saturday, including 23 on O‘ahu, three on Hawai‘i Island, and five in Hawai‘i residents diagnosed out-of-state. There were also 75 cases attributed to Maui, including 31 which are from the past and predate Feb. 18.

The state Department of Education is looking into the possibility of reopening elementary schools for in-person instruction for the final quarter of this school year.

On Maui, hikers have been rescued from places like the “Bamboo Forest” in Kailua, the upper reaches of ʻĪao Valley, and East Maui’s Kaihalulu Beach. A swift water rescue at Waioka in Hāna earlier this month ended tragically when a visitor died in a flash flood event at the location.

For January 2021, Maui County hotels led the state at 21.9 percent occupancy, down 55.1 percentage points from January 2020 (before the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown) and less than the 26 percent occupancy for December 2020, according to the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority report.