Experts Want to Hawaii to Implement Multiple COVID19 Testing for Travelers

Hawaii officials are pressured by health experts to implement multiple COVID19 testing for travelers. Officials refused to require arriving travelers to undergo multiple COVID19 tests, despite evidence that it can reduce the spread of COVID19.

During summer, Hawaii even removed all testing requirements for vaccinated individuals. However, with breakthrough infections, incubation, and latency periods of COVID19, a single test is fast becoming inadequate.

Dr. Darragh O’Carroll, an emergency and disaster physician in Honolulu, thinks that the system has “a lot of holes”. O’Carroll added that “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”.

He said that together with colleagues, they pushed for multiple COVID19 testing. However, O’Carroll said that “Nobody really seemed to listen”. He said that “No matter what we said and how conclusive the science looked”.

Hawaii’s Infection Rates Surged

Hawaii allowed travelers to skip quarantine and to only have a single pre-flight test when traveling to the state in October 2020. As expected, the infection rates increased, even if it remained low compared to other states. By summer, things are different. Travel numbers increased and so did the number of infections.

In July, Hawaii officials announced that vaccinated travelers can skip quarantine and testing requirements. A month later, Hawaii was dealing with a surge of cases brought about by the delta variant.

Before July, Hawaii had 46 daily COVID cases. By the first week of September, the number hit nearly 900 per day. On the bright side, the numbers have declined after Hawaii Governor David Ige pleaded with travelers to not visit Hawaii for the time being.

Multiple COVID19 Testing

Scientists believe that additional testing could help minimize the number of daily infections. A study that was published in March by the medical journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases confirms this stance. A single pre-flight test can only catch 36% of infected travelers. On the other hand, a two-test system coupled with a short quarantine catches more than 70% of infected travelers.