The state is working on a system that will allow vaccinated travelers to skip quarantine

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) — In a bid to boost Hawaii’s travel industry and ease some restrictions, the state is reportedly moving closer to a system that would allow vaccinated individuals to travel to and within Hawaii without quarantine.

The so-called Vaccine Passport allows travelers who are already fully vaccinated to skip Hawaii‘s quarantine requirements.

Lt. gov. Josh Green said the program will likely begin with essential workers within the state vaccinated, with other members of the public to follow.

Green hopes the program will include trips to the mainland by May 1.

He said vaccinated travelers would be given an electronic code that would allow them to travel between the islands. The program could start as early as March 1st.

Green said the governor’s recent declaration of emergency made it possible to begin work on that system.

“General Hara will be able to flip the switch and open that up and make that our policy once we have some infrastructure in place,” Lt. gov. Green. “We hope that on April 1st for all our state citizens every citizen who has been vaccinated will have plus two weeks to fly between islands.

“In this way, we restore our economy very quickly,” Green added. “We would probably see a huge increase in attendance by fall that way.”

Based on that schedule, the state hopes that the number of daily visitors to Hawaii will triple to about 22,000 per day by the fall.

To date, Hawaii has administered more than 260,000 vaccine doses. He estimates that more than 400,000 Hawaiians would be fully vaccinated by the program’s potential start date.

“I think that’s the right schedule and sometime after that international travel because we don’t want to allow any strain in our society,” Green said.

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