Couples divorced in Hawaii do not accept Mayo Clinic COVID-19 test
A Minnesota couple with vacation plans in Hawaii has divorced after government officials failed to accept a negative COVID-19 test completed by a lab at the Mayo Clinic.
(VOS 9) – Hawaii is the dream vacation that offers lots of sun, beaches and warm weather.
Travelers love it because you have access to luxury without flying internationally.
To get to Hawaii, however, you need a negative COVID-19 test. But it can not come from the Mayo Clinic, as one couple in Minnesota recently found out.
Joan and Grant Christianson are now in two different states, because Hawaii does not mention the Mayo Clinic as one of its ‘trusted partners’.
“We said, ‘But this is the Mayo Clinic,’ [one] of the largest research laboratories in the United States, ” Joan said.
It was supposed to be the dream vacation for the Christiansons after an emotional 2020.
“We had a very stressful year,” Joan said. “My family has had many deaths, including my sister of 50 and my father.”
The journey turned into a nightmare, where they had more questions than answers.
“My COVID-19 test was from Walgreen’s lab where I sat in the car and pulled my own nose off and Hawaii accepted it,” Joan said. “My husband’s test was taken by a registered nurse in a hospital and yet it was denied as an unreliable partner.”
Hawaii does not offer testing to travelers. The only option for Grant was to sleep in the car overnight and then fly to Los Angeles the next morning for a test at the airport, because the hotel would not issue a key without proof that he had been cleaned. to stay.
They reached out to their state representative, Representative Dave Baker (R-Willmar), and said he was disappointed with how the Hawaiian authorities handled the situation.
“The most trusted partner in the world is Mayo Clinic, and how it does not form part of the reliable laboratory results is shocking to us,” he told FOX 9. “I understand to make sure people are safe, but [they could’ve] pick up the phone and ask the Mayo Clinic. You would think that there would be a better process to do this. ‘
A Minnesota Department of Health spokesman said in a statement to FOX 9 that he had heard the same reports and that they were “in touch with the Mayo Clinic and Hawaii government officials to see what can be done.”
In an email, a spokesman for Mayo Clinic Laboratories said: “As part of its COVID-19 protocol, the State of Hawaii requires all individuals who show up to test negative for SARS-CoV-2. As part of the specific rules and regulations of the state, specifically laboratories have been designated as’ reliable partners’. This status is granted on the basis of government documents, not the safety or quality of the tests. At present, Mayo Clinic Laboratories is not a ‘ trusted partner ‘status in Hawaii. We are constantly evaluating the different requirements for COVID-19 testing to ensure all patients have access to high quality tests. ”
As for Joan, she hopes to have her husband back on the island before Valentine’s Day. He plans to travel back to Hawaii after receiving the negative test result from a test site near LAX.
“The insanity is that we allow people from all over to be treated at the Mayo Clinic, but that is not accepted in Hawaii. I just made the assumption that the Mayo Clinic laboratory would be a reliable laboratory,” he said. Joan said. “This is our first time in 30 years. I can not convince him to come here again.”
A spokesman for Hawaii’s attorney general said by telephone that the only way to avoid the test requirement of his trusted partners is to apply for an exception online. If you do not have it, you must keep a strict quarantine, which means you are in your stay for ten days.