Hawaiian Airlines passengers flying out of San Francisco and Los Angeles will soon be able to get drive-thru COVID-19 tests before their flights to the Aloha State, the carrier announced over the weekend.
The airline says the nasal swab tests will be available at its labs near San Francisco and Los Angeles international airports around Oct. 15 - the day when Hawaii visitors can bypass the state’s 14-day quarantine with a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of arriving.
Hawaiian plans to open additional sites and is “actively developing additional testing partnerships,” officials said in their Friday statement.
The PCR - or Polymerase chain reaction - test allows for very small DNA samples to be amplified to a size large enough to be studied more precisely. The swab tests are like those conducted at Cal Expo and other local sites.
Hawaiian joins United Airlines, which last week was the first passenger carrier to roll out plans for rapid and mail-in testing for those flying to Hawaii beginning October.
The Hawaiian Airlines tests will cost $90 for results within 36 hours or $150 for express service on the day of the flight and will be administered through the firm Worksite Labs, airline officials said in the Friday statement.
“(I)t is critical that access to testing does not impede travel to Hawaii for visitors or residents,” Avi Mannis, an airline senior vice president, said in the statement. The airline worked with the state of Hawaii on the program, officials said.
Hawaii travel had been at a near-standstill since March. COVID-19 cases and deaths in Hawaii had been among the nation’s lowest since the outbreak, but cases have risen in recent days. Total Hawaii cases grew to more than 12,000 as of Sunday, the majority on the island of Oahu, according to the Hawaii Department of Health, and the death total now stands at 132, Hawaii News Now reported.
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