204 thoughts on “Breaking: Kauai Proposes Complete Travel Shutdown”
Doug M
This is distressing news that the Mayor of Kauai Derek Kawakami would resort to such Draconian measures just when our businesses here in Kauai are beginning to reopen (at high financial risk and cost). I work for one of the Major Airlines, and if this happens, you might as well forget about “direct” flights to and from the Mainland. All flights will come into and depart from Honolulu ( a major hassel!!). You need to give the Safe Travels Hawai’i a chance to work. It will work if we’re all mindful of each other, wearing a mask, socially distant, washings hands often, etc…
We own a Condo here, and just to get the COVID Test before we left the Mainland (@$139/person), to schedule it within the 72 hour window, was both nerve wracking and costly. People won’t come here, business will fail, people’s lively hood will be lost, then you’ll have worse problems. Protect the sickest, but the vast majority most people can and will recover!
Mayor Kawakami do not do this.
Sarah R
Hi Doug,
Kauai gave the safe travels program a chance to work…. and it isn’t working for Kauai to keep COVID from spreading as ours cases basically doubled in 5 weeks!
Even during the 14 day quarantine there were direct flights to Kauai from the mainland… and I expect that will remain the case if the Governor approves the request for Kauai to opt out of the safe travels program.
Sorry that you found travel as part of the safe travels program nerve wracking and costly but choosing to travel during a pandemic should come with risk and cost… it helps to discourage people from doing it 😉
Lynde C
Im sorry Sarah but Kauai has not given it a chance. It is not difficult to double your cases when at the moment this program started the number was 0. And I’m not stating 0 due to quarrantine since your island still had 20 cases from July-October. To think that this program would bring 0 cases is ridiculous and wasn’t even stated that way. It was stated this program was to start travel and economy up slowly with as little risk as possible. 1/2 the cases were travelers that hadn’t recieved their tests yet and that has been rectified starting yesterday. And that has not been given a shot.
Johnny M.
Fine! We’ll spend our $$ in Florida then!
ben.l
bye
BIP
Good, take it to tRump land!
Macie L
My son used Hawaiian Air’s Worksite Lab by LAX. Paid $90 and received test results in less than 20 hours (they guarantee results within 36 hours). He was one of their first customers on opening day so maybe he lucked out because they’renot backed up yet?? Not sure. Anyways after one lost Vault test and two cancelled AFC appointments because they ran out of rapid tests, my son is finally on his way! Big shout out to Hawaiian Air for helping their customers solve the testing issue. I will be forever grateful to them that my son will be able to join the rest of our family at our home in Kauai for Thanksgiving!
Kavika C
One word , 3 syllables :Poverty! Enjoy🤙
Benjamin W.
I agree ,we should shut it down until the Nation has a handle on the Covid situation,
Not only here but abroad.Let the vaccine do it’s job and then decide how to move forward.
Chris S
Boycott Hawaii until the Islands adopt a reasonable policy that makes it impossible for people to plan their vacations, or confines them to hotel rooms for the entirety of their stay! These policies have no basis in science. Should we ban driving because even one person dies in an accident?
Kavika C
Well said!! Life has daily risks! COVID is a minimal risk
Brice
Agreed. CDC data shows less then 10k people died in the US from COVID alone, but nobody reports that.
BIP
Wow what a leap you took from a virus to car deaths. No more leaps from you please.
Sarah R
Hi Chris,
Glad you are choosing to boycott the islands.
Kauai’s policies are based in science and data which is why they are asking to governor to opt out of the Safe Travels program because it isn’t proving safe. Yes there is risk in life but this decision wasn’t about the one death which is extremely sad but rather going back to the policy that was proven to prevent community spread and mitigate transfer if a person was infected as a result of travel.
Lynde C
It is not based on science & data, its based on fear. my brother is a biochemist in infectious diseases with papers written in scientific journals for covid and vaccine, and he thinks how Kauai mayor is handling this is a joke. You can have a positive test for up to 90days after having the virus but not contagious after 10. The mayor and governor did the right thing in requiring a negative test in-hand which should have been from the start. Out of the 58 with positive tests how many of those in contact that were traced actually contracted it? None that I have heard of or serached. 27 have been visitors and 21 have been residents. The other 10 cases have been residents who did not have any history of travel. Not only do they not have travel history, they had no history of being in contact with anyone that traveled. same with the elderly man who passed. Covid doesnt just appear out of thin air. There could have been asymptomatic people on island or people under the weather that just didnt test because everyone thought they were safe by locking travelers out and quarranting. Kauai has the lowest mask wearing percent at 73% a week ago. And their are plenty of health advisors that would state the opposite of Kauai’s health advisor. There is plenty of “science & data” to go either way depending on what you are argueing for, period.
Pam M
Please do not allow this Mayor to make decisions for Kauai and residents and Travelers….This will definitely put Kauai back in the sad place of No revenue and no jobs for residents!
Businesses have been closing right and left and now expect more and more if they limit travel to 14 day quarantine! This will crush the economy and put more and more folks in terrible situations financially and also emotionally! We are all worried but travel can be safe and one death is not any kind of measure to close down travel!
I have not been to my Kauai home in 11 months! I want to return to my second home for 27 yrs..We love the island and the folks…Be Safe everyone and Be Smart…
Sarah R
Hi Pam,
You are welcome to travel to your Kauai home at anytime, you just have to follow the county’s rules whether that be participating in the safe travels or doing the 14 day quarantine.
But if you feel that you don’t want to travel for whatever reason right now there are still able to support the island by making food bank donations or buying products from local business over the internet. Just a thought!
Nancy S.
Still one of the major issues on Kaua’i Is the wearing of masks by both tourists and locals.
Outdoor and indoor dining without masks is a super spreader event. See many restaurants with tables close together and no one wearing their masks.
Masks should be removed only when food has arrived and put on right after finishing meal.
James K
Arguments from both sides are appropriate coming with their own set of economic challenges. However, it is the health & welfare of Kauai that is paramount. It’s a tough situation Mayor Derrick is in, but that is his job. That said, could something in the middle work? A Travel plan requiring 2-tests and quarantine; the 1st, a required Neg. pre-arrival, a second 5-day post-arrival (free paid for by State’s Corona Virus Reserve Fund). A mandatory 7-day quarantine until 2nd test result prove Neg. If 2nd test is Positive, the 7-day turns into a 14-day quarantine. This could address issues on both side of this argument while maintaining the interest of Kauai 1st.
Sarah R
Hi James,
Thanks for your comment about the “A Travel plan requiring 2-tests and quarantine; the 1st, a required Neg. pre-arrival, a second 5-day post-arrival (free paid for by State’s Corona Virus Reserve Fund). A mandatory 7-day quarantine until 2nd test result prove Neg. If 2nd test is Positive, the 7-day turns into a 14-day quarantine”. This is actually very similar to the proposal Kauai’s Mayor sent to the Governor last week the major difference being that it was a 3 day quarantine in-between the two tests. Note the the Governor has chosen not to provide an approval to the program Kauai Emergency Rule #22 proposed which has caused Kauai’s mayor to send forward Emergency Rule #23 to governor for the temporary opt-out from the safe travel’s program.
I completely agree with you that a middle ground needs to be found for economy but also ensure that the causes on Kauai and other islands are kept under-control!
Sassy
Sorry, most tourists will not travel if they are required to quarantine, even for a short period. The cost of a trip to Hawaii is just way too expensive.
Russell G.
Aloha….On the Garden Island….does anyone know what the 14 day quarantine Hotels will be or currently are designated?
Mahalo….RJ
Beat of Hawaii
Hi Russell.
Any hotel will be fine. Just no vacation rentals.
Aloha.
Sassy
What about individuals traveling to see family? Are they allowed to quarantine at a relative’s home?
Kathy
What about individuals traveling to see family? Are they allowed to quarantine at a relative’s home?
Rich
Much is being made of ICU beds available. Luckily advances in medicine now result in far fewer infections requiring ICU, Intubations or indeed hospital attendance. However iN California and New York the military very quickly created ICU’s for the pandemic. There is substantial military presence on Oahu, the Big Island and Kauai. Could they not be deployed to set up an extra medical facility perhaps at Barking Sands or somewhere more adjacent to Wilcox. Not wishign to dramatize but the US Military has proved its excellence in doing this in other states on bigger scales. If this s an immediate concern, could the Governor not get medical support from the Services? Not of which stops the requirement that people follow the rules.
Roy H
I’m not sure putting returning Hawaiian’s into quarantine will help much of anything, that’s where they would go in the first place. The real problem is that they need to practice good rules for covid. We are enjoying the Big Island in some ways it’s reminiscent of Hawaii twenty years ago. There’s a good many Japanese tourist here, who do practice good rules for covid, wish I could say the same for some of the locals.
Jerry T
Only 11 ICU beds in Kauai! Stop the spread.
John G.
Does a negative COVID19 test allow me entry into Kauai on 12/02?
Beat of Hawaii
Hi John.
We don’t know yet. That is awaiting word from the governor.
Aloha.
John V
Kawakami has done nothing but whine and keep his hands in his pockets. While also pulling them out to stuff them with our emergency funding. He has not sought to increase our medical infrastructure this whole time and still pouts about us having only 9 ICU beds. There is huge embezzlement going on here in Kauai and a statewide audit should be done on these criminals. Yes, you are a criminal if you restrict people’s constitutional rights when they have not committed a crime. Yes, you are a criminal too if you took emergency funds and backdoor’d them into your own account or your “business partners”. I cant wait to see the rich priss asses have to fight us survivors over the last cans of spam. You think a virus can kill. Wait till you see the Natural order on Kauai take effect.
David B
“Kawakami has done nothing but whine and keep his hands in OUR pockets”
FIFY
John V
Kawakami has done nothing but whine and keep his hands in his pockets. While also pulling them out to stuff them with our emergency funding. He has not sought to increase our medical infrastructure this whole time and still pouts about us having only 9 ICU beds. There is huge embezzlement going on here in Kauai and a statewide audit should be done on these criminals. Yes, you are a criminal if you restrict people’s constitutional rights when they have not committed a crime. Yes, ypu are a criminal too if you took emergency funds and backdoor’d them into your own account or your “business partners”. I cant wait to see the rich priss asses have to fight us survivors over the last cans of spam. You think a virus can kill. Wait till you see the Natural order on Kauai take effect.
Owen P.
I know I’m on the outside looking in, but this seems a little alarmist. Hawaii as a whole is the only state in the nation with decreasing COVID rates, and the number of positive cases arriving is lower than expected at the beginning of the pre testing in October.
Isolating the island won’t do any good if people still have indoor dining, large gatherings and don’t wear masks and appropriately distance.
Please correct me if there’s something I’m not seeing here.
Bob
Darick
Wake up…
Your lil shutdown won’t stop nor qwell the virus.
The state was effectively shut down for almost a year & look where we are, ground zero again.
This is tide & Time nothing else…
Wake up and smell the covid, the idiot your asking for help cannot make simple decisions & looks to a Ouji board for answers.
Barbara M
This is from The Garden Island this morning (11/25). It is the reason why testing negative before getting on a plane is warranted. HOWEVER, it doesn’t say what the measurement is for those 14 cases – how many months of accumulated data? And it doesn’t say whether these were tourists or residents returning home.
“Kaua‘i now has a cumulative case count of 119, of which 104 are confirmed locally, one is a probable case, and 14 are positive cases that were diagnosed elsewhere — with tests taken on the mainland where the positive results did not arrive until they were on-island.”
Gabe J.
I support whatever is best for Kaua’i and Hawai’i as a whole.
Comments are closed.
Aloha!
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This is distressing news that the Mayor of Kauai Derek Kawakami would resort to such Draconian measures just when our businesses here in Kauai are beginning to reopen (at high financial risk and cost). I work for one of the Major Airlines, and if this happens, you might as well forget about “direct” flights to and from the Mainland. All flights will come into and depart from Honolulu ( a major hassel!!). You need to give the Safe Travels Hawai’i a chance to work. It will work if we’re all mindful of each other, wearing a mask, socially distant, washings hands often, etc…
We own a Condo here, and just to get the COVID Test before we left the Mainland (@$139/person), to schedule it within the 72 hour window, was both nerve wracking and costly. People won’t come here, business will fail, people’s lively hood will be lost, then you’ll have worse problems. Protect the sickest, but the vast majority most people can and will recover!
Mayor Kawakami do not do this.
Hi Doug,
Kauai gave the safe travels program a chance to work…. and it isn’t working for Kauai to keep COVID from spreading as ours cases basically doubled in 5 weeks!
Even during the 14 day quarantine there were direct flights to Kauai from the mainland… and I expect that will remain the case if the Governor approves the request for Kauai to opt out of the safe travels program.
Sorry that you found travel as part of the safe travels program nerve wracking and costly but choosing to travel during a pandemic should come with risk and cost… it helps to discourage people from doing it 😉
Im sorry Sarah but Kauai has not given it a chance. It is not difficult to double your cases when at the moment this program started the number was 0. And I’m not stating 0 due to quarrantine since your island still had 20 cases from July-October. To think that this program would bring 0 cases is ridiculous and wasn’t even stated that way. It was stated this program was to start travel and economy up slowly with as little risk as possible. 1/2 the cases were travelers that hadn’t recieved their tests yet and that has been rectified starting yesterday. And that has not been given a shot.
Fine! We’ll spend our $$ in Florida then!
bye
Good, take it to tRump land!
My son used Hawaiian Air’s Worksite Lab by LAX. Paid $90 and received test results in less than 20 hours (they guarantee results within 36 hours). He was one of their first customers on opening day so maybe he lucked out because they’renot backed up yet?? Not sure. Anyways after one lost Vault test and two cancelled AFC appointments because they ran out of rapid tests, my son is finally on his way! Big shout out to Hawaiian Air for helping their customers solve the testing issue. I will be forever grateful to them that my son will be able to join the rest of our family at our home in Kauai for Thanksgiving!
One word , 3 syllables :Poverty! Enjoy🤙
I agree ,we should shut it down until the Nation has a handle on the Covid situation,
Not only here but abroad.Let the vaccine do it’s job and then decide how to move forward.
Boycott Hawaii until the Islands adopt a reasonable policy that makes it impossible for people to plan their vacations, or confines them to hotel rooms for the entirety of their stay! These policies have no basis in science. Should we ban driving because even one person dies in an accident?
Well said!! Life has daily risks! COVID is a minimal risk
Agreed. CDC data shows less then 10k people died in the US from COVID alone, but nobody reports that.
Wow what a leap you took from a virus to car deaths. No more leaps from you please.
Hi Chris,
Glad you are choosing to boycott the islands.
Kauai’s policies are based in science and data which is why they are asking to governor to opt out of the Safe Travels program because it isn’t proving safe. Yes there is risk in life but this decision wasn’t about the one death which is extremely sad but rather going back to the policy that was proven to prevent community spread and mitigate transfer if a person was infected as a result of travel.
It is not based on science & data, its based on fear. my brother is a biochemist in infectious diseases with papers written in scientific journals for covid and vaccine, and he thinks how Kauai mayor is handling this is a joke. You can have a positive test for up to 90days after having the virus but not contagious after 10. The mayor and governor did the right thing in requiring a negative test in-hand which should have been from the start. Out of the 58 with positive tests how many of those in contact that were traced actually contracted it? None that I have heard of or serached. 27 have been visitors and 21 have been residents. The other 10 cases have been residents who did not have any history of travel. Not only do they not have travel history, they had no history of being in contact with anyone that traveled. same with the elderly man who passed. Covid doesnt just appear out of thin air. There could have been asymptomatic people on island or people under the weather that just didnt test because everyone thought they were safe by locking travelers out and quarranting. Kauai has the lowest mask wearing percent at 73% a week ago. And their are plenty of health advisors that would state the opposite of Kauai’s health advisor. There is plenty of “science & data” to go either way depending on what you are argueing for, period.
Please do not allow this Mayor to make decisions for Kauai and residents and Travelers….This will definitely put Kauai back in the sad place of No revenue and no jobs for residents!
Businesses have been closing right and left and now expect more and more if they limit travel to 14 day quarantine! This will crush the economy and put more and more folks in terrible situations financially and also emotionally! We are all worried but travel can be safe and one death is not any kind of measure to close down travel!
I have not been to my Kauai home in 11 months! I want to return to my second home for 27 yrs..We love the island and the folks…Be Safe everyone and Be Smart…
Hi Pam,
You are welcome to travel to your Kauai home at anytime, you just have to follow the county’s rules whether that be participating in the safe travels or doing the 14 day quarantine.
But if you feel that you don’t want to travel for whatever reason right now there are still able to support the island by making food bank donations or buying products from local business over the internet. Just a thought!
Still one of the major issues on Kaua’i Is the wearing of masks by both tourists and locals.
Outdoor and indoor dining without masks is a super spreader event. See many restaurants with tables close together and no one wearing their masks.
Masks should be removed only when food has arrived and put on right after finishing meal.
Arguments from both sides are appropriate coming with their own set of economic challenges. However, it is the health & welfare of Kauai that is paramount. It’s a tough situation Mayor Derrick is in, but that is his job. That said, could something in the middle work? A Travel plan requiring 2-tests and quarantine; the 1st, a required Neg. pre-arrival, a second 5-day post-arrival (free paid for by State’s Corona Virus Reserve Fund). A mandatory 7-day quarantine until 2nd test result prove Neg. If 2nd test is Positive, the 7-day turns into a 14-day quarantine. This could address issues on both side of this argument while maintaining the interest of Kauai 1st.
Hi James,
Thanks for your comment about the “A Travel plan requiring 2-tests and quarantine; the 1st, a required Neg. pre-arrival, a second 5-day post-arrival (free paid for by State’s Corona Virus Reserve Fund). A mandatory 7-day quarantine until 2nd test result prove Neg. If 2nd test is Positive, the 7-day turns into a 14-day quarantine”. This is actually very similar to the proposal Kauai’s Mayor sent to the Governor last week the major difference being that it was a 3 day quarantine in-between the two tests. Note the the Governor has chosen not to provide an approval to the program Kauai Emergency Rule #22 proposed which has caused Kauai’s mayor to send forward Emergency Rule #23 to governor for the temporary opt-out from the safe travel’s program.
I completely agree with you that a middle ground needs to be found for economy but also ensure that the causes on Kauai and other islands are kept under-control!
Sorry, most tourists will not travel if they are required to quarantine, even for a short period. The cost of a trip to Hawaii is just way too expensive.
Aloha….On the Garden Island….does anyone know what the 14 day quarantine Hotels will be or currently are designated?
Mahalo….RJ
Hi Russell.
Any hotel will be fine. Just no vacation rentals.
Aloha.
What about individuals traveling to see family? Are they allowed to quarantine at a relative’s home?
What about individuals traveling to see family? Are they allowed to quarantine at a relative’s home?
Much is being made of ICU beds available. Luckily advances in medicine now result in far fewer infections requiring ICU, Intubations or indeed hospital attendance. However iN California and New York the military very quickly created ICU’s for the pandemic. There is substantial military presence on Oahu, the Big Island and Kauai. Could they not be deployed to set up an extra medical facility perhaps at Barking Sands or somewhere more adjacent to Wilcox. Not wishign to dramatize but the US Military has proved its excellence in doing this in other states on bigger scales. If this s an immediate concern, could the Governor not get medical support from the Services? Not of which stops the requirement that people follow the rules.
I’m not sure putting returning Hawaiian’s into quarantine will help much of anything, that’s where they would go in the first place. The real problem is that they need to practice good rules for covid. We are enjoying the Big Island in some ways it’s reminiscent of Hawaii twenty years ago. There’s a good many Japanese tourist here, who do practice good rules for covid, wish I could say the same for some of the locals.
Only 11 ICU beds in Kauai! Stop the spread.
Does a negative COVID19 test allow me entry into Kauai on 12/02?
Hi John.
We don’t know yet. That is awaiting word from the governor.
Aloha.
Kawakami has done nothing but whine and keep his hands in his pockets. While also pulling them out to stuff them with our emergency funding. He has not sought to increase our medical infrastructure this whole time and still pouts about us having only 9 ICU beds. There is huge embezzlement going on here in Kauai and a statewide audit should be done on these criminals. Yes, you are a criminal if you restrict people’s constitutional rights when they have not committed a crime. Yes, you are a criminal too if you took emergency funds and backdoor’d them into your own account or your “business partners”. I cant wait to see the rich priss asses have to fight us survivors over the last cans of spam. You think a virus can kill. Wait till you see the Natural order on Kauai take effect.
“Kawakami has done nothing but whine and keep his hands in OUR pockets”
FIFY
Kawakami has done nothing but whine and keep his hands in his pockets. While also pulling them out to stuff them with our emergency funding. He has not sought to increase our medical infrastructure this whole time and still pouts about us having only 9 ICU beds. There is huge embezzlement going on here in Kauai and a statewide audit should be done on these criminals. Yes, you are a criminal if you restrict people’s constitutional rights when they have not committed a crime. Yes, ypu are a criminal too if you took emergency funds and backdoor’d them into your own account or your “business partners”. I cant wait to see the rich priss asses have to fight us survivors over the last cans of spam. You think a virus can kill. Wait till you see the Natural order on Kauai take effect.
I know I’m on the outside looking in, but this seems a little alarmist. Hawaii as a whole is the only state in the nation with decreasing COVID rates, and the number of positive cases arriving is lower than expected at the beginning of the pre testing in October.
Isolating the island won’t do any good if people still have indoor dining, large gatherings and don’t wear masks and appropriately distance.
Please correct me if there’s something I’m not seeing here.
Darick
Wake up…
Your lil shutdown won’t stop nor qwell the virus.
The state was effectively shut down for almost a year & look where we are, ground zero again.
This is tide & Time nothing else…
Wake up and smell the covid, the idiot your asking for help cannot make simple decisions & looks to a Ouji board for answers.
This is from The Garden Island this morning (11/25). It is the reason why testing negative before getting on a plane is warranted. HOWEVER, it doesn’t say what the measurement is for those 14 cases – how many months of accumulated data? And it doesn’t say whether these were tourists or residents returning home.
“Kaua‘i now has a cumulative case count of 119, of which 104 are confirmed locally, one is a probable case, and 14 are positive cases that were diagnosed elsewhere — with tests taken on the mainland where the positive results did not arrive until they were on-island.”
I support whatever is best for Kaua’i and Hawai’i as a whole.