The Commons Project, in collaboration with the State of Hawaii, announced this week that any domestic traveler with a SMART Health Card, regardless of airline or departure city, can now use the CommonPass app to digitally verify their vaccine status ahead of arrival in Hawaii, allowing them to bypass select quarantine requirements and streamline entry into the state.
Developed by the Vaccination Credential Initiative, the SMART Health Card standard offers individuals a digital vaccine record that can be safely and privately shared with compatible services such as CommonPass. This lets travelers digitally collect their lab results and/or vaccination records from verified health data sources and demonstrate that those records meet the health screening requirements of their destination. With Hawaii now permitting vaccinated U.S. visitors into the state, U.S. visitors with a SMART Health Card digital vaccine record can use CommonPass to verify that they’ve been vaccinated and waive the testing requirements that have been in place for Hawaii visitors since October. When travelers use the CommonPass exception to confirm their vaccination status in "Safe Travels," they will be instantly verified, rather than needing to wait for verification as they would when uploading a paper Centers for Disease Control and Prevention card.
According to the Hawaii Tourism Authority, nearly 630,000 travelers flew to the Hawaiian Islands in May 2021, and arrivals are expected to increase as more individuals return to travel
Good to know: In lieu of uploading a SMART Health Card vaccine credential to CommonPass, U.S. travelers can complete a COVID-19 test at any CommonPass-integrated lab (including Vault Health, XpresCheck and Worksite Labs) to verify their health status with CommonPass, which allows them to skip quarantine upon arrival in Hawaii. Passengers on select United and Hawaiian Airlines flights have been piloting the technology since early April.
Currently, California, Louisiana, Walmart and Sam's Club have all recently made SMART Health Card digital vaccine records available to vaccinated individuals. The University of California San Diego Health has also begun issuing SMART Health Cards for COVID-19 vaccinations and for negative PCR tests through its patient portal. Additional states, pharmacy chains and health care providers will be issuing SMART Health Cards in the coming weeks.
About travel to Hawaii: Since July 8, individuals fully vaccinated in the United States and its territories may enter Hawaii on domestic flights without pre-travel testing/quarantine starting the 15th day after the completion of their vaccination. All other travelers must have their negative test results from a Trusted Testing and Travel Partner prior to departing as an alternative to Hawaii’s mandatory 10-day quarantine.
All travelers who are not in quarantine are free to travel between islands without restriction.
For more information, visit www.commonpass.org/hawaii.
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