Hawaii COVID Testing

[braysmommy]

I feel your pain! From NJ, the only two states basically not on the quarantine list are HI and VT...

I’m still hopeful it will work out for us to be watching the Kona sunset in about a month !

I wish you well and hope it all works out!

 

[DRussell83]

Finally getting around to posting a follow-up. Good news is that we arrived at Aulani today!!

Lessons Learned:
1. Slightly annoyed that the PDF that Vault sends you does not have the time your sample was collected, just the date. If Hawaii wanted to be sticklers, they could say that your proof requires date and time, however the Safe Travels site accepted the PDF and marked the kids I uploaded them for as "COVID Negative."

2. If you are in CA and have kids 12 through 17 traveling with you, DO NOT use Kaiser. We found out that KP will not post test results online for teens and even the teens can't see their results. When DW called them up to see what could be done to get the result, they replied, "you can drop by and we'll give you a print out. I have 3 teens who were in this category. Thankfully we also had the Vault test, and those 3 kids had Vault results uploaded.

3. Another thing about KP. Between Tuesday and Wednesday they changed the text on their PDF results which put the date and time the sample was collected on the 2nd page. My results from KP came back on Tuesday, so following the instructions, I saved off the first page, uploaded to safe travels and got "COVID Negative" which means the automated check passed. On Wednesday morning, my wife's Aunts results came in and she followed my instructions. The safe travels site however, got stuck on "pending verification" which we knew would not be good coming into Oahu. After researching for a couple of hours we decided to save off the whole PDF(2 pages) and upload it whole. Good thing we did because it worked!! So don't pay attention to when they say "Only upload the first page"

When we arrived at HNL I was shocked at the number of people who didn't follow the rules. A guy didn't set up his own safe travels because his wife did it and put him as a travel companion and uploaded the results for both. "Whats wrong?" The guy kept asking. Another guy got a test from a non trusted provider, and was also wondering what the big deal was. Since I had my kids with me I couldn't pay attention too much to what happened with those folks.

One last thing: If you're renting a car, after getting out from the terminal, log out of safe travels and log back in. The rental car companies need to see that your exempt from quarantine, and it'll only say you're exempt if you reload it by logging out and logging back in.

Sorry for the long post, but I'll admit, getting all these tests and checking all the boxes for the state has been a drain!!
[/QUOTE
Not sure if I missed this but did you put anything on the box indicating that you were going to Hawaii so they would expedite it? I guess I thought if we ordered through Hawaiian it would have some sort of Hawaiian logo on if they are guaranteeing results back in 72 hours?

 

[DRussell83]

Not sure if I missed this but did you put anything on the box indicating that you were going to Hawaii so they would expedite it? I guess I thought if we ordered through Hawaiian it would have some sort of Hawaiian logo on if they are guaranteeing results back in 72 hours?

 

[DRussell83]

Apologies for the double post.

 

[neurosx1983]

Hawaiian says they have some kind of expedited service if ordered through the Hawaiian airlines site? Has anyone tried that?

 

[WedgeTheJedi]

Hawaiian says they have some kind of expedited service if ordered through the Hawaiian airlines site? Has anyone tried that?

They have two options. The vault at home test and they have a drive up site at San Francisco. If you are not in San Fran, then your option is the Vault for Hawaiian or another provider in your area.

The vault take home test is expedited that they will do your test within 24 hours of recovering it.

I'm also wondering who has done this and confirm that the postage was next day air. My flight is 10am Monday. So I have tot are the test 10am Friday and then get it to the UPS store before the next day air cutoff I belelieve as they don't deliver on Sunday.

The table they have on hawaiianairlines.com says Sunday results for test taken and dropped off Friday before 10am... so I'm hoping if I take it at 10am and take it directly to the ups distribution center (maybe even the airport). That will work...

 

[WedgeTheJedi]

Has anyone in the Seattle area done the test with Bartell's? How soon did you get the results?

Is walgreens processing the kits there or do they have to ship them out?

 

[DRussell83]

Hawaiian says they have some kind of expedited service if ordered through the Hawaiian airlines site? Has anyone tried that?

I ordered through Hawaiian and received our tests today and nothing is on them that states Hawaiian or anything - no email from Hawaiian either - everything has been through Vault. Why I got a little concerned was that in the instructions it says it will take 24 hours for the lab to receive and then 48-72 hours for results so I’m just a little nervous now.

 

[BlueRibbon]

Hawaiian says they have some kind of expedited service if ordered through the Hawaiian airlines site? Has anyone tried that?

Yes. Its a double notification kind of thing. The yellow sticker on the return bag is supposed to inform the Vault team that the test is for travel. I was also instructed to write "Stat Hawaii" on the back of each package so it was super clear that the test should move to the front of the line.

 

[LisaRN97]

I see that Costo home testing kits are now available and approved by Hawaii. It's slightly cheaper than Vault $139.99 vs $150. Waiting to see if anyone has experience with them!

 

[lovetotravel]

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[Pete W.]

It strikes me that right now things are looking very similar to the way they did in March/April in terms of COVID cases/deaths. In NJ our numbers are literally like they were in April now. I was one of those whose March ABD was cancelled and now I have planned a trip to Hawaii next month at Christmas.

Are others out there worried, like our ABD trip in March, that cases will surge so much that HI will go to lock down again? My bigger fear is that HI will lock down while we are there. Lots of unknowns…

I live in NJ and things are nothing like they were in March/April. At the peak in April, we were averaging ~350 deaths attributed to COVID-19 per day vs. ~30-40 per day now. And in April we were averaging 6,000-8,000 tests per day whereas now we're testing at a rate of +40,000 per day so it's not surprising we're seeing more "cases." Nevertheless, I'm right there with you on being nervous about more lockdowns coming, because our governments are acting like it's March/April again. I wish you the best of luck on your upcoming trip! And I'm daring to hope that things are normal in June when we're booked at Aulani.

 

[neurosx1983]

I live in NJ and things are nothing like they were in March/April. At the peak in April, we were averaging ~350 deaths attributed to COVID-19 per day vs. ~30-40 per day now. And in April we were averaging 6,000-8,000 tests per day whereas now we're testing at a rate of +40,000 per day so it's not surprising we're seeing more "cases." Nevertheless, I'm right there with you on being nervous about more lockdowns coming, because our governments are acting like it's March/April again. I wish you the best of luck on your upcoming trip! And I'm daring to hope that things are normal in June when we're booked at Aulani.

I definitely agree with you Pete. I’m a doctor here in New Jersey and I can tell you that the number of hospitalizations is definitely not like what it was in April, however it’s creeping up. That said, my biggest fear is that the governor here and more specifically governor Ige in HI will impose new restrictions just in time for Christmas. That’s why we have a couple of different back up plans in case so HI doesn’t work out.

 

[DisneyinNJ]

NJ here as well. Are you doing the Vault test? We were supposed to go to Aulani in March and are now going over Christmas. I was hopeful that United would offer testing, but it seems like the priority is the EWR-LHR flight in Dec.

 

[neurosx1983]

NJ here as well. Are you doing the Vault test? We were supposed to go to Aulani in March and are now going over Christmas. I was hopeful that United would offer testing, but it seems like the priority is the EWR-LHR flight in Dec.

Yes the plan is to do Vault for now. We are on the straight flight from EWR- hopefully United opens up testing for that flight

 

[BlueRibbon]

We are in our 4th full day here at Aulani, and funny enough, I received an email from the Safe Travels app saying that I'd been randomly selected for a second COVID test to see if their program is effective.

The email says it is completely voluntary, but there is a test site right outside Just Tacos across the street.

 

[Almondmilktea]

Here is my situation. Got the test at Kaiser on Friday at 130pm PST. My flight is tomorrow Monday at 740am. As of now on Sunday night, I haven’t received any results. I’ve been checking the ‘Test Results’ section of my kp.org account hourly since yesterday!

For those of you that used Kaiser, where did the results show up? Did they email you? Am I looking at the correct section from kp.org?

 

[BlueRibbon]

Here is my situation. Got the test at Kaiser on Friday at 130pm PST. My flight is tomorrow Monday at 740am. As of now on Sunday night, I haven’t received any results. I’ve been checking the ‘Test Results’ section of my kp.org account hourly since yesterday!

For those of you that used Kaiser, where did the results show up? Did they email you? Am I looking at the correct section from kp.org?

I used Kaiser and got an email when the results came in and found them under "Test Results."

 

[Almondmilktea]

I used Kaiser and got an email when the results came in and found them under "Test Results."

Thanks! How long did it take for the results to come in?

 

[CodyBoy]

We are in our 4th full day here at Aulani, and funny enough, I received an email from the Safe Travels app saying that I'd been randomly selected for a second COVID test to see if their program is effective.

The email says it is completely voluntary, but there is a test site right outside Just Tacos across the street.

We got the same emails on Thursday!