Hawaii’s battered tourism industry and myriad other businesses and workers who rely on it received little clarity Friday on whether the state’s pre-travel COVID-19 testing program that would allow arriving passengers to bypass the mandatory 14-day self-quarantine will launch Aug. 1 as planned.Enough issues have been raised about the plan by county mayors and other leaders to throw a sooner-rather-than-later revival of Hawaii’s economy into serious doubt. The concerns include lack of details on such critical points as where travelers will be able to obtain pre-departure testing and whether...…Hawaii’s battered tourism industry and myriad other businesses and workers who rely on it received little clarity Friday on whether the state’s pre-travel COVID-19 testing program that would allow arriving passengers to bypass the mandatory 14-day self-quarantine will launch Aug. 1 as planned.Enough issues have been raised about the plan by county mayors and other leaders to throw a sooner-rather-than-later revival of Hawaii’s economy into serious doubt. The concerns include lack of details on such critical points as where travelers will be able to obtain pre-departure testing and whether...WW…

Hawaii appears headed toward establishing an exemption from travel testing and quarantine rules for fully vaccinated trans-Pacific passengers.The new exemption is mentioned in Ige’s latest emergency proclamation, issued today. Although not currently available, the exemption will go into effect once established by the director of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, with details to be announced later.To qualify for the exemption, arriving passengers will have to upload to the state’s Safe Travels program or otherwise provide validation they have completed a vaccine regimen approved by the...…Hawaii appears headed toward establishing an exemption from travel testing and quarantine rules for fully vaccinated trans-Pacific passengers.The new exemption is mentioned in Ige’s latest emergency proclamation, issued today. Although not currently available, the exemption will go into effect once established by the director of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, with details to be announced later.To qualify for the exemption, arriving passengers will have to upload to the state’s Safe Travels program or otherwise provide validation they have completed a vaccine regimen approved by the...WW…