Hawaii Gets Tourism Surge As Coronavirus Rules Loosen Up

HONOLULU (AP) — Tourists are traveling to Hawaii in larger numbers than officials anticipated, and many are wandering around Waikiki without masks, despite a statewide mandate to wear them in public.

Hawaii’s “Safe Travels” program reported that about 28,000 people flew into and throughout the islands on Saturday, the highest number of travelers in a single day since the pandemic began, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Monday.

Before the pandemic, Hawaii had about 30,000 arrivals daily. When quarantine rules were put in place early in the pandemic, arrivals plummeted and the state’s tourism-dependent economy tanked.

In October, state officials launched a pre-travel testing program that allowed visitors to sidestep quarantine rules. But travel remained sluggish until the second week in March, when spring break tourists started arriving in the islands.

Travel company Pleasant Holidays president and CEO Jack Richards told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that the agency’s bookings increased 30% over the last two weeks.

“We haven’t seen travel demand for Hawaii this strong for over a year,” Richards said. “I thought we would have a U-shaped recovery; it’s V-shaped. January and February were terrible, but we’ve gone from zero to 150 mph in two weeks.”

Hawaii News Now reported that officials are receiving complaints about visitors not wearing masks. With a few exceptions, people in Hawaii are still required to wear masks while in public.

“I’m a believer that if you’re outdoors, you can remove it,” said Glenn Day, a visitor from Indiana.

Visitors said rules in their home states are different than those in place in Hawaii.

“We carry our masks around and if we walk into an establishment we’ll wear one, and if people look like they’re uncomfortable with us around, we’ll put one on. But otherwise, like I said where we come from, people are really not required to wear them,” Wisconsin visitor Larry Dopke said.

“I’m not wearing one right now, I’m outdoors,” said Todd Hasley who was visiting from Idaho. “Boise city has an indoor mask mandate. The rest of the state has a mask recommendation.”

Some lawmakers expressed concern about a possible backlash from residents.
“
I think we’re all going to have to be prepared for a potential surge in tourism,” said Hawaii state Rep. Scott Saiki, a Democrat. “I think we have to be prepared because the public may have a response to a sudden surge.”

Such a reaction could hinder economic recovery.

“Pushing back against tourism is the same thing as telling your neighbor they shouldn’t have a job,” said Carl Bonham, executive director of the University of Hawaii’s Economic Research Organization.

Hawaii requires all visitors and returning residents to get negative pre-travel COVID-19 tests before flying to the state to be exempt from the 10-day quarantine rule.

The island of Kauai has additional measures that will be in place until April 5. All visitors to Kauai must either spend three days on another island or quarantine at a county-approved resort for three days and then get second, post-arrival tests.

Violating the state’s coronavirus mandates, which are outlined in Hawaii Gov. David Ige’s latest emergency proclamation, is a misdemeanor that is punishable by up to a $5,000 fine, a year in prison, or both.

Each island county’s police are responsible for enforcing the rules. Messages from The Associated Press seeking comment from the Honolulu Police Department regarding enforcement of mask rules in Waikiki was not immediately returned.

Tim Sakahara, a spokesman for Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi, said in an email that the city recently put up banners throughout Waikiki reminding people to wear masks and remain socially distanced.

“These banners provide a tool to help Honolulu Police officers do their jobs in gaining compliance with COVID-19 rules,” Sakahara said. “The majority of residents and visitors are compliant with the rule or are cooperative when informed of it.”

However, some residents have also opposed wearing masks. Two people were arrested and two others were cited during a weekend anti-mask rally in Waikiki.
Hawaii has had among the lowest rates of confirmed coronavirus infections in the U.S.

Mostly Virus-Free Kauai Hit By Pandemic After Travel Resumes

HONOLULU (AP) — On Hawaii’s rural island of Kauai, where sprawling white sand beaches and dramatic seaside mountains attract visitors from around the world, local residents spent the first seven months of the pandemic sheltered from the viral storm. Early and aggressive local measures coupled with a strictly enforced statewide travel quarantine kept Kauai’s 72,000 residents mostly healthy — the island had only 61 known coronavirus cases from March through September. But on Oct. 15, the state launched a pre-travel testing program to reignite Hawaii’s decimated tourism economy. Kauai then went from having no active infections at all in the first part of October to at least 84 new cases in the ensuing seven weeks. The surge seeded community transmission and led to the island’s first — and so far only — COVID-19 death: Ron Clark, who worked for decades as a tour driver.

Despite Hawaii’s cautious effort at reopening that allowed travelers who tested negative for COVID-19 before they flew to the state to sidestep quarantine rules, the Kauai spike illustrates the difficulty of preserving public health — even on an isolated island — when economic recovery relies on travel. Kauai officials have decided the cost of vacationing in paradise, for now, is too high. Clark got COVID-19 in November and died about 10 days later. At age 84, he worked until he contracted the disease and most recently shuttled airline pilots and crew to and from the airport. Airline crews are exempt from the state’s testing and quarantine rules. The day after Clark’s death, Kauai officials said they would opt out of the state’s testing program and require visitors to again quarantine for two weeks whether or not they test negative for COVID-19 before arriving.

Kauai officials say the single-test scheme did not do enough to protect the people who live there. With only nine ICU beds and 14 ventilators, the island’s health care system could quickly become overwhelmed by a large outbreak, said Kauai Mayor Derek Kawakami. Seeking to prevent such a scenario, Kawakami proposed a mandatory second test for all passengers after arrival. His plan would have included a short quarantine while people awaited their second result. “We think having a negative test is a good prerequisite to getting on a plane,” Kawakami said. But “once you land on Kauai ... (travelers) should be able to sit and cool off for three days.” But the proposal was turned down by state officials, with Democratic Gov. David Ige saying the plan would have to be locally funded and administered. After the Kauai surge, the state Department of Health traced most of the island’s October and November cases to returning residents and tourists who brought the virus in despite the pre-flight testing program. JoAnn Yukimura, a former Kauai mayor and friend of Ron Clark’s for more than three decades, said his death shook the community and that she constantly thinks “of him being alone at the hospital. ... How lonely it must have been to die.” “Ron’s death might seem to outsiders like such a small matter,” Yukimura said. But it “hit us hard because we on Kauai haven’t become inured to death and sickness — and we don’t ever want to get that way.”

Before the pandemic, Hawaii welcomed about 30,000 tourists daily who spent nearly $18 billion last year. In March, when the state’s two-week quarantine rule was imposed, tourist arrivals and revenue plummeted. Visitor numbers have since increased with the testing program, but only to about a third of pre-pandemic levels. On Kauai, 57-year-old Edwin Pascua has been unemployed from his hotel bellhop job since March and worries about having contact with infected travelers — but would rather be working. “If there are safeguards in place, that would lessen everything,” he said. “I wouldn’t be as afraid.” Pascua and his wife, who works at the same hotel, have gotten by with unemployment benefits but he knows people who “haven’t even gotten a check yet, one check from unemployment.” Despite the new infection surge and record deaths on the U.S. mainland, top Hawaii officials insist that the pre-travel testing program works. “The proof is in the pudding,” Hawaii Lt. Gov. Josh Green said. “Hawaii has the lowest rate of COVID in the country because of this program right now.” Hawaii enjoys relatively low hospitalization and death rates, but health experts said because of the way COVID-19 accumulates in the body over time, second tests for travelers would weed out more infection.

Dr. Kapono Chong-Hanssen, a Native Hawaiian physician who runs a Kauai community health center, said the single test requirement “goes against the medical evidence.” “We’re starting to see these big holes in the plan and I think it’s a matter of time before we pay the price,” he said. There have been more than 380 travel-related infections in Hawaii since the testing program was launched, according to the state health department. The real number of infections among the general population is believed to be far higher than what has been reported. Many asymptomatic people, who can still spread the disease, do not get tested. Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the school of public health at Brown University, said travel restrictions for most places at this point in the pandemic are “either counter-productive or relatively useless” and can give a false sense of security.

“There is evidence that international travel bans are helpful at slowing things down,” Jha said. But “unless you seal your country off completely and do it early, it’s pretty tough to use that as a strategy.” Kauai, isolated by the ocean and largely protected by early restrictions, had done just that. When the original quarantine rule was in effect, Kauai residents went to restaurants, schools were open and locals spent their money in the community. That might happen again with Kauai’s reinstatement of the quarantine rule amid hopes by locals that the community will remain healthy. Travel “introduces a continuous stream of new infections,” said Dr. Janet Berreman, Kauai’s officer for the state health department. “This tsunami, if you will, of disease,” she said, “has marched across the mainland, from east to west. We’re just a little farther west across a body of water. But everybody wants to come here for the holidays.” ___ Associated Press writer David Koenig in Dallas contributed to this repor

Kauai Businesses Using Deep Discounts To Attract Customers

LIHUE, Hawaii (AP) — Businesses on Kauai are offering large discounts to lure back customers after a near complete end to tourist visits to the Hawaiian island since the coronavirus outbreak in the spring.

The businesses are providing the discounts as a gesture to residents who also have felt the economic impact of lost visitors, The Garden Island reported Thursday.

No out-of-state travelers flew into Lihue Airport July 13, while only 2,533 people arrived in the state during a period when the Hawaii Tourism Authority said there were 35,000 arrivals last year.

Kauai businesses have offered discounts on products and services including horseback tours, shave ice and wedding ceremonies.

Some of the discount offers are posted on the Kauai Visitors Bureau website. The site was relaunched recently after Democratic Gov. David Ige approved the restoration of inter-island travel, visitor bureau Executive Director Sue Kanoho said in an email.

Donna Hunt, business manager of Silver Falls Ranch in Kilauea, said there have been 750 bookings for horseback-riding tours using a 60% to 70% discount.

“Three-fourths of our guests have been Kauai people,” Hunt said.

Daniel Soule, owner of Fresh Shave in Kalaheo, said offering a discount on flavored shave ice is a reminder for residents to “come out even during uncertain times.”

Joyful-Ceremonies and Weddings now offers 25% off beach wedding ceremonies through the end of the year.

Owner Dale Rosenfeld said 99% of her business normally comes from tourists and the discount is meant as a goodwill gesture to the community, where she said health should come before profits.

“I’m not in a hurry to see the island open even though the economy is devastating,” Rosenfeld said.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. But for some — especially older adults and people with existing health problems — it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.