The Hawaii County Council members on Wednesday joined together in a unanimous show of support for banning travel to the state during this COVID-19 crisis. They joined the Mayors of City and County of Honolulu, Maui County and Kaua’i County in seeking such a ban, saying this is not the time to encourage nor allow visitors to come to the island. Although there is community spread now of COVID-19, most of the state’s cases are directly or indirectly related to off island travel.
The resolution urges President Donald Trump to issue a ban on all non-essential travel to the State of Hawai‘i until April 30, 2020, “to help reduce the COVID-19 infection rate and ease the burden on our already strained healthcare, housing, food, medicine, and dry goods resources.”
Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim has said he did not agree with such a request because shutting down the airlines would make it too difficult to restart the economy. But on Saturday, the State’s Director of Airports for both Kona and Hilo, Chauncey Wong Yuen, said there are only two airlines left flying into the Big Island, since most airlines have already stopped most flights.
On Wednesday, April 8, 3 flights landed in Kona and brought in 31 visitors, 34 residents, and 6 intended residents. That visitor count is far higher than previous days, and is a concern. County Council members have noted that some Vacation Rentals by Owner, no matter what ad platform they use, are touting Hawaii as a “place to ride out the quarantine,” and encouraging visits even in the face of COVID-19, and airline fares are low.
Governor David Ige has said in media briefings that he has talked with the F.A.A. and that there is no way to completely ban travel to the islands.
