This week Maui’s mayor announced new post-arrival testing at the airport. What is this all about?

As you (should) know by now, when flying to Hawaii there is a mandatory 10 day quarantine for all arrivals. You can bypass this quarantine by taking a pre-arrival test up to 72 hours prior to the last leg of your flight into Hawaii. For much more information on all this, please check the official State of Hawaii Covid Travel website.

On Maui our Covid numbers have been a bit elevated since around Christmas. The Health authorities and mayor say it’s community-based. However, with the dramatic increase in tourism (6000-8000 arrivals/day the past few weeks), community pushback and blaming both arriving visitors and returning residents for the higher numbers and new variants has grown.

Maui’s mayor asked the Governor and received the State’s official ok to introduce a second mandatory post-arrival test. Details are not really available yet as they are still figuring things out. Here’s what we know so far

• Rapid-test
• Mandatory on arrival at the airport for trans-Pacific flights
• Free to the traveler (paid for by the County of Maui)
• If traveler tests positive, they will need to quarantine

What is unclear at this time:

• What about false-positives? Will it be followed up by another test (while you and your fellow travelers quarantine)?
• Airport logistics when you have multiple large trans-Pacific flights arriving at the same time.

This week Maui County opened vaccinations to all residents 16+. It is my hope that with increased vaccinations our numbers will go down and that this post-arrival test will be short-lived.

No vaccination passports at this time

As of now there is no exemption to all the testing for those who have been vaccinated. The Lt Governor heads up the Covid task force for Hawaii and would like to see a vaccination passport implemented soon. However, the Governor recently announced that his priority is to vaccinate residents and not to expect a vaccination passport until later in the summer.

Remember when flying between Canada and the US was as easy as ensuring you had a valid passport, ticket and passing security and customs? I checked – our family’s passports are all valid. And yet, travel to Canada seems so remote these days.

My Canadian return guests and Facebook page followers have been lamenting their cold Canadian winter. Some have optimistically booked their winter 2022 Maui stays (yes, those calendars are filling up).

The Canada-US border remains closed to non-essential travel at this time. Apparently there are exceptions, and of course, Canadians may return to their country. There are just ‘a few’ steps to take in order to do so.

I have a few friends who have gone through this process in the past months. One repeat guest in BC told me of unmarked government vehicles parking outside her house and phone calls, checking that she was quarantining (this was last fall). My mom (also in BC) recently told me of an unmarked vehicle checking in on one of her neighbors, the official in the car speaking with the quarantin-er on the phone through the door.

Several Alberta friends who own second homes here on Maui recently flew back home. Here is a short summary of one of their experiences:

1. They had to organize and take a pre-travel test while here on Maui. The requirements are quite specific (so do check the Canadian government website for specifics). I believe Minit Medical, Doctors on Call and Clinical Labs of Hawaii all offer tests. The Minit Medical test ran at $175US/person. You need these results on time, without negative results, you will need to reschedule your trip.
2. Then for the return flight. Apparently WestJet has one direct flight per week between Calgary and Maui (OGG). I was surprised there are direct flights into Canada. My friend’s return flight to Calgary was a third full and according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority (check here for very cool searchable arrival statistics), there are Canadians are still arriving on Maui on those inbound flights. As I check right now, it doesn’t look like there are any direct flights to Vancouver, and my quick spot check is not showing direct AirCanada options either.
3. On arrival in Calgary my friends took a complimentary Covid test at the airport and then proceeded to their pre-booked hotel room for their 3 night stay. The cost at the Acclaim hotel for two persons was $1300 for 3 nights which included all meals. Curious me checked the Acclaim Hotel at the Calgary airport. The hotel looks nice, my friend had a standard size hotel room with a king-size bed, chaise, desk and chair. Imagine spending up to three days in a hotel room?
4. Fortunately for my friend, they received their test results within 24 hours. They called the front desk, were escorted out of the hotel and headed home to ride out the remaining 13 days of quarantine at home. There was no discount for the unused nights/meals at the hotel.
5. On Day 10 of their quarantine they will take another Covid test. If that test is also negative, then after Day 14 they are free to resume their ‘normal’ routine.

For much more information and current details on the Canadian out-of-country arrival program, please check the official Canadian government website.

As for our family – we will continue to wait to visit our family and friends until the Canadian border becomes a bit more porous.

How many Canadians come to Maui?

When we first started our vacation rental business, about half our guests were Canadian. Over the past years this number has decreased to perhaps one fifth, but Maui remains a popular warm-weather destination for Western Canadians. Per the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s Canada Fact Sheet, in 2019 Maui saw 277,000 Canadian visitors, on average 35% first-timers (65% repeat), spending an average 12 days on island.

Late March 2020 the border between Canada and the US was closed and Canadian airlines Westjet and AirCanada cancelled all Hawaii flights. Covid was upon us all and noone knew what to expect next.

The airlines have been teasing customers with flights this fall, only to cancel them due to the persistent 14 day mandatory quarantine upon arrival to Hawaii. Mid-October the State started the pre-travel test exemption, but the approved tests were only available on the US mainland. As of December 17 there are now Canadian testing options and we are thrilled! Hawaii is after all the closest warm-weather destination for Canadians on the West Coast (though still a 6+ hour flight away).

For much more pre-travel test information please FIRST check the official State of Hawaii Covid Travel website (note, things change regularly, so check back often). Then (if you are traveling from Canada), check with your airline for further testing information. At this time AirCanada and Westjet both run the official pre-travel test program for Canadians traveling to Hawaii.

We were driving to Kahului yesterday afternoon as I saw a Westjet flight come in. I double checked my flight tracker app (I use the free Flightradar24 app on my phone) and sure enough – it was coming from Vancouver. I then googled more information, turns out it was the FIRST Westjet flight arriving on Maui since late March! Welcome back!

About half hour later I saw another plane arriving – Flightradar showed me it was Air Canada – their very first Covid-era direct flight from Calgary.

Mandatory Quarantine on return to Canada

As Canadians will know, there is currently a mandatory 14 day quarantine for all arrivals to Canada. However, Alberta currently has a pilot-program to avoid the mandatory quarantine. I am hoping BC will follow suit. Sure would be nice to go see our Canadian family again! It’s been a long year….

State of Hawaii Mandatory Quarantine Change

As I mentioned, things change from time to time. This week the State of Hawaii officially shortened the mandatory quarantine from 14 to ten days. This applies to all arrivals who do not have a Hawaii State approved negative Covid test in hand on arrival in Hawaii. Please check their website for much more information.