Hawaii pushes forward with tourism despite safety concerns

HONOLULU (AP) — Despite increasing coronavirus cases across the U.S., Hawaii officials hope to reboot tourism next week by loosening months of economically crippling pandemic restrictions, including a mandatory 14-day quarantine for all arriving travelers.

The plan, which was postponed after the virus surged in the summer, will allow Hawaii-bound travelers who test negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours of their trip to sidestep two weeks of quarantine. But the Oct. 15 launch of the pre-travel testing program is causing concern for some who say gaps in the plan could further endanger a community still reeling from summer infection rates that spiked to 10% after local restrictions eased.

State Sen. Glenn Wakai, chair of the Committee on Economic Development, Tourism and Technology, said one problem is that the tests are not mandatory for all. Travelers can still choose to not get tested and quarantine for two weeks upon arrival, which means those with a negative test could get infected on the plane.

“They’re going to come here with this false sense of belief that, ‘Hey, I got tested, Hawaii, I’m clean. Here’s my paperwork. Let me enjoy my Hawaiian vacation,’ not knowing that the person in seat B on a five-hour flight gave them the coronavirus," Wakai said.

Hawaii has lived under quarantine laws for months, but hundreds — at times thousands — of people have arrived daily since the pandemic started. Some have flouted safety measures, leading to arrests and fines for the scofflaws.

Before the pandemic, the state received about 30,000 visitors per day.

If the islands face another coronavirus surge because of a hasty return to tourism, another lockdown could spell economic disaster, Wakai said.

He said the state has mismanaged the pandemic from the...