Experts eye more travel testing to contain COVID in Hawaii

HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii officials are facing pressure to increase COVID-19 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.

“Nobody really seemed to listen," he said. "No matter what we said and how conclusive the science looked.”

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