On Monday, April 13, 164 visitors arrived in the state, despite the state’s 14-day quarantine for anybody coming into the state and Governor David Ige’s request that visitors not come to the state for now. No visitors arrived in Kona (there were no flights into Kona Airport), 5 arrived on Maui, 6 on Kaua’I, and 153 landed on O’ahu.
On Monday, both the State House and the State Senate held hearings with government officials, and one of the key issues was how the state was tracking arrivals and how the state might further deter visitors. Another issue raised with Gov. Ige’s Chief of Staff, Linda Chu Takayama, was why the Governor had not joined with the mayors of Maui, Kaua’i, and Honolulu to ask President Trump to halt non-essential travel to the state. Although Gov. Ige has said the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) said they will not halt flights to Kona, the Mayors want restrictions on visitors).
Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim halted vacation rentals as of April 13, and Kaua’i Mayor Derek Kawakami has also stopped vacation rentals. There are few hotels open for visitors.
State Senators are meeting today with Attorney General Clare Connors to find out what options exist to stem the visitor tide. Although there is now community spread, the initial and many current COVID-19 cases are travel-related. State legislators don’t want visitors to use Hawaii as their getaway spot during COVID-19 shutdowns and thus increase the possibility of more cases in the state.
Members of the Hawaii National Guard greet each passenger and do a temperature check and visit detail confirmation, and advise all arriving passengers of the quarantine rules.
This table does not show interisland travel.
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