LIHU‘E — Part of Gov. David Ige’s announcement to reopen August 1 included a point that travelers may bypass the state-mandated 14-day quarantine by showing proof of a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of landing.
Both Ige and Lieutenant Governor Josh Green talked of a partnership between the state and CVS Pharmacy.
The CVS Pharmacy Minute Clinic has over 1,400 testing locations in 32 states and Washington, D.C., offering zero cost coronavirus testing with rest results within a week, even at peak demand. CVS stipulates that one must be over 18 years old and a resident of that specific state to receive a test.
At a Monday press conference, a news reporter asked Ige how Hawai‘i residents returning home would receive the test. Ige acknowledged this testing requirement and suggested surveying travel and the risk involved with it rather than addressing the requirement.
“We are aware of that problem, but certainly when I was asked … I suggested that people not travel,” Ige said.
This is another barrier the state faces as it navigates reopening.
Yesterday, Kaua‘i Visitor Bureau Executive Director Sue Kanoho shared her insight to reopening the county during a webinar with the Kaua‘i Chamber of Commerce.
“Everybody’s concerned with the August 1 (reopening) date,” Kanoho said. “We are, too.”
Kanoho works with the Kaua‘i Emergency Management Agency and Mayor Derek Kawakami’s administration researching the most balanced ways to reopen by jump-starting the economy and keeping residents safe.
“We reevaluate it pretty much every day,” Kanoho said. The ever-changing situation makes announcing plans unfeasible. “I could have said something two weeks ago, it’s changing already.”
Prior to the pandemic, the island struggled with being inundated with tourists causing high traffic volumes in areas that lacked the infrastructure, whether that be roads or state parks.
Kanoho said this time without travelers can be used to restructure and implement new ideas that can be utilized in the future, like a travel shuttle and issuing park permits to non-residents.
In May, Kaua‘i had 571 Trans-Pacific visitors. This number doesn’t include the people who flew to O‘ahu first or inter-island visitors.
There are three direct flights from the West Coast, averaging between 30-50 people per flight, about half being returning residents. A mobile tracking system the state wanted to produce to track visitors has still not come to fruition, even nearly three weeks since kama‘aina travel has opened.
“We are at the bottom of the barrel of arrivals,” she said. “Even with opening August, if that’s going to happen, we’re not going to get it (tourists) in the droves.”
In the earlier phases of the pandemic, the tourism-geared committee of the Mayor’s Kaua‘i Economic Recovery Strategy Team suggested more protective screenings to ensure visitors were aware of quarantine rules as well as frequent check-ups.
Additionally, travelers are ushered through a roadblock at the Lihu‘e Airport with state National Guard members and Kaua‘i Police Department who explain the rules once again. With this, those who track quarantined visitors use a cross-checking process looking lists of visitors who have arrived from O‘ahu to Kaua‘i.
On Monday night, KPD officers arrested Texas resident Chris Coleman for violating the COVID-19 related rules, after checking into the Hilton Garden Inn. According to a preliminary investigation, on Monday, at approximately 9:30 p.m., Coleman requested that Hilton Garden Inn staff call a taxi for him. Hotel staff informed Coleman that they could not do that for him, and why. Coleman became belligerent with the staff, left his room and approached the hotel’s front desk employees demanding a taxi and making disparaging remarks toward them.
Kaua‘i police arrived at the hotel and Coleman was subsequently arrested for violating the COVID-19 quarantine requirement.
He is currently being held at cellblock on $1,000 bail and he could potentially face up to one year in prison and up to $5,000 in fines for violating the COVID-19 emergency rules.
Quarantine violations, like Coleman’s alleged actions, are a big concern for many Kaua‘i residents.
According to a Bank of Hawai‘i Foundation study conducted in May, about 44% of residents surveyed believed that it’ll take more than a year “for life to return to normal in Hawai‘i.”
“Everything keeps changing by the day,” Kanoho said.
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Sabrina Bodon, public safety and government reporter, can be reached at 245-0441 or sbodon@thegardenisland.com.
Over 99% of the people have mild or no symptoms. Will we be closing states next flu season?
I’m not sure how long the rest of the country will be willing and able to subsidize our wonderful isolation in paradise from this virus. I guess we will find out next month when the $600 a week handout is scheduled to end.
It might be a waste of money at this point trying to figure out how to regulate tourism with ideas like shuttles when we don’t even have any tourists, and the world economy may not support tourism for years to come.
If it takes a week to get test results a person has to either quarantine for that week or risk spreading or contracting the virus in the interim and then the test results would no longer be reliable. So the helpfulness of testing is very, very limited. And how would a traveler show a negative test within three days of arriving? If they were tested before traveling they could have been infected at any point after the test. They could be tested on arrival but they’d have to quarantine for a week. And we already have inadequate test processing capabilities which is why we have to wait a week for results.
It seems the governor is making rules with no clear way to actually make effective use of them. And it’s not only Governor Ige but the entire US government and other states as well. Only a coordinated national travel ban, lockdown and a real testing program with same-day results will effectively contain the coronavirus. All these inconsistent half-way measures just drag things out and it gets frustrating. And the economy can’t return to normal until the virus is contained. It just can’t, and wishful thinking won’t make it so.
The only thing that can change Fear, is your mind !
What is the purpose of government? Department of Health is overwhelmed with the task of keeping us healthy and safe during a pandemic. The Mayor has the responsibility of providing services to residents and visitors yet the mayor believes his responsibility is to police the kauai community. It is not the role of government to stop visitors and residents from engaging in business activities, the role of government is to provide services so we as tax paying adults that obey the laws can choose to go out to eat or to the beach if we get COVID 19 it is the governments duty and responsibility to provide the health services or any other service to get us healthier. The Mayor of Kauai is choosing special interest over public safety only certain businesses can operate and some cannot. Mayor Kawakami you wanted this job so provide the services Monday – Friday as we pay taxes for you to make sure those services are available. Sue should stop selling our aina as Kauai is not the bottom of the barrel, that comment shows how she feels about the aina as she is not born and raised in Hawai’i she comes from a tourist perspective.