State officials and others are pushing on with a controversial concept for restarting Hawaii tourism.
159 thoughts on “Hawaii Travel Bubble, Testing, & Tracking: Acceptable, Legal, Useful?”
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State officials and others are pushing on with a controversial concept for restarting Hawaii tourism.
Comments are closed.
If Hawaii decides to allow a foreign country access to the island but not fellow US citizens , they will NEVER NEVER recover ! What s shameful insult to fellow citizens on the mainland ! The overwhelming majority of your fellow citizens will follow the rules and even willingly take temperatures if required . You’re ruining honeymoons, family vacations and last trips before a person dies. Shame on you. Your own fellow citizens !! Japan over US citizens in the US state of Hawaii ? Outrageous. Unforgivable and unfair .
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Hawaii’s unemployment rate has historically been low, hovering around 2.7% between Nov 2019 and March 2020. Due to the Coronavirus, April 2020’s rate was 22.3%. Because of the continued business hardships, especially among small businesses, weekly unemployment claims jumped by almost 80,000 from the end of April to mid-May. (https://labor.hawaii.gov/rs/files/2020/01/WC2020.pdf) With a quarter of the population unemployed, Gov Ige cannot continue to close down the state and disallow tourists from the mainland. He MUST start reopening, perhaps on a regional basis, or the state’s economy may not be able to recover for years. I get the impression he has other motives, perhaps a dislike for anyone who is not kamaʻāina. I sincerely hope not, but why the reluctance and opposition, even opposing some within his own state government. We are booked to come to Kauai in February for our yearly visit, but we are watching the situation very closely. We assume things may be different, and we can adjust to those, but drastic changes to island life may be game changers for us. We hope that will not be the case.
Face it . Ige is a bigot to his own citizens of light skin. For him to allow foreigners over fellow US citizens is unforgivable . They will NEVER recover from this terrible decision . I hope there are lawsuits. Sounds like Trump’s Muslim ban.
It makes great sense for Hawaii to open up to Japan, New Zealand, and other places where the vi rus is under control. The state had the great sense to shut out visitors when they did as that action saved many lives. The people of Japan, Korea and New Zealand have effective leadership and worked together; contrast that to the mainland with the absolute lack of federal leadership, the vi rus is still out of control and that people are arguing with each other about wearing masks. I say this as someone who rescheduled his departure to Kauai from June 5 to July 2 and now will probably need to reschedule again. I am also losing thousands of dollars each month that Kauai is closed.
It is also quite shocking to me that I read these comments by people who are complaining that they cannot go to Hawaii, they cannot got to the beach. Don’t people realize that the cost of your beach vacation is going to be someone’s auntie dying ? Or your tour guide spending 20 days in the ICU ? And also there are more than 40 million people out of work right now. Not being able to go to Hawaii is a pretty small problem compared to that.
You’re clearly bigoted against Americans
Well said AW; I agree with you 100%. Mary S. is either a troll, or is trying to stir the pot.
Some of the comments on here are terrible. I understand that people are frustrated, but please be adults and stop acting like spoiled brats.
I have no words for how disgusting it is that the state would welcome people from other countries before it’s own citizens. “U.S. citizens tend to not want to follow these rules,” Donna Mercado Kim, you say that like you aren’t one. My money will be spent in states where ALL of its’ citizens are welcome. Good luck Hawai’i, you’re going to need it.
I completely agree with you! They’re discriminating against fellow citizens ! They’re choosing foreigners over fellow Americans . I hope Ige is sued big time. This sounds like Trump’s Muslim ban but against fellow Americans ! Dictator Ige will never recover from this . NEVER
You’re comparing this to the “Muslim Ban?” Really? That was based on the fact that many folks coming from Muslim countries could NOT be vetted. Why? Because their records were either destroyed in war torn areas or their country just couldn’t produce them. The possibility of terrorists entering the U.S. is considerably different from tourists who may or may not be bringing the vi rus w/them.
The Americans don’t listen remark caught my attention & made me wonder what the demographic is of those who aren’t obeying the quarantine. Weren’t the majority young adults – early 20’s. If so, his statement would be correct bc the majority of the age group don’t listen. I know I didn’t, remember, we knew everything too at that age. Anyway, just curious where he received the info to base that remark. Thank you & enjoy your day! 😊
That Mikki.
Thanks. That caught our attention too.
Aloha.
If Japan, Australia and NZ had high rates of Covid and the mainland did not , I’m sure the people screaming the loudest about this
would have no problem with restricting traffic from there and opening the mainland up. So what’s the problem with opening up to safer areas first?
The “I don’t care about anybody but me so I won’t wear a mask” crowd feel they are exercising their rights, fine, but that means it will take longer to get this under control thanks to them. If everyone wore a mask when appropriate we could get this under control much quicker, it’s not happening in America so it will take longer before we can open up to the mainland. Seems simple enough to me.
You hear a lot of comments from Americans that say they won’t wear a mask to fly. Southwest ( Texas based)is even taking the stand as being the least strict as how they want to be perceived. You won’t hear Japanese tourists refusing to wear a mask. So I say let them come and let’s start the rebuilding ASAP
Thank you for your updates and status reports on the C0VID issues, we are scheduled for a trip to Maui and your beautiful island in November and hopefully are able to come. I found your latest report fascinating especially in relationship to wanting to open to Japan early. I have a very dear friend in Japan and she is extremely critical of the Japanese government’s response to the vi rus, They were trying to have the Olympics as scheduled so downplayed the virus and based on her most recent report are still doing the same. Here are the reported numbers for Japan: 16719 confirmed cases of which 712 were on the Diamond Princess, 874 deaths. Sounds pretty good as we know the numbers can be easily manipulated based on tests conducted. In the total of Japan they have only conducted 284,763 tests for a total population of 126,150,000 or a percent tested of just over 2/10 of one percent. At least on the mainland testing percentages are much better. I would hope Hawaii Government would look behind the numbers to make their decision on bubble re-opening for Japan. By the way the numbers I quoted were accurate as of this morning.
Thank you again for your great information. Hope to see your great island again in November.
Mahalo
Rich
It’s disappointing that travel from the mainland is still up in the air (or perhaps “grounded” is a better term) so far into the summer. I don’t want to look elsewhere for tropical summer diving, but it very well might come to that soon.
Sadly it looks as if our July 6th vacation on the Big Island will not occur with your Governor’s proclamation last night. We are loyal visitors who are very respectful of the Hawaiian culture, yet with all of the recent negative comments and attitudes towards visitors I doubt we will be returning to your beautiful island. I feel sorry for your economy and businesses. We will spend our hard earned money where perhaps its a appreciated a bit more. Thank you to Beat of Hawaii for all of your information and updates!
Hi Jan.
Thank you.
Aloha.
This “bubble policy” seems discriminatory against US Citizens! Please and thank you if you have any influence.
Hi Pam.
Thanks.
Aloha.
Good Afternoon,
I am now highly concerned ! I have a trip coming up on July 20 my sister is having her first baby and now I am concerned we are not able to take part of that! I was raised in Hawaii and I miss it so much let alone my Sister lives there and we have not been able to see her that often ! I hope things do change before that date! Keeping fingers crossed!
Gina