Leaning AGAINST Hawaii in April

 It's a tough decision.  If I don't go now, I may not get another chance but then again, there are a lot of potential SNAFUs.

As of now, if you want to go to Hawaii and bypass the 5-day quarantine requirement, you have 2 options:  Get triple vacksinated despite the fact that by Pfizer CEO’s own admission that it provides limited protection OR get a negative test from a partner lab ONE day before arrival.  Obviously, the former is not an option for me and too many things can go wrong with the latter.  I saw this coming, which is why I went last year without a race to complete my Visit all 50 States Challenge.  Normally, I would not even consider going to a place with such stringent restrictions, but everyone knows why I still might make an exception.  I have just 1 state to go to finish the Half Marathon Challenge and am rapidly declining.  Training has been AWFUL!  Today was 3 miles in 27:54 (9:18 pace) and this was actually one of my BETTER showings so far this year.  At the rate that I am going, it won’t be long until I cannot run at all. 

Here is what could go wrong:

Omicron is still surging but is expected to calm down before race day in April.  I’ll find out next month whether my New Year’s respiratory illness was COVID or not.  If it was, I will be much less concerned about catching COVID again.  That said, there is still about a 1 in 50 chance of a false positive.  If that happens, I’m screwed.  No go on the trip and I may not get a refund for the flight.  I certainly won’t get refunded for the race but probably won’t have to pay for the hotels.

There is a "worser case scenario" than that too.  Suppose that I take the test and the results don’t come back until I am on the plane.  I was nearly sent to quarantine last time because I didn’t have a hard copy but protested that my results didn’t come back until I had left home for Atlanta.  Fortunately, the boss over-ruled the employee and accepted my electronic result.  I REALLY don’t want to be put in that position again.  If I test positive, I will be stranded in either Hawaii or my connection city for who knows how long.  If the negative result does come after I land in Hawaii, I suppose that I would be released from quarantine but even that may not be guaranteed.    

There is also the possibility of a flight delay and a missed connection.  I could still fly out of Atlanta but would have to stay overnight in a hotel with access to a printer in case the results come overnight.  Last time, I connected in LAX, which worked out well logistically.  Both flights were about 5 hours.  I would prefer to take 2 flights instead of 3 to reduce the risk of a missed connection.  Suppose that happens and I do not arrive in Hawaii until the next day, which is 2 days after the test.  That would render the results invalid, and I will be sent to quarantine.    

As of now, I am leaning AGAINST going to Hawaii but I could still change my mind.  The backup plan for that weekend is beach hopping from Tampa to Fort Lauderdale, which would be nice but pales in comparison to Hawaii.  I am just ONE state away from finishing my goal.  Fortunately, the time limit is generous so that should not be a factor.  Still, I would strongly prefer to end this NOW rather than later.  If not for COVID, I likely would have finished this in early-mid-2021.  What could happen in the future?  Will the restrictions continue into the endemic phase?  Probably.  In fact, it could get worse.  What if there is a rigid vackseen mandate with no option for a negative test?  For the record, I would still decline the shot.