Stricter travel rules are anticipated in Hawaii in 2022 as COVID cases — driven by the Omicron variant — continue to reach record highs.
HONOLULU (KITV4) — Sitting at home in chilly Maryland, Casey and Annie Medairy are daydreaming of their 2020 Hawaii honeymoon – beaches on Maui, volcanoes on the Big Island. But there was one island they missed.
“Of course Hawaii’s beautiful, but we’re hikers. We wanted to see the Na Pali coast. And so we really wanted to see Kauai,” Annie Medairy told KITV.
In 2020, the Garden Isle shut down to a “resort bubble” only — forcing the Medairys to change their plans and visit Oahu instead.
For 2021 though, they vowed to return for a second honeymoon on Kauai. But once again, the coronavirus has other plans, — this time with both of them testing positive just days before their trip.
“We were able to get a lot of the finances from our accommodations back, which made it a little easier to us to try and plan ahead,” Casey Medairy said.
As Omicron cases surge, it’s not just people having to cancel trips. In some cases, people are testing positive while they’re already in Hawaii.
Jessica Lani Rich with the Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii (VASH) says she’s seen a jump in calls in the past week from people on vacation who test positive while on island. She’s able to assist with logistics, flight changes, and hotels.
Rich says the new CDC guidance only requiring a 5-day quarantine to recover means some are opting to ride out the quarantine and salvage the rest of their trips instead of flying home.
“The majority of our visitors do not have the funds to spend an extra two weeks during the holidays and so for those visitors they are happy that the CDC has changed the rules,” she said.
In the meantime, Lt. Gov. Josh Green is calling for stricter travel requirements heading into 2022.
“The recommendation should be that you’re either boosted or tested, real straightforward, and I think that will come in the New Year,” Green said.
As for the Medairys, they’re hoping in 2022, the third time’s the charm for their bucket list Kauai trip.
“And hopefully by then, this will all be over and done with that would be great,” Casey Medairy said.
