Kauai North Shore Vacation Rental Home

02/09/2022

Covid-19 booster shots will not be required for the state’s Safe Travels program, Gov. David Ige announced Tuesday.

In a statement released Tuesday morning, Ige’s office said that the program “will remain unchanged at this time, and booster shots will not be required for ‘up-to-date’ vaccination status for individuals traveling to Hawaii.”

Under the program’s existing rules, passengers entering Hawaii must show proof of full vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test in order to bypass a 10-day quarantine. Ige had previously said that he was considering adding booster shots as a requirement to the program for passengers to be considered fully vaccinated.

In the statement on Tuesday, Ige said he made the decision not to add booster shots as a requirement due to declining cases of Covid-19 both locally and on the Mainland, as well as in Europe.

“Hospitalizations have also dropped. In addition, we looked at Hawaii’s robust vaccination rates and the continued push by businesses and organizations to get their employees vaccinated and boosted for the safety of their families and the community,” Ige stated.

Officials noted that the decision was made in collaboration with the county mayors, as well as the travel, retail and restaurant industries.

Ige said the state’s other Covid-related rules, including the statewide indoor mask mandate, will continue to remain in place.

Officials, however, still encourage people to get a booster shot.

“While booster shots are not required for the Safe Travels program right now, they continue to be very effective in preventing severe illness from Covid-19,” said Dr. Libby Char, director of the state Department of Health in the statement. “New research shows a third shot of a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine is 90 to 94 percent effective in keeping people out of the hospital. Omicron case counts are dropping but we don’t know if or when we may see another surge in cases of Covid-19.”

In a separate statement posted to his page, Ige said that the DOH is “currently working on criteria and conditions that would allow the state to safely end the Safe Travels program.”

“If conditions require the continuation of Safe Travels, federal funding will continue to support the program,” he added.

01/14/2022

January 14, 2022
Last week the state updated its exemption for Hawaii travel after you recover from Covid. We’ve outlined all of the latest details below. As the Omicron variant sweeps across the US, many more people may choose this type of exemption.
We know you want to visit Hawaii, and while the rules associated with exemptions for testing or vaccination are well known, it may not be entirely clear what the rules are that will pertain to you if you have recovered. Here are some answers on what to do that are effective as of January 2022.
One of three exemptions is required to avoid quarantine. The state says that “travelers entering the State of Hawaii can apply for a limited exemption from the (reduced duration) mandatory 5-day self-quarantine. Under Governor Ige’s emergency proclamation, all travelers entering the State of Hawaiʻi must self-quarantine for 5 days, unless they obtain an exemption.”
All travelers (including those who have recovered from Covid) must also complete a Safe Travels form
Note that those traveling exclusively interisland are not subject to any quarantine or other Covid rules including these for recovery exemption.
You may complete the state’s recovery exemption form found here. It uses a Google AppSheet which requires that you use a Google, Apple, Microsoft, or other login.
Hawaii Travel After You Recover From COVID | The Rules
There remains an exemption for people who have tested positive for Covid 19 and are recovered. Those who receive an exemption under this category are not required to have additional pre-travel or post-travel testing or proof of vaccination.
To be considered for this exemption, you must comply with ALL of the following:
1. Upload a copy of your POSITIVE Covid 19 test result. This test must be:
• A molecular test (NAAT, PCR, or RNA). Antigen and antibody type tests are NOT acceptable for this exemption. Applications without the correct testing will be terminated and there will be no response from the state.
• The test must be processed by a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment (CLIA) certified lab OR Department of Defense Clinical Laboratory Improvement Program (CLIP) lab with the name and CLIA/CLIP number of the lab clearly printed on the result.
• Hawaii Trusted Partner compliance is not required. Lab results for the recovered from Covid exemption do not need to be from a Trusted Partner laboratory. The results must only be from a CLIA or CLIP Certified laboratory.
• The positive test must be dated no more than 90 days and no less than 11 days from your departure date for Hawaii. In other words, you must have recovered from Covid within the past 90 days for this exemption to apply to you.
• In the event the laboratory name and CLIA/CLIP number are not listed directly on the lab result, you must obtain this information and include it in the “Details” section of the application.
2. Attach a signed letter from your medical provider:
• The medical provider letter must be dated at least 10 days after the collection date of your positive result and no earlier than 14 days before your departure date for Hawaii.
• It needs to be signed by your medical provider with your medical provider’s name and National Provider Identifier (NPI) clearly listed.
• The letter must be clearly written to indicate you are currently symptom-free, or, your symptoms have resolved, or you are cleared to travel. Note: the state says that “Release from isolation letters do not satisfy the requirements” as stated herein.
3. Additional Rules:
A confirmed departure date for Hawaii is required. The state does not accept tentative departure dates. You must have a confirmed departure date because your exemption is based on the date of your test result and medical provider letter. Should your travel date change subsequent to receiving this exemption, you must reapply for another exemption.
Processing of exemption requests after Arrival in Hawaii IS possible. The state says that “we can process exemption requests submitted after your arrival in Hawaii if you provide the documents required for this exemption. We do not accept medical provider letters dated after your departure date for Hawaii.”
Returning residents’ instructions. Use your return travel date as your arrival date, leave the departure date blank, and choose the location you are traveling from as your state of origin.
Processing time of 48 to 72-hours is required. “Applications are usually processed within 48 to 72 hours, but processing times can vary depending on volume, completeness, and thoroughness of your application. Submitting multiple applications for the same travel date will also increase processing time and/or result in a denial of your request.”
Do not use Apple ID Private.relay.applied.com Private Email Addresses. The state says that “Applications with Apple ID private.relay.applied.com email addresses will not receive a response and will be closed. You must provide a valid email address with your application. When signing in with Apple ID, please select “Share My Email” when prompted.”
Summary.
The state says that subject to change, you are clear to travel to Hawaii without further testing or quarantine. That is so long as you comply with its rules, have recovered within the last 90 days, have a positive test result from when you had COVID, and have a doctor’s letter prior to travel.
These rules remain subject to further change. The recovery exemption application form is found here. It uses a Google AppSheet and requires that you use a Google, Apple, Microsoft, or other login.

01/04/2022

Hawaii’s Safe Travels quarantine guidelines for visitors change today to align with the state Department of Health’s new requirements.
The mandatory quarantine period has been reduced from 10 to five days for domestic U.S. travelers, according to a notice from John Monahan, president and CEO of the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau.
For travelers currently on 10-day quarantine, this means those who have hit their 5-day mark today or later will be released from quarantine. If today is the traveler’s fifth day of quarantine, for example, they will be released from quarantine on Tuesday.
Hawaii’s Health Department announced these changes to its isolation and quarantine guidelines last Wednesday, saying that they were doing so to align with current recommendations by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
For travelers arriving without proof of full vaccination, which currently does not require boosters, the quarantine period is now five days.
HVCB said day one is counted as the day of arrival. For example, someone who arrives today must quarantine through this Friday, and can be released this Saturday.
Travelers who are COVID-19 positive will also need to isolate for at least five days or until symptoms or gone, and continue to wear a mask for five days after isolation.
If, however, the traveler is still symptomatic on day five, he or she is advised to seek medical attention and quarantine until a COVID-19 test can be taken.
If the test is positive, they must isolate in place for an additional five days.
Also, effective Tuesday, HVCB said the completion of a health questionnaire prior to departure will no longer be required.

12/16/2021

BoH: Travel Troubles Emerge as Hawaii Covid Cases Triple
US Covid cases are at a weekly average of over 120k per day and more than a thousand average COVID deaths each week. So the US does not appear to be in any kind of controlled phase of COVID.
And as of today, neither is Hawaii. While the CDC just said that the US “7-day moving average of daily new cases (118,515) increased 37.3% compared with the previous 7-day moving average,” Hawaii cases have just jumped after having dropped to under 100 per day, indicating a big change.
While Hawaii has been doing relatively well, today there were 282 reported new COVID cases statewide. That is about triple what we were seeing just a few weeks ago. Yesterday, there were 214 new cases. The Hawaii Department of Health said there had already been a 121% increase just since Thanksgiving.
So what does that mean for Hawaii-bound visitors?
Experts are saying there is a need to remain vigilant in any further lifting of restrictions, lest they not be promptly reinstated.
Hawaii remains in a challenging position in terms of its fragile healthcare system, due to our physical isolation, small population, and other factors.
It remains unclear as to whether Hawaii will choose to implement any additional Covid restrictions on its own right now, or will await more data and national guidance. In the meantime, as you know, each county is free to maintain its own Covid restrictions. On Maui and Oahu, for example, proof of vaccination or recent testing is required for indoor restaurant dining.
Any changes to Safe Travels are definitely on hold at this time: Vaccination, testing.
Vaccination or testing exemptions, to avoid quarantine, will remain in effect, indefinitely. Safe Travels is Hawaii’s website portal for proof of these, and that too is to remain in place for the foreseeable future.
Hawaii mask mandate continues, as California adds theirs.
The Hawaii indoor mask mandate indoors will also stay put. Governor Ige said recently, “I think it’s the one thing we will continue to have in place.” Hawaii has been one of just a handful of states that have retained masks for indoor settings for both vaccinated and unvaccinated. But that too is changing
Governor Ige said that there are no longer any metrics upon which the state can rely for any further changes to COVID rules. At one point he had said that at 70% fully vaccinated (which has been achieved), the state would eliminate Safe Travels.

11/15/2021

Travel to Hawaii from within the US.
COVID testing option.
1. For those not fully vaccinated, or those ineligible by age or otherwise from vaccination, the following applies. You must test within 72 hours of a scheduled transpacific flight departure to Hawaii, and tests must be from one of the Hawaii-approved testing partners. Costs for testing are borne by travelers and can vary from free to $250 per person.
2. Important Hawaii-specific testing rules. Hawaii requires NAAT/PCR testing only, and nothing else is acceptable. Equally important, the test source must be one of Hawaii’s trusted partners, not any lab, even when it is the correct test. The specific language in effect is as follows: “The state of Hawai‘i will ONLY accept Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAAT) from a certified Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment (CLIA) lab test results from Trusted Testing and Travel Partners. A negative COVID-19 test result is required before departure to avoid quarantine in Hawaii.”
3. The minimum age for required testing is 5 years. All travelers 5 and above who are not fully vaccinated must have a COVID-19 test and negative results through the state’s trusted testing partners per the requirements of Hawaii Safe Travels.
Vaccinated travel option.
1. Those travelers arriving from within the US (regardless of citizenship) can be exempt from quarantine using the vaccination option. Fully vaccinated at this time means does not include any requirement for booster vaccinations.
2. Effective November 8, the list of acceptable vaccines has gone into compliance with the CDC. The federal government says that now accepted include Astra¬Zeneca, Covaxin, Johnson & Johnson, Mo¬derna, Pfizer, Sinopharm, and Sinovac. The governor’s announcement said, “Also, beginning on Nov. 8, the State of Hawaiʻi, in alignment with the federal government, will accept vaccines approved or authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and vaccines listed for emergency use by the World Health Organization.”

11/13/2021

Hanalei Kauai Road fully re-opens
Updates on Landslide Conditions affecting Kauai's North Shore
October 22, 2021
In March 2021, a substantial landslide struck the island of Kauai above the small town of Hanalei. Severe flooding was to blame following a heavy rainstorm.
Thankfully, the intense reconstruction project has now finally completed its emergency phase as of October 15th. Two-way traffic is fully re-opened.
Route 56 is how virtually anyone and everyone access the island's north shore. Needless to say, with a hundred-foot gash of mud, rock, debris, and no pavement across the middle of it, access to the north shore was, for the first week or so after the slide, totally non-existent. For the many months following, it has been limited.
The reopening of the roadway marks a vital step for tourism and locals alike.

11/13/2021

AN UPTICK IN MOVIE PRODUCTIONS ON KAUAI IN 2021
A total of 23 productions, including commercials, parts of feature films, documentaries, TV shows, and digital and still advertising, took place so far this year. Recent on-island film activity included the upcoming Netflix film “Red Notice,” starring Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, and Gal Godot; reality television series “Deadliest Catch: Bloodline,” filmed off of Port Allen; and 10 weeks of post-production for the HBO series “White Lotus.”
Other projects included commercial shoots for brands Teva, Roxy and Toyota, an Amazon Films documentary, an Apple TV talk show and an untitled independent horror movie filmed on private property in Kilauea. Scouting for several reality shows is ongoing, and upcoming documentaries on different subjects are pending permits.
Kaua‘i’s Hollywood connection goes back to 1934, with the filming of “White Heat.” Most recently, Disney’s “Jungle Cruise,” portions of which were shot on-island, premiered earlier this summer.

11/13/2021

New Hawaii sunscreen law started in January.
Hawaii now bans all sunscreens that can damage Hawaii coral reefs starting in January. The new law prevents the sale of sunscreens containing oxybenzone and octinoxate. These chemicals are found in literally thousands of sunscreens.

08/28/2021

LIHU‘E — The state Department of Transportation announced that two lanes of traffic on Kuhio Highway will flow in and out of Hanalei starting Saturday, Sept. 4 at 5:30 p.m.
The updated schedule will be: Monday through Saturday, two lanes open (one in each direction) until 6:59 a.m.; single-lane alternating traffic (guided by a pilot vehicle) between 7 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.; two lanes open (one in each direction) after 5:31 p.m.
On Sundays and state holidays, two lanes will be open (one in each direction) all day.
The increase in access marks the wind down of the emergency phase of construction, which is anticipated to be completed by the end of September or early October, weather permitting, according to the DOT.
Since March, this work has consisted of clearing a substantial amount of dirt and debris, drilling and grouting over 500 soil nails into the hillside for greater stability, and performing road-resurfacing work below the slope.
The final tasks of this phase include concrete and drainage preparations on the 19th-century water tunnel located mid-slope. Additional slope-stabilization work is expected to start early January 2022.
The DOT said in a release it appreciates the continued patience of the Hanalei, Wainiha and Ha‘ena communities during the emergency slope-stabilization and landslide response.
Continued updates on the Hanalei Hill landslide project can be found at hidot.hawaii.gov/2021-hanalei-hill-landslide/.

Information on the Hanalei Hill landslide on Kuhio Highway at Mile Marker 1 as a result of the March 2021 floods. Access schedule Access to Kuhio Highway (Route 560) past Mile Marker 1 leading to Hanalei Bridge is on the schedule below. Vehicles will be escorted through the work zone by a pilot vehi...

08/19/2021

TSA extends mask mandate for airline passengers through January
(HSA) Federal officials are extending into January a requirement that people on airline flights and public transportation wear face masks, a rule intended to limit the spread of COVID-19.
The Transportation Security Administration was scheduled to enforce the rule until Sept. 13. An agency spokesman said Tuesday that the mandate will be extended until Jan. 18.
The TSA briefed airline industry representatives on its plan Tuesday and planned to discuss it with airline unions on Wednesday. The mask rule also applies to employees on planes and public transportation.
The mask mandate has been controversial and has led to many encounters between passengers who don’t want to wear a mask and flight attendants asked to enforce the rule. The Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday that airlines have reported 3,889 incidents involving unruly passengers this year, and 2,867 — or 74% — involved refusing to wear a mask.
Individual airlines declined to comment on the Biden administration’s decision. The largest union of flight attendants said the move will help keep passengers and aviation workers safe.
“We have a responsibility in aviation to keep everyone safe and do our part to end the pandemic, rather than aid the continuation of it,” said Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants. “We all look forward to the day masks are no longer required, but we’re not there yet.”
The mask order, based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for responding to the pandemic, was first issued on Jan. 29, days after President Joe Biden took office. Before that, airlines had their own requirements for face coverings but former President Donald Trump’s administration had declined to make it a federal rule.
The extension was not surprising after a recent surge in COVID-19 cases linked to the delta variant of the virus. The seven-day average of new reported cases has topped 140,000, an increase of 64% from two weeks ago and the highest level in more than six months.
Henry Harteveldt, a travel-industry analyst with Atmosphere Research Group, said the administration’s decision will reassure people who are concerned about the virus.
“I anticipate it will make them feel more confident about traveling through the fall and winter, including the holiday season,” Harteveldt said. “Those who don’t take the virus seriously will probably complain — but they have no choice but to suck it up and wear their masks if they want to take an airline flight somewhere.”
In recent days, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines have reported that the increase in coronavirus infections has caused a slump in bookings beyond the usual slowdown that occurs near the end of each summer.