101 thoughts on “As Heads Roll + No Hawaii Travel In Sight, Now What?”
Bill S
Wow, and I thought we had a mess in California. Hope someone takes charge soon, or as one comment said, we may not see travel well into 2021.
Take Care all
Aloha
Bill
Like most of us on this site we cancelled our 2020 plans…at this point I have diminishing confidence that travel in 2021 would be realistic…hope for the best but Hawaiian government officials seem to be “slow walking” any reopening plans (are there any plans in the pipeline?) well into 2021…then it will take months for the island to ramp up and manage the new arrival restrictions (whatever they may be)…bottom-line, things look grim for Hawaii travel well into 2021…I hope I’m wrong and pray that the good people of Hawaii will survive this economic calamity. Aloha.
Given that Hawaii has a huge percentage of the population supported by tourism – how have they been managing financially in general since most everything is shut down? I would imagine that there are a lot of people with bills building up, not much to do, and overwhelming frustration with no end in sight. The emotional toll must be so difficult…
Here is the issue… shutting down does not work! It has been proven over and over again with this Covid19. Is there a state that didn’t have an ‘outbreak” after reopening? It’s a virus, it does exactly what all viruses do! Open up or deal with financial ruin… safeguard the elderly and those at risk and move on…open!
The lack of a clear plan and inconsistent execution will put the state of Hawaii back 50 years. The absurd and just stupid government decisions are just another example of how inept Hawaii’s leaders are
Aloha Jeff and Rob, and Mahalo for keeping us informed about the progress (or lack thereof) of tourism in Hawaii.
Unfortunately, until the airlines begin to take a greater interest in making sure air travel is safe, tourism anywhere
is risky for the general public. In order to ensure that someone is negative for the virus (nCOVID19), not only would
we need a negative test to enter Hawaii, but the airlines would need to demand that anyone entering the cabin has
proof that they are negative as well. No point in testing negative, then getting on a plane with even one COVID19 carrier.
Again, Mahalo for your time and information.
Hawai’i is in trouble now, and it will get much worse if tourism doesn’t open up soon. Thanks to the idiots in charge Maui Memorial Hospital is the single biggest cluster of COVID on Maui. Tax revenues are way down but no government employees have been furloughed. Insane. There are COVID-trained bomb-sniffing dogs that are over 95% accurate even in people with no symptoms. Test everyone for COVID and send all infected to Oahu. Screen all incoming passengers. Maui, Kaui and Big Island become premium vacation destinations for all US citizens. Otherwise all of this State goes broke.
Great, idea, unfortunately COVID sniffing dogs aren’t ready for prime time yet. I think that the rapid tests that are begoming available might be a better solution for testing people as they arrive.
Any source for that claim about COVID-sniffing dogs for people with no symptoms?
Here’s the reality:
First, a *few* dogs (very few, maybe a dozen or so) have actually been trained worldwide. But they do NOT detect COVID itself. The dogs recognize the smells that people with the illness make, not the virus itself, which doesn’t have a smell. As your body works to fight the virus, it releases what researchers call “volatile organic compounds”—and smells differ depending on the specific ailment. So if your body hasn’t yet ramped up to fight the disease, the dogs won’t detect it.
Second, it’s quite the process to train dogs to sniff out cases of COVID-19, and it’s basically impossible to do unless you have a research lab and considerable equipment at your disposal. To train dogs, researchers must first safely collect samples from people—their saliva, sweat, or urine—and test them for COVID-19. Then, researchers treat samples to render the virus inactive to make sure no dogs are exposed. Samples are then placed in special containers for the dog to sniff. (Source: Slate, Aug. 6. No big breakthroughs have been reported since then).
So no, there aren’t many dogs available and no, they can’t just smell people as they get off the plane and have any chance at all of high accuracy.
People are really getting desperate looking for magic bullets and the sad fact is that there aren’t any.
My husband volunteered to come as an RN when the word came out more help was needed. We come from NY LI, where virus rates are low.
We never received a call to come and help. FyI.
And we have come annually anyway for 30 years, so this was by no means a way to vacation in Hawaii. It was a gesture of help and support for the locals who have been fabulous to us for years.
No call!
Hawaii has the worst restaurant recovery rate of any city in the United States. You can see the effects of this on Open Table. Seated diners from online, phone, and walk-in reservations are are down 97%, year over year and the trend is getting worse, not better.
It’s not the President , It is the states government elected officials that control the COVID response.
The Federal government gave the guidelines , leaving it up to the states to open up following those guidelines. Each states interprets those guidelines based on their states response to The Wuhan virus.
Look at South Dakota , they have never closed.
Don’t blame the President, blame your own elected official and Health department advisor to the Governor or Mayors.
Hawai’i: 53 COVID deaths per million population.
South Dakota: 191 COVID deaths per million population. Nearly 4x the death rate. And Sturgis appears to have created more.
SD is not a model for HI to follow.
It’s so funny how people love to bring in all sorts of other states as supposed models, and all those states are doing so much worse in terms of results.
You’re right Dave but anyone who makes a point of calling it the “Wuhan” virus loses me from taking them too serious anyway.
Google the owner of the Philadelphia Eagles response to America’s handling of this. Agree or not you can’t deny the points he makes
nor cringe at anyone in America pointing fingers at anyone else…..so sad in “Trumps America” we have failed in so many ways.
We are horribly divided, shockingly ineffective given all the resources we have and so many people are suffering because of it.
We’ll overcome, but it’s taking way longer then it should have.
As Heads Roll + No Hawaii Travel In Sight, Now What?
Answer: More of the same.
Most if not all who’ve been fired are Governor appointed positions. The same Governor will now get to appoint new party cronies to these cherry high paying positions.
Also if you know anything about state government you don’t fire your pals. Instead they get to retire collect a fat pension, some will take a private sector lobbyist job or move to a low tax mainland state.
This week I picked up 2 new customers both recent transplants from Hawaii both nurses. They relayed to us that because of low pay, high cost of living including housing and poor working conditions nurses are fleeing Hawaii.
Now I’m reading about nursing shortages on Hawaii that’s not a good thing during covid crisis.
Thank you for keeping us informed on the Hawai’i travel situation. Today I watched a video of Waikiki filmed today and it looks like a ghost town , the stores are boarded up and no cars or people on the street . October 1 may just be another opening date that comes and then Is extended further. It will take hotels and restaurants and stores a month to get ready to open . Tourism will take a long time to recover . If the light rail project is any indication of the ability to manage things i would say TheHawai’i travel industry is in for quite a shock .
Oct 1 is the date when airlines can lay off employees and cancel routes. The US economy will suffer greatly when this starts. The tourism industry will also suffer. Hotels may fail, Airlines may fail, etc. Plus the highly contagious, fatal to some virus will still be with us. Politics have ruined the opportunity to return to normal. Americans cannot leave the country. Visitors are not the problem, the problem is that the virus is out of control everywhere in the US. It has effected all Americans. I live in Hawaii and it’s not normal here. Not even close.
The virus is out of control in many parts of the US because too many people wanted business as usual. And, since each state (and in some cases, counties and cities) was free to make up its own rules, we’ve been playing whack-a-mole. Countries that took a nationwide approach with nationwide restrictions *immediately* were able to get the virus under control. NZ, Vietnam (yep, Vietnam), ROK, for example. But the US is full of people who won’t cooperate and have tried to pretend that the virus was somehow a political issue. So now Americans can’t go to Japan or Europe (and maybe other places) because, basically, as a group we’re not to be trusted. Rather than blame HI, maybe we should be blaming all the states and localities that refused to take action, and all the selfish, irresponsible covidiots who are running around spreading the disease (Look at me on Instagram! Here I am in Hawai’i, breaking the rules! Aren’t I cool and clever?)
Why can’t Ige see that the islands will go bankrupt if he doesn’t open things up on October 1st? Is he this blind and stupid treating the people who voted him into office the way he is? All they need to do is have people traveling over to Hawaii is get a negative test 72 hours before traveling over to the islands. They can also be tested again if they are on the islands longer than 10 days. Why can’t Ige see this is he this blind or doesn’t care that the islands go broke and will never be able to get themselves out of the hole he’s putting the people in.
This sounds like the herd immunity approach that the Presidents unqualified advisor is currently pushing. Just some quick numbers for you here. In order to reach herd immunity, roughly 70% of the population needs to get infected. So if we JUST take Hawaii, with a population of about 1.3 million that means about 900K people will have to be infected. Ignoring the fact that if that happens too quickly the health services in Hawaii will be overwhelmed, AND ignoring the fact that out of the 900K about 1/2 or 450K will get symptoms (i.e. feel sick), and out of THAT roughly 20% or 90K will end up in the ICU or otherwise REALLY sick. If JUST focus on the deaths and we assume a 1% death rate, that means about 9,000 people will die. Is that something that you are willing to accept. Is it OK if your loved ones are part of all that?
Hawaii is doomed. Whereever democrats are incharge everything is a mess. Is seems that the voters don’t understand (better not say that they are dumb) and keep voting them in to office. Time to cross Hawaii off the list of vacation destinations and look elsewhere.
I think the more appropriate question here is: Who is the Governor of Hawaii? Another good one would be: Which party has been in control of Hawaii fro the last 50 years?
Oh, those evil Democrats! Everything is always all their fault. Amazing how life has gone on for so long in Hawai’i, California, and other Dem-run states.
BTW, HI is supposedly Democrat but most of what goes on there sure looks like GOP policies in practice. I exclude COVID issues because it is not and should not be a political issue.
Sick people can’t work and don’t consume. Nor do dead people. Just open up and let ‘er rip is a formula for disaster. People really need to go back and look what what things were like in NYC or NJ in the early days of pandemic, when people were dying like flies because of delays in shutting down restaurants, etc. That is not what HI wants or needs.
Pssst Ron, the “I hate Democrat’s” MAGA. hat tourists are the one’s we miss the least……this isn’t a playground for white people,
it’s a melting pot of all kinds of people that make it special. The one’s that don’t see that are the one’s that always bad mouth Hawaii
and never see the beauty of the Islands.
Hawaii and what makes it special is still here, when it does open up it will be all the more special. Adversity builds strength, I’m seeing
plenty of examples of local businesses innovating to survive. Many people are helping others when they can and Hawaii will survive and be stronger.
..and for the record I’m NOT defending our current leaders, it’s the people of Hawaii that will survive in spite of them.
Why has the infection rate suddenly surged so much in spite of an arrival quarantine in place since March? Something isn’t working; and no one can blame the surge on inbound travelers. It’s either a failure to mask, or a failure to social distance, probably both. Dare say I that the 14-day quarantine requirement is redundant and a waste of Hawaii’s financial and human resources? It completely undermines and demoralizes tourism. Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. Don’t kill off the patient to eradicate the disease. Do away with the born-again Safe Travels app, do away with the quarantine. Welcome back visitors, BUT double efforts to require masking, social distancing and contact tracing. Increase availability of C19 testing. Mahalo for NOT tar and feathering me for making this post.
My wife and I thinking about visiting our son in Kapolei in Oct. We are both 73 are worried about covid 19. Given what is going on in Hawaii should be concerned? We stay at his house don’t venture out much.
Please watch Mel Rapozo and Charlie Iona on FB M-Sa at 7 pm for conversations with doctors, legislators, and others concerning/relating to the pandemic. Last night Josh Green expresses optimism about opening sooner rather than later because cheap tests are coming soon. Past videos are on Mel’s YouTube page.
So, yeah, though the state and counties refuse to actually accept or acknowledge their guilt and complicity in the complete and utter failure that has so far been Hawaii’s COVID19 response, we can certainly piece it together from the tea leaves on the side of the cup. And that’s a huge part of the problem STILL–continued denial and complete lack of accountability at the highest levels of state and county government. Which leads to the obvious question: Is there NO ONE–in the ENTIRE State of Hawaii bureaucracy–that is competent? The virus has simply exposed the extreme incompetence and unprofessionalism of one or two key departments–but surely the rot is obvious from top to bottom. (The so-called light rail project is a prime example as well.)
And that begs the question–if everyone at the top “resigns”, gets fired–or is allowed to retire in shame and guilt–who is left to run things? The governor is clearly one of the least competent members of the current administration–but how do we get HIM out of office if he won’t go quietly himself?
I was hiking along the Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail near Kawaihae last night with a woman who works at the 4 Seasons Resort and she said something like “I think the islands will be reopened to tourism by December 1 and I’ll be able to go back to work,” and I replied (incredulously)–“Really? Based on what? There’s no testing system in place and new cases have been surging for weeks–what makes you think any of that is going to change in the next 60 days???” She–and apparently the government as well–has this idea that things are going to magically change for the better on their own. But change can’t happen without competent PEOPLE–doing competent things. And we simply do have any competent people working for the State of Hawaii right now.
I told her what I’ve told everyone else: tourism will not return to Hawaii and the state will not “re-open” without a vaccine. Period. Which means sometime in 2021. Maybe.
Another issue to come up soon is higher property taxes for those who own and rent out their condo. On Maui you pay 4 to 5 times more to Maui County in property taxes if you rent unit out during the year compared to it being owner occupied. As we get closer to end of year, property owners can appeal to have a different tax classification. Why pay the higher tax rate if you can not rent out your unit? Just asking.
Wait, there is no mandatory mask policy in Hawaii? We will be waiting for a very, very long time for travel to return to Hawaii if people are not doing the basic things to decrease the spread of Covid 19.
I wonder what it would cost to hire PM, Jacinda Ardern of NZ to come over and fix us. Look forward to seeing if anyone in the Hawaii government has reached out to Abbot labs regarding the $5, 15 minute test that will work similarly to a pregnancy test.
It seems as though the entire state government is being run by high school Junior Achievement students. No real leadership anywhere. Even when a vaccine is ready, it will be years before COVID it may be eliminated. That’s the nature of the beast. We all must learn and plan accordingly. Hawai’i can not hide from it forever. New leadership at every level is needed there to open the economy and have the situation under control. So sad right now. Nevada economy is booming with great leadership. Hawai’i could take note.
WOW guys! That’s a lotta people leaving.
Can’t say I’m upset about it. Nope, I’m not.
Maybe now we can get some semblance of intelligent people who can do a good job!
Keep up the great info.
Mahalo and Aloha to you!🌺
Thanks for another succinct but maddening summary of the current situation. Seeing all of the many missteps and incompetence laid out so clearly makes me wonder if the current administration can ever get this mess straightened out.
Looking at the home page for the “Safe Travels Hawaii” website does not inspire confidence either. After watching the short (and lame) video I chose not to create an account yet.
It appears one must input the travel dates and personal information to complete the online form. Can the trip details be modified if needed? The airlines are canceling and changing flights constantly these days.
The website just launched yesterday and we’d concur it seems rudimentary at this point. Good point on needing to be able to make changes and there was just no information about how it works.
I filled out the safe hawaii form for a trip in may and Alaskan cancelled my flight so i couldnt go. then safe hawaii started sending me nagging/threatening messages that i wasn’t checking in daily to confirm i was in quarantine, even though i never went to hawaii. there was no place on the form/site to say my trip was cancelled. finally I just emailed every email address i could find and finally a person answered who demanded proof that my flight had been cancelled. after I sent her a copy of my cancellation notification email from alaskan, she deleted my entire safe hawaii account like it never existed, and i stopped getting messages. what if I hadn’t saved that alaskan email, or if alaskan hadn’t cancelled and i had just decided not to go? or if alaskan had cancelled my flight but I had got on another flight? they hadn’t provided for those possibilities.
Aloha! Holy Cow! How is the virus spreading when Hawaii is effectively still in a lock-down and travel freeze? You have to isolate the vulnerable, let free the healthy and let the virus run its course, like all viruses do since man came into existence. Build temporary hospitals to support hospitalizations if needed (most people recover with mild symptoms unless co-morditities of obesity and/or diabetes- my brother in law runs a local Californian hospital so I know real data, not fake data), open up the economy, save what little is left of Hawaii’s tourism & reputation. Let those who wish to go to Hawaii, GO with common-sense testing protocols in place; allow people to CHOOSE to FREELY visit Hawaii or not. Those who are literally scared to death of dying will not come….My fear is that we coming upon October-February the typical seasonal flu season and COVID data will be screwed up again (on 8/26/20 CDC changed, again the guidelines for reporting) and used to keep SOME States in a perpetual lock-down mode- at least till after the election-LOL
Thanks Beat of Hawaii for keeping us up on the news…my family wants to come for Christmas but until this state gets it together and actually tries to help its suffering citizens we will not…and we will not be quarantined, nor isolated in a Pandemic Pod resort
See, that’s the problem, you read something written by someone’s brother who flunked high school science class and lives in his mother’s basement and since it gives you what you want, you ignore the experts and vote for the “hey, let’s open up now so I can get what I want” plan instead. What you are suggesting is similar to what they tried in Sweden, and that was a miserable failure. It’s a PANDEMIC, sorry that’s inconvenient for your travel plans.
Don’t get me wrong, I think that the state government of Hawaii has dropped the ball. Testing, contact tracing, and mask-wearing, along with only opening up slowly as the level of virus spread go down are the only approach that has been shown to work. Even then, it’s a constant battle to not let things get out of control, so when outbreaks happen targeted lockdown will need to be used to get things back under control. That’s a pain, and it’s going to inconvenience a LOT of people, but it’s the only way to be successful. Hawaii’s inability to get testing and contact tracing in place is the root of the issue in regards to the continued spread in the islands. They need to fix that ASAP.
It’s not just about keeping those coming to the State of Hawaii safe, but about keeping the residents safe. There are kupuna (elderly) and more isolated areas of the Islands that would be in serious jeopardy if even one traveler to our Islands with COVID came and potentially exposed them directly or indirectly. Given how quickly the virus spreads and how long surfaces can remain contaminated that increases the concern
Regarding how it’s spreading, our Islands have seen several that thought their vacation was more important than obeying quarantine rules. Some residents have also had to travel, both inter-island and to the Mainland, which evidently has also resulted in some of the spread as well.
Thank you so very much for the timely updates. I so hope that things get better sooner than later. My mother in law just turned 90 and it is so hard for us living on the mainland while she lives in Oahu.
What do thank you for your continued attention you put on the COVID-19 situation and travel with way your updates to me arevery valuable.
Having lived on Oahu for 11years your emails and website or a key source of information for me. I appreciate it very much thank you keep up the good work!!!
Hawaii is a sad case. They complain about the tourists, even though their dollars are a vital component to the islands’ financial health. Then a pandemic hits, and the tourists are kicked out. Now their economy is suffering, as well as their COVID numbers, and there are no tourists to blame for the uptick. Travelers are eager to return, but many are growing weary. It makes me wonder whether or not they’ll return quickly enough to right the situation. Be careful what you wish for. On the positive side, your coral reefs should be flourishing. Mahalo.
Nope- look at the facts! Some RED states are fully opened and they’re moving on. I live in a Blue state and it’s a disaster😡 we can’t recall governor Newsom Grusom fast enough! I live in OC California and our Covid death numbers are low; and that’s with faulty data because my brother-in-law runs a hospital, and his sister is chief of staff of nursing for two major hospitals so I know the real data. My neighbors are losing their businesses, kids are in depression with lack of social supports & sports , suicides are up, the child abuse hotline is burning up, real people are dying (not of Covid)because they put off medical procedures and are now filling up the hospitals for things they postponed because they were afraid of dying (see my resources above)- the cumulative destruction and despair is WAY bigger than Covid casualties… Trump & Pence left it to the STATES to control/ manage closing, opening and re-opening. Turn off the main stream media, do your own research and become a critical thinker.
Ok, so this is getting beyond the Hawaii discussion, so I’ll just say this. First, I live in California too, and the problem here is that Newsome let himself get pushed into opening up before we were ready (some of the counties just plain refused to follow the rules) and that was the reason that we had such a big spike in July. If he had followed the plan I mentioned in my original post, we too would be in a better place. As for the blue vs. red state discussion you seem to want to have I won’t play. A big part of the reason that the US has such a miserable response to COVID in the first place is that we have politicized our response to the pandemic unlike most of the rest of the world and it sounds like Hawaii is no exception to that.
Very well put, Joerg and based in fact, not “what I heard from my family members and I know the “data”. Another poster’s comments smack of conspiracy theory. The numbers are public for people to see.
This is a terrible pandemic with far reaching results. Effects we won’t realize for years to come. If we had real leadership from the very top (President Trump) and a leader who didn’t make fun, minimize, spread crazy ideas about a NOVEL (ie new, unknown) coronavirus from the very beginning and make it political, we would be in a very different spot.
Aloha Nita, thank you for your post. OC resident here! I think we know what is really going on here. More government money for HI. “Hawaii is set to receive nearly $200 million in federal unemployment assistance to help residents economically affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Monday.” Source: Pacific Business News.
Two weeks without shipping containers to HI and it turns into Lord of the Flies. Wearing a mask and social distancing for a while so people can go back to work is looking pretty good, isn’t it. Aloha!
It doesn’t seem like they are in any hurry and don’t care if tourists will ever return. For those of us who own timeshares and pay our high maintenance fees a year in advice are being cheated. They take our money but we rack up useless points. When I bought my timeshare in Oahu years ago I wanted to vacation in Hawaii, not Las Vegas or Florida.
Yep, same here. It stinks big time. Especially when the City and County of Hawaii is charging us property taxes at the hotel/resort rate. I’ve written them, emailed them and they don’t respond. I’ve been told that only lawsuits in Hawaii get any attention.
Alfred, I feel the same way. Perhaps a lawsuit will help motivate them to act. The other issue is how, we, owners of Short Term Rental properties are supposed to deal with Resort Bubble that we have not beach front property ? how are the controls going to take place? I may be mistaken but I don’t see anyone acting on our behalf. It has been 6 month without rentals and we need to pay for full price property tax.
Mahalo for keeping us updated.
With all the uncertainty regarding covid-19, we need to start moving forward and realize that this virus will be with us for the duration with little light at the end of the tunnel.
It is unfair to keep us hostage without a foreseeable future, and feel a need to maintain some form of normalcy.
Wonder if the timeshare maintenance fees will be lower in a year? Very few salaries to pay, no wear + tear on the bedding + linens, very low utilities as no one is around.
I’ll keep dreamin’ – right !
So sad…..Hawaii was on par with NZ in May. Could have put this behind us. Near as I can see petty politics and inability
for our leaders to act as adults are the reason we haven’t put this behind us. Josh Green should have been in charge and we would have this thing licked. But the mayor will be running against him for Governor and Ige apparently felt threatened by Josh’s competence…..early on Ige removed him from his oversight position but quickly backpedaled. Josh is an ER Doctor and was not used to his full potential for the reasons above…politics. Anyway, that’s my take.
People are dying and business’s are failing because of this…… the White House isn’t the only swamp killing us with pettiness and vindictive behavior.
and make no mistake about it, personal responsibility had a hand, the anti mask people as well as the large gatherings did this
however leadership is crucial and that’s were the buck stops.
I also wonder how much of the current outbreak is due to mainlanders coming to Hawaii and ignoring the mandatory quarantine. Kauai doesn’t seem to have had a huge outbreak but they seem to be doing a good job policing the quarantine. That said, I am not in Hawaii so can’t say this definitely but it makes sense to me.
Wow, and I thought we had a mess in California. Hope someone takes charge soon, or as one comment said, we may not see travel well into 2021.
Take Care all
Aloha
Bill
Hi Bill.
Thanks.
Aloha.
Like most of us on this site we cancelled our 2020 plans…at this point I have diminishing confidence that travel in 2021 would be realistic…hope for the best but Hawaiian government officials seem to be “slow walking” any reopening plans (are there any plans in the pipeline?) well into 2021…then it will take months for the island to ramp up and manage the new arrival restrictions (whatever they may be)…bottom-line, things look grim for Hawaii travel well into 2021…I hope I’m wrong and pray that the good people of Hawaii will survive this economic calamity. Aloha.
Hi Phillip.
Thanks for your comments.
Aloha.
Given that Hawaii has a huge percentage of the population supported by tourism – how have they been managing financially in general since most everything is shut down? I would imagine that there are a lot of people with bills building up, not much to do, and overwhelming frustration with no end in sight. The emotional toll must be so difficult…
Here is the issue… shutting down does not work! It has been proven over and over again with this Covid19. Is there a state that didn’t have an ‘outbreak” after reopening? It’s a virus, it does exactly what all viruses do! Open up or deal with financial ruin… safeguard the elderly and those at risk and move on…open!
The lack of a clear plan and inconsistent execution will put the state of Hawaii back 50 years. The absurd and just stupid government decisions are just another example of how inept Hawaii’s leaders are
the lack of a clear plan from the top is ruining our entire nation
My son lives on Oahu. If I visit on 10/03 can I stay at his house for my 14 day quarantine?
Thanks for answers
Hi Randy.
Yes, you can quarantine at his house.
Aloha.
As in Oklahoma? Big change from Hawaii.
Aloha Jeff and Rob, and Mahalo for keeping us informed about the progress (or lack thereof) of tourism in Hawaii.
Unfortunately, until the airlines begin to take a greater interest in making sure air travel is safe, tourism anywhere
is risky for the general public. In order to ensure that someone is negative for the virus (nCOVID19), not only would
we need a negative test to enter Hawaii, but the airlines would need to demand that anyone entering the cabin has
proof that they are negative as well. No point in testing negative, then getting on a plane with even one COVID19 carrier.
Again, Mahalo for your time and information.
Hi Dayna.
Thank you.
Aloha.
Blame the folks who are selfish and inconsiderate of the rest of us. You can pick them out of a crowd. No masks, no social distancing.
Hawai’i is in trouble now, and it will get much worse if tourism doesn’t open up soon. Thanks to the idiots in charge Maui Memorial Hospital is the single biggest cluster of COVID on Maui. Tax revenues are way down but no government employees have been furloughed. Insane. There are COVID-trained bomb-sniffing dogs that are over 95% accurate even in people with no symptoms. Test everyone for COVID and send all infected to Oahu. Screen all incoming passengers. Maui, Kaui and Big Island become premium vacation destinations for all US citizens. Otherwise all of this State goes broke.
Great, idea, unfortunately COVID sniffing dogs aren’t ready for prime time yet. I think that the rapid tests that are begoming available might be a better solution for testing people as they arrive.
Any source for that claim about COVID-sniffing dogs for people with no symptoms?
Here’s the reality:
First, a *few* dogs (very few, maybe a dozen or so) have actually been trained worldwide. But they do NOT detect COVID itself. The dogs recognize the smells that people with the illness make, not the virus itself, which doesn’t have a smell. As your body works to fight the virus, it releases what researchers call “volatile organic compounds”—and smells differ depending on the specific ailment. So if your body hasn’t yet ramped up to fight the disease, the dogs won’t detect it.
Second, it’s quite the process to train dogs to sniff out cases of COVID-19, and it’s basically impossible to do unless you have a research lab and considerable equipment at your disposal. To train dogs, researchers must first safely collect samples from people—their saliva, sweat, or urine—and test them for COVID-19. Then, researchers treat samples to render the virus inactive to make sure no dogs are exposed. Samples are then placed in special containers for the dog to sniff. (Source: Slate, Aug. 6. No big breakthroughs have been reported since then).
So no, there aren’t many dogs available and no, they can’t just smell people as they get off the plane and have any chance at all of high accuracy.
People are really getting desperate looking for magic bullets and the sad fact is that there aren’t any.
My husband volunteered to come as an RN when the word came out more help was needed. We come from NY LI, where virus rates are low.
We never received a call to come and help. FyI.
And we have come annually anyway for 30 years, so this was by no means a way to vacation in Hawaii. It was a gesture of help and support for the locals who have been fabulous to us for years.
No call!
Who votes for Tulsa? I would genuinely like to know
Hawaii has the worst restaurant recovery rate of any city in the United States. You can see the effects of this on Open Table. Seated diners from online, phone, and walk-in reservations are are down 97%, year over year and the trend is getting worse, not better.
It’s not the President , It is the states government elected officials that control the COVID response.
The Federal government gave the guidelines , leaving it up to the states to open up following those guidelines. Each states interprets those guidelines based on their states response to The Wuhan virus.
Look at South Dakota , they have never closed.
Don’t blame the President, blame your own elected official and Health department advisor to the Governor or Mayors.
Hawai’i: 53 COVID deaths per million population.
South Dakota: 191 COVID deaths per million population. Nearly 4x the death rate. And Sturgis appears to have created more.
SD is not a model for HI to follow.
It’s so funny how people love to bring in all sorts of other states as supposed models, and all those states are doing so much worse in terms of results.
You’re right Dave but anyone who makes a point of calling it the “Wuhan” virus loses me from taking them too serious anyway.
Google the owner of the Philadelphia Eagles response to America’s handling of this. Agree or not you can’t deny the points he makes
nor cringe at anyone in America pointing fingers at anyone else…..so sad in “Trumps America” we have failed in so many ways.
We are horribly divided, shockingly ineffective given all the resources we have and so many people are suffering because of it.
We’ll overcome, but it’s taking way longer then it should have.
As Heads Roll + No Hawaii Travel In Sight, Now What?
Answer: More of the same.
Most if not all who’ve been fired are Governor appointed positions. The same Governor will now get to appoint new party cronies to these cherry high paying positions.
Also if you know anything about state government you don’t fire your pals. Instead they get to retire collect a fat pension, some will take a private sector lobbyist job or move to a low tax mainland state.
This week I picked up 2 new customers both recent transplants from Hawaii both nurses. They relayed to us that because of low pay, high cost of living including housing and poor working conditions nurses are fleeing Hawaii.
Now I’m reading about nursing shortages on Hawaii that’s not a good thing during covid crisis.
Thank you for keeping us informed on the Hawai’i travel situation. Today I watched a video of Waikiki filmed today and it looks like a ghost town , the stores are boarded up and no cars or people on the street . October 1 may just be another opening date that comes and then Is extended further. It will take hotels and restaurants and stores a month to get ready to open . Tourism will take a long time to recover . If the light rail project is any indication of the ability to manage things i would say TheHawai’i travel industry is in for quite a shock .
Hi Tim.
Thanks.
Aloha.
Oct 1 is the date when airlines can lay off employees and cancel routes. The US economy will suffer greatly when this starts. The tourism industry will also suffer. Hotels may fail, Airlines may fail, etc. Plus the highly contagious, fatal to some virus will still be with us. Politics have ruined the opportunity to return to normal. Americans cannot leave the country. Visitors are not the problem, the problem is that the virus is out of control everywhere in the US. It has effected all Americans. I live in Hawaii and it’s not normal here. Not even close.
The virus is out of control in many parts of the US because too many people wanted business as usual. And, since each state (and in some cases, counties and cities) was free to make up its own rules, we’ve been playing whack-a-mole. Countries that took a nationwide approach with nationwide restrictions *immediately* were able to get the virus under control. NZ, Vietnam (yep, Vietnam), ROK, for example. But the US is full of people who won’t cooperate and have tried to pretend that the virus was somehow a political issue. So now Americans can’t go to Japan or Europe (and maybe other places) because, basically, as a group we’re not to be trusted. Rather than blame HI, maybe we should be blaming all the states and localities that refused to take action, and all the selfish, irresponsible covidiots who are running around spreading the disease (Look at me on Instagram! Here I am in Hawai’i, breaking the rules! Aren’t I cool and clever?)
Right on!
Truly a very ugly affair. Mahalo for the info Guys.
Hi Roy.
Thanks for your comments.
Aloha.
Why can’t Ige see that the islands will go bankrupt if he doesn’t open things up on October 1st? Is he this blind and stupid treating the people who voted him into office the way he is? All they need to do is have people traveling over to Hawaii is get a negative test 72 hours before traveling over to the islands. They can also be tested again if they are on the islands longer than 10 days. Why can’t Ige see this is he this blind or doesn’t care that the islands go broke and will never be able to get themselves out of the hole he’s putting the people in.
This sounds like the herd immunity approach that the Presidents unqualified advisor is currently pushing. Just some quick numbers for you here. In order to reach herd immunity, roughly 70% of the population needs to get infected. So if we JUST take Hawaii, with a population of about 1.3 million that means about 900K people will have to be infected. Ignoring the fact that if that happens too quickly the health services in Hawaii will be overwhelmed, AND ignoring the fact that out of the 900K about 1/2 or 450K will get symptoms (i.e. feel sick), and out of THAT roughly 20% or 90K will end up in the ICU or otherwise REALLY sick. If JUST focus on the deaths and we assume a 1% death rate, that means about 9,000 people will die. Is that something that you are willing to accept. Is it OK if your loved ones are part of all that?
Hawaii is doomed. Whereever democrats are incharge everything is a mess. Is seems that the voters don’t understand (better not say that they are dumb) and keep voting them in to office. Time to cross Hawaii off the list of vacation destinations and look elsewhere.
And who is President?
I think the more appropriate question here is: Who is the Governor of Hawaii? Another good one would be: Which party has been in control of Hawaii fro the last 50 years?
Covid has been around 50 years? Divert much?
LMAO yes covid is a virus but Covid19 has only been around since 2019. Hello
Amen, Bob!
Oh, those evil Democrats! Everything is always all their fault. Amazing how life has gone on for so long in Hawai’i, California, and other Dem-run states.
BTW, HI is supposedly Democrat but most of what goes on there sure looks like GOP policies in practice. I exclude COVID issues because it is not and should not be a political issue.
Sick people can’t work and don’t consume. Nor do dead people. Just open up and let ‘er rip is a formula for disaster. People really need to go back and look what what things were like in NYC or NJ in the early days of pandemic, when people were dying like flies because of delays in shutting down restaurants, etc. That is not what HI wants or needs.
Pssst Ron, the “I hate Democrat’s” MAGA. hat tourists are the one’s we miss the least……this isn’t a playground for white people,
it’s a melting pot of all kinds of people that make it special. The one’s that don’t see that are the one’s that always bad mouth Hawaii
and never see the beauty of the Islands.
Hawaii and what makes it special is still here, when it does open up it will be all the more special. Adversity builds strength, I’m seeing
plenty of examples of local businesses innovating to survive. Many people are helping others when they can and Hawaii will survive and be stronger.
..and for the record I’m NOT defending our current leaders, it’s the people of Hawaii that will survive in spite of them.
Why has the infection rate suddenly surged so much in spite of an arrival quarantine in place since March? Something isn’t working; and no one can blame the surge on inbound travelers. It’s either a failure to mask, or a failure to social distance, probably both. Dare say I that the 14-day quarantine requirement is redundant and a waste of Hawaii’s financial and human resources? It completely undermines and demoralizes tourism. Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. Don’t kill off the patient to eradicate the disease. Do away with the born-again Safe Travels app, do away with the quarantine. Welcome back visitors, BUT double efforts to require masking, social distancing and contact tracing. Increase availability of C19 testing. Mahalo for NOT tar and feathering me for making this post.
Hi Jon.
Thanks.
Aloha.
My wife and I thinking about visiting our son in Kapolei in Oct. We are both 73 are worried about covid 19. Given what is going on in Hawaii should be concerned? We stay at his house don’t venture out much.
Please watch Mel Rapozo and Charlie Iona on FB M-Sa at 7 pm for conversations with doctors, legislators, and others concerning/relating to the pandemic. Last night Josh Green expresses optimism about opening sooner rather than later because cheap tests are coming soon. Past videos are on Mel’s YouTube page.
So, yeah, though the state and counties refuse to actually accept or acknowledge their guilt and complicity in the complete and utter failure that has so far been Hawaii’s COVID19 response, we can certainly piece it together from the tea leaves on the side of the cup. And that’s a huge part of the problem STILL–continued denial and complete lack of accountability at the highest levels of state and county government. Which leads to the obvious question: Is there NO ONE–in the ENTIRE State of Hawaii bureaucracy–that is competent? The virus has simply exposed the extreme incompetence and unprofessionalism of one or two key departments–but surely the rot is obvious from top to bottom. (The so-called light rail project is a prime example as well.)
And that begs the question–if everyone at the top “resigns”, gets fired–or is allowed to retire in shame and guilt–who is left to run things? The governor is clearly one of the least competent members of the current administration–but how do we get HIM out of office if he won’t go quietly himself?
I was hiking along the Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail near Kawaihae last night with a woman who works at the 4 Seasons Resort and she said something like “I think the islands will be reopened to tourism by December 1 and I’ll be able to go back to work,” and I replied (incredulously)–“Really? Based on what? There’s no testing system in place and new cases have been surging for weeks–what makes you think any of that is going to change in the next 60 days???” She–and apparently the government as well–has this idea that things are going to magically change for the better on their own. But change can’t happen without competent PEOPLE–doing competent things. And we simply do have any competent people working for the State of Hawaii right now.
I told her what I’ve told everyone else: tourism will not return to Hawaii and the state will not “re-open” without a vaccine. Period. Which means sometime in 2021. Maybe.
This is not the fault of the POTUS. Very narrow minded to think that.
Dick L.
Another issue to come up soon is higher property taxes for those who own and rent out their condo. On Maui you pay 4 to 5 times more to Maui County in property taxes if you rent unit out during the year compared to it being owner occupied. As we get closer to end of year, property owners can appeal to have a different tax classification. Why pay the higher tax rate if you can not rent out your unit? Just asking.
Covid isn’t going anywhere. Is Hawaii going to stay closed for ever?
Who even cares any more?
Wait, there is no mandatory mask policy in Hawaii? We will be waiting for a very, very long time for travel to return to Hawaii if people are not doing the basic things to decrease the spread of Covid 19.
Yes, we do have mandatory mask policies here.
I wonder what it would cost to hire PM, Jacinda Ardern of NZ to come over and fix us. Look forward to seeing if anyone in the Hawaii government has reached out to Abbot labs regarding the $5, 15 minute test that will work similarly to a pregnancy test.
She would fail miserably. too many people in this country are too selfish to do what needs to be done and what they did in NZ.
Josh Green referred to this quick cheap test last night on Mel and Charlie show.
It seems as though the entire state government is being run by high school Junior Achievement students. No real leadership anywhere. Even when a vaccine is ready, it will be years before COVID it may be eliminated. That’s the nature of the beast. We all must learn and plan accordingly. Hawai’i can not hide from it forever. New leadership at every level is needed there to open the economy and have the situation under control. So sad right now. Nevada economy is booming with great leadership. Hawai’i could take note.
WOW guys! That’s a lotta people leaving.
Can’t say I’m upset about it. Nope, I’m not.
Maybe now we can get some semblance of intelligent people who can do a good job!
Keep up the great info.
Mahalo and Aloha to you!🌺
Hi Pam.
Thank you.
Aloha.
Thanks for another succinct but maddening summary of the current situation. Seeing all of the many missteps and incompetence laid out so clearly makes me wonder if the current administration can ever get this mess straightened out.
Looking at the home page for the “Safe Travels Hawaii” website does not inspire confidence either. After watching the short (and lame) video I chose not to create an account yet.
It appears one must input the travel dates and personal information to complete the online form. Can the trip details be modified if needed? The airlines are canceling and changing flights constantly these days.
Hi Mike.
The website just launched yesterday and we’d concur it seems rudimentary at this point. Good point on needing to be able to make changes and there was just no information about how it works.
Aloha.
I filled out the safe hawaii form for a trip in may and Alaskan cancelled my flight so i couldnt go. then safe hawaii started sending me nagging/threatening messages that i wasn’t checking in daily to confirm i was in quarantine, even though i never went to hawaii. there was no place on the form/site to say my trip was cancelled. finally I just emailed every email address i could find and finally a person answered who demanded proof that my flight had been cancelled. after I sent her a copy of my cancellation notification email from alaskan, she deleted my entire safe hawaii account like it never existed, and i stopped getting messages. what if I hadn’t saved that alaskan email, or if alaskan hadn’t cancelled and i had just decided not to go? or if alaskan had cancelled my flight but I had got on another flight? they hadn’t provided for those possibilities.
I just registered. It is simple to make changes. It appears to be purposed exclusively for covid management.
Aloha! Holy Cow! How is the virus spreading when Hawaii is effectively still in a lock-down and travel freeze? You have to isolate the vulnerable, let free the healthy and let the virus run its course, like all viruses do since man came into existence. Build temporary hospitals to support hospitalizations if needed (most people recover with mild symptoms unless co-morditities of obesity and/or diabetes- my brother in law runs a local Californian hospital so I know real data, not fake data), open up the economy, save what little is left of Hawaii’s tourism & reputation. Let those who wish to go to Hawaii, GO with common-sense testing protocols in place; allow people to CHOOSE to FREELY visit Hawaii or not. Those who are literally scared to death of dying will not come….My fear is that we coming upon October-February the typical seasonal flu season and COVID data will be screwed up again (on 8/26/20 CDC changed, again the guidelines for reporting) and used to keep SOME States in a perpetual lock-down mode- at least till after the election-LOL
Thanks Beat of Hawaii for keeping us up on the news…my family wants to come for Christmas but until this state gets it together and actually tries to help its suffering citizens we will not…and we will not be quarantined, nor isolated in a Pandemic Pod resort
Hi Nita.
Thanks.
Aloha.
See, that’s the problem, you read something written by someone’s brother who flunked high school science class and lives in his mother’s basement and since it gives you what you want, you ignore the experts and vote for the “hey, let’s open up now so I can get what I want” plan instead. What you are suggesting is similar to what they tried in Sweden, and that was a miserable failure. It’s a PANDEMIC, sorry that’s inconvenient for your travel plans.
Don’t get me wrong, I think that the state government of Hawaii has dropped the ball. Testing, contact tracing, and mask-wearing, along with only opening up slowly as the level of virus spread go down are the only approach that has been shown to work. Even then, it’s a constant battle to not let things get out of control, so when outbreaks happen targeted lockdown will need to be used to get things back under control. That’s a pain, and it’s going to inconvenience a LOT of people, but it’s the only way to be successful. Hawaii’s inability to get testing and contact tracing in place is the root of the issue in regards to the continued spread in the islands. They need to fix that ASAP.
It’s not just about keeping those coming to the State of Hawaii safe, but about keeping the residents safe. There are kupuna (elderly) and more isolated areas of the Islands that would be in serious jeopardy if even one traveler to our Islands with COVID came and potentially exposed them directly or indirectly. Given how quickly the virus spreads and how long surfaces can remain contaminated that increases the concern
Regarding how it’s spreading, our Islands have seen several that thought their vacation was more important than obeying quarantine rules. Some residents have also had to travel, both inter-island and to the Mainland, which evidently has also resulted in some of the spread as well.
Exactly! You should be in charge:)
CVS needs to start selling cigarettes again. Make dem relax, brah! Mahalo.
Hi Mike.
Need levity. Thanks.
Aloha.
Thank you so very much for the timely updates. I so hope that things get better sooner than later. My mother in law just turned 90 and it is so hard for us living on the mainland while she lives in Oahu.
Hi Ann.
Thank you.
Aloha.
What do thank you for your continued attention you put on the COVID-19 situation and travel with way your updates to me arevery valuable.
Having lived on Oahu for 11years your emails and website or a key source of information for me. I appreciate it very much thank you keep up the good work!!!
Hi Gary.
Thanks very much.
Aloha.
Hawaii is a sad case. They complain about the tourists, even though their dollars are a vital component to the islands’ financial health. Then a pandemic hits, and the tourists are kicked out. Now their economy is suffering, as well as their COVID numbers, and there are no tourists to blame for the uptick. Travelers are eager to return, but many are growing weary. It makes me wonder whether or not they’ll return quickly enough to right the situation. Be careful what you wish for. On the positive side, your coral reefs should be flourishing. Mahalo.
Hi Debby.
Thanks.
Aloha.
Trump Pence 2020 = Covid Failure
Nope- look at the facts! Some RED states are fully opened and they’re moving on. I live in a Blue state and it’s a disaster😡 we can’t recall governor Newsom Grusom fast enough! I live in OC California and our Covid death numbers are low; and that’s with faulty data because my brother-in-law runs a hospital, and his sister is chief of staff of nursing for two major hospitals so I know the real data. My neighbors are losing their businesses, kids are in depression with lack of social supports & sports , suicides are up, the child abuse hotline is burning up, real people are dying (not of Covid)because they put off medical procedures and are now filling up the hospitals for things they postponed because they were afraid of dying (see my resources above)- the cumulative destruction and despair is WAY bigger than Covid casualties… Trump & Pence left it to the STATES to control/ manage closing, opening and re-opening. Turn off the main stream media, do your own research and become a critical thinker.
Ok, so this is getting beyond the Hawaii discussion, so I’ll just say this. First, I live in California too, and the problem here is that Newsome let himself get pushed into opening up before we were ready (some of the counties just plain refused to follow the rules) and that was the reason that we had such a big spike in July. If he had followed the plan I mentioned in my original post, we too would be in a better place. As for the blue vs. red state discussion you seem to want to have I won’t play. A big part of the reason that the US has such a miserable response to COVID in the first place is that we have politicized our response to the pandemic unlike most of the rest of the world and it sounds like Hawaii is no exception to that.
Very well put, Joerg and based in fact, not “what I heard from my family members and I know the “data”. Another poster’s comments smack of conspiracy theory. The numbers are public for people to see.
This is a terrible pandemic with far reaching results. Effects we won’t realize for years to come. If we had real leadership from the very top (President Trump) and a leader who didn’t make fun, minimize, spread crazy ideas about a NOVEL (ie new, unknown) coronavirus from the very beginning and make it political, we would be in a very different spot.
Go Nita! Well said!
Aloha Nita, thank you for your post. OC resident here! I think we know what is really going on here. More government money for HI. “Hawaii is set to receive nearly $200 million in federal unemployment assistance to help residents economically affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Monday.” Source: Pacific Business News.
Two weeks without shipping containers to HI and it turns into Lord of the Flies. Wearing a mask and social distancing for a while so people can go back to work is looking pretty good, isn’t it. Aloha!
It doesn’t seem like they are in any hurry and don’t care if tourists will ever return. For those of us who own timeshares and pay our high maintenance fees a year in advice are being cheated. They take our money but we rack up useless points. When I bought my timeshare in Oahu years ago I wanted to vacation in Hawaii, not Las Vegas or Florida.
I am paying a mortgage on a small condo in Kona that I am unable to rent through Airbnb. I feel your pain.
Yep, same here. It stinks big time. Especially when the City and County of Hawaii is charging us property taxes at the hotel/resort rate. I’ve written them, emailed them and they don’t respond. I’ve been told that only lawsuits in Hawaii get any attention.
Alfred, I feel the same way. Perhaps a lawsuit will help motivate them to act. The other issue is how, we, owners of Short Term Rental properties are supposed to deal with Resort Bubble that we have not beach front property ? how are the controls going to take place? I may be mistaken but I don’t see anyone acting on our behalf. It has been 6 month without rentals and we need to pay for full price property tax.
Mahalo for keeping us updated.
Hi Elena.
Thanks.
Aloha.
With all the uncertainty regarding covid-19, we need to start moving forward and realize that this virus will be with us for the duration with little light at the end of the tunnel.
It is unfair to keep us hostage without a foreseeable future, and feel a need to maintain some form of normalcy.
Wonder if the timeshare maintenance fees will be lower in a year? Very few salaries to pay, no wear + tear on the bedding + linens, very low utilities as no one is around.
I’ll keep dreamin’ – right !
I often have those thoughts as well but then I wake up.
So sad…..Hawaii was on par with NZ in May. Could have put this behind us. Near as I can see petty politics and inability
for our leaders to act as adults are the reason we haven’t put this behind us. Josh Green should have been in charge and we would have this thing licked. But the mayor will be running against him for Governor and Ige apparently felt threatened by Josh’s competence…..early on Ige removed him from his oversight position but quickly backpedaled. Josh is an ER Doctor and was not used to his full potential for the reasons above…politics. Anyway, that’s my take.
People are dying and business’s are failing because of this…… the White House isn’t the only swamp killing us with pettiness and vindictive behavior.
and make no mistake about it, personal responsibility had a hand, the anti mask people as well as the large gatherings did this
however leadership is crucial and that’s were the buck stops.
Well Said JohnW!
And when did the leader say – anyone who wants a test can get one?
I also wonder how much of the current outbreak is due to mainlanders coming to Hawaii and ignoring the mandatory quarantine. Kauai doesn’t seem to have had a huge outbreak but they seem to be doing a good job policing the quarantine. That said, I am not in Hawaii so can’t say this definitely but it makes sense to me.