Experts mulling additional COVID-19 tests for tourists
HONOLULU — Hawaii officials are facing pressure to increase COVID19 testing for travelers as the islands deal with a record surge of new infections, hospitalization and deaths. The calls come as federal guidelines change to require negative virus tests from both vaccinated and unvaccinated people coming to the U.S.
Despite evidence that more COVID-19 testing would help reduce the spread of disease, especially in an isolated destination like Hawaii, state leaders have resisted the implementation of a two-test policy for arriving travelers.
Earlier this summer, the state removed all testing requirements for vaccinated people. And even with a single pre-flight test for unvaccinated travelers, experts say infected passengers can easily slip through the cracks.
Because of the incubation and latency periods of COVID-19, using just one test to prevent spread among tens of thousands of daily visitors is akin to using a chain link fence to keep out mosquitos, said Dr. Darragh O’Carroll, an emergency and disaster physician in Honolulu.
“There are a lot of holes,” O’Carroll said. “The science has been fairly conclusive since probably June of 2020 that a single-test system was no more effective than 30 to 40% in catching a population of infected people.”
New federal rules announced Monday require all foreign travelers flying to the U.S. to demonstrate proof of vaccination before boarding, as well as proof of a negative COVID-19 test. Unvaccinated American citizens will need to be tested within a day before returning to the U.S., as well as after they arrive home.
O’Carroll and a number of his colleagues have been pushing state leaders to do the same, he said.
After months of mandatory quarantines, business closures and virtually no tourists, Hawaii had among the lowest infection rates in the nation. Then, in October 2020, the state allowed travelers to skip quarantine with a single pre-flight test.
Infection rates increased, but they remained low compared with other states. Some of that has been attributed to a severely crippled tourism industry and a lack of participation in leisure travel. And some believe visitors do not see the incentive to test after arrival when facing quarantine away from home.
But when travel numbers increased this summer, so did infection rates.
In July, Hawaii lifted its quarantine and testing requirements for vaccinated travelers. A month later, the state was in the throes of a record surge of delta variant cases that were filling hospitals and leaving more people dead than at any other time in the pandemic.
Before July, Hawaii reported a seven-day average of 46 daily cases. In the first week of September, that number was up to nearly 900. Case rates have slowly begun to decline since, but experts say it’s unclear if that will hold.
Much of that was community spread fueled by the delta variant, which was introduced through travel. Scientists say implementing additional testing measures could help.