Hawaii to ease gathering and travel restrictions on July 8, confirms Gov. David Ige

Hawaii to ease gathering and travel restrictions on July 8

Hawaii will reach another milestone occasion on July 8 in its reopening efforts as a number of gathering and travel restrictions will be eased at that time, Gov. David Ige announced.

This was prompted by the state’s vaccination rate being on pace to exceed 60% on or around that date. As of Tuesday (June 29), that figure stands at 58%.

How this will most affect travelers is the removal of all quarantine and pre-travel restrictions for those flying from the United States mainland and were fully vaccinated at least two weeks prior to the trip. They will need to upload proof of that to Hawaii’s Safe Travels website and bring a hard copy of it with them.

Those who are not vaccinated will still need to take a recently administered pre-travel test and have it be negative or participate in a 10-day quarantine period.

Travelers who arrive in Hawaii on or after July 8 will be able to participate in 25-person indoor gatherings and 75-person outdoor ones, increases on the former respective figures of 10 and 25. However, masks will need to be worn for most indoor gatherings. Ige added that he does not expect to remove this requirement until the state’s vaccination rate has increased to 70%.

Kauai Island Hawaii landscape. Warning sign with added text Covid-19

Starting on July 8, restaurants will be able to be filled to 75% capacity, but note that the total customer numbers cannot exceed 25 indoors and 75 outdoors and that distancing rules will also remain in effect, which will result in some establishments being unable to increase their capacities.

The original plan was to wait until Hawaii’s vaccination rate had hit 60% to take any of these planning steps, but officials decided to instead estimate when that figure would be met and make an announcement well in advance of that date to allow travelers to plan their trips for then and businesses to be ready to welcome them.

Once that percentage hits or is expected to hit 70, all of the state’s COVID-19-related restrictions will be lifted. However, Ige said that it will likely take several more months to get from 60% to 70%.