COVID rules are again changing in Hawaii, with the rapid spread of the latest Delta variant and exploding case counts and hospitalizations. The latest restrictions announced yesterday by the governor did not change Hawaii Safe Travels protocols for vaccination and testing. At the same time, the changes implemented will have a big impact on Hawaii visitors. Here’s why.
Indoor capacity has been adjusted downwards to 50% at restaurants.
Previously that was set at 75%. The issue is that restaurants had already suffered from a lack of capacity before, which makes it that much worse. Getting a Hawaii restaurant reservation or being accommodated in those that don’t take reservations just became significantly more challenging. That capacity ruling of 50% also impacts bars.
Ige also said that “mingling” will not be permitted in restaurants and bars and that patrons must wear masks at all times in those facilities except when eating or drinking. The ruling also says that groups must maintain a minimum of six feet of distance between other groups.
The governor noted that the average daily case count is more than 500 for the past week, and there are over 200 in hospital. One month ago, those numbers were 60 and 48, respectively.
Hawaii restaurants struggle.
What will happen now? Hawaii’s restaurants are suffering hugely from the pandemic. Nationally too, the National Restaurant Association estimates that 90,000 have closed as a result of Covid.
Just a few weeks ago, the Hawaii Restaurant Association had called for the state to lift restrictions on restaurants entirely. They said then, “it’s time for us, the owners, operators, and entrepreneurs, to have the businesses back. We appreciate what’s been done, but we can take it from here.” Restaurants are still challenged to stay in business. They also face unprecedented staff shortages as employees never returned to work. The association asked that restaurant restrictions be relaxed, without regard to infection numbers and the new variant, to meet the demand and improve their economic situation.
Governor says visitors not contributing significantly to woes.
Ige said again that the number of Covid cases associated with visitors is low and in the range of under 2% of the total. Many of yesterday’s orders will also impact residents, including limiting social gatherings to ten people indoors and twenty-five people outdoors. Weddings or events at professional venues that have more than 50 guests need clearance by the counties.
Gov. Ige announced the latest executive order in concert with the state’s four mayors, and these rules are implemented immediately statewide.
Ige said, “We need to minimize person-to-person contact to reduce transmission. We all need to be committed to reduce the spread of COVID-19.”
What You Should Do.
Book restaurants and activities early. Consider the advantages of Hawaii vacation rentals that have a full kitchen. That way, you are in more control. If you have other suggestions, please comment on today’s post.
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So people will still be able to upload there cdc vaccine card to the safe travels website
In September and October
I hope they don’t change so people don’t have to get a negative test
72 hours before thank you
Dear G, yes that is how it stands now. Upload your vaccine card to safe travel program. But that may change to be tested before you leave for Hawaii. God bless you & stay safe! Have a fun, safe, & wonderful trip in the fall😊
I hope that people will be available to still show proof of the covid vaccine in Honolulu to avoid the quarantine in September and October
I hope the dont change that people have to get the covid negative test
Thank
You
I’m afraid I’ve lost my patience. If you want to come to Hawaii, you should have to wait until you are fully vaccinated. Period. If we accept that, as reported here a few times, most of the cases in Hawaii are being driven by unvaccinated residents returning from the mainland, and I don’t have any reason to doubt that is true, then why not, unless someone has a valid medical reason, require full vaccination for people traveling from the mainland to Hawaii, no matter who they are? If someone is recovering from Covid they are allowed to bypass testing and vaccination requirements with clearance from a doctor. If someone can not be vaccinated they can go get a letter from their doctor. Children too young to be vaccinated can still be required to be tested. This “right of personal choice” does not extend beyond our right not to be needlessly exposed to Covid or have our economy further disrupted. Put returning residents at the very top of the list of people who have to show proof of vaccination. I don’t know the Hawaii numbers, but national sources are reporting that 95%+ of current hospitalizations are unvaccinated. This seems pretty simple.
This will actually save people money. For all the complaints about the high cost of tests for travel, the vaccine is free. The number of travelers does not need to be reduced. It doesn’t address the futility of trying to quarantine a resident, because people just can’t help themselves from doing things against the common good and their own interests, but that’s always going to be the case.
Regardless of who is guilty of spreading Covid here, given our limited medical resources, we are careening toward a crisis. Given our trajectory, I don’t think we have time to dither and fret.
Well put Frank P…
FRANK P… So well put! Thank you for your thoughtful comments. Now if only people will read them with intent!
Very good comment. I have to add that the numbers here in Toronto show that about 20-25% of new infections are from fully vaccinated people. To me that is a lot and shows how vulnerable we are. As I said before, Testing is the best way to isolate cases. A lot of you are going to hate me, but I think that the Testing requirement for all incoming travelers should be reinstated, vaccinated or not.
Testing hasn’t been the issue. Testing with a “Trusted Partner” has been the issue. For instance, there are tons of labs, doc’s offices, etc in my hometown that do Rapid Results testing (so you don’t have the angst of the 72 window) but not a single facility in our entire state that is a Trusted Partner that does Rapid Results! We would have to spend an entire extra day of vacation with that expense and use of precious vacation time to drive to our departure airport 7 hours away to get that testing. I’ve never understood why the “Trusted Partners” thing except to believe that $$$ exchanged hands somewhere!
Dear Barbara E, I’m suppose to be coming to Hawaii in April(2022) for my dream vacation trip! 🐠🐢🌺😍🌊🌈🍍🌍🛩⛱I’m going to reevaluate the situation in December. I will go to Hawaii when it is meant for me to go. Take care of yourself! Stay safe😄 God bless you….psalms 91:11
1100+ “cases” today…
When are these darn masks gonna work?
Hawaii hospitals packed, Oregon hospitals packed, Louisiana hospitals packed. All those States have had the restrictions, and in Hawaii and Oregon, the most restrictive restrictions.. yet they are having the same issues as …gasp… Florida.. yet the people of Florida are much happier being able to make their own health choices.
We have a long way to go to reach the death rate per capita of Florida Sean.
Masks save lives (vaccines even more so) when worn properly, which of course not everyone does, however if no one wore masks the death rate would be even higher
3 highest death rates in the nation
1)NJ
2)NY
3)MA
Florida isn’t even close to the top 10 as of Aug. 4th….
And CA has had more Vid deaths these last few days than FL… Seeing how instead of “Vaccine Equity” Ron DeSantis did the smart thing and gave it to Seniors first…
Keep crying about cases though.. Hawaii is doing real well all mandated, masked and restricted. Roughly 15x increase in cases.. More than that if FL.and many other States.
I’ll put $100 on this prediction. Come mid September Florida will be out of the casedemic, and other Northern States will get hit, and DeSantis will be proven right again. Unless of course Scott Gotleib isn’t a good supporting arguement via Face the Nation and other programs.
As someone once said, there are lies, damn lies, and statistics. You’re cherry-picking your numbers. Let’s compare the 7 day average for cases and deaths between California and Florida. The latest 7 day average for Florida is 21,375 COVID-19 cases and 40 deaths. For California, the numbers are 11,437 cases and 11 deaths. So, roughly 1/2 the cases, and a quarter of the deaths. More importantly, the number of hospitalizations and available ICU beds is also FAR in favour of California. So the bottom line is that Florida has done a TERRIBLE job of keeping Floridians safe, and even people in Florida are starting to see that. While California has tried to walk a fine line between keeping people safe and protecting the economy, that approach has earned hatred from both sides. But let’s bring this back to Hawaii, which is what we are SUPPOSED to be talking about here. Hawaii has some unique challenges compared to the rest of the states and they are struggling with them. Like California, they are trying to walk a fine line as well, and like in California, it means that no one is happy with what they are doing. Some people would prefer to have things locked down tighter and protect more people, others would like to have things opened up more so that the economy can improve. Just like in California, this means no matter what the Governor does, it’s going to annoy someone. Personally, I’m heading to the Big Island this weekend, and while I considered cancelling and going next year, we decided to go ahead with our trip since we are both vaccinated, and we have little if any “tourist” outings planned anyway.
Is it safe for me to come to Hawaii we r to be there on September 8-15 and I’m worried about the virus and also Hawaii being shut down again how safe is it for us to come we both have had 2 doses of vaccine
BARBARA E… Unfortunately no one has a crystal ball as far as Hawaii shutting down. And as far as the virus, you are as safe (or unsafe – your point of view) as you are at home. We just returned safe and sound. The folks on Kauai are fare mot conscientious about mask wearing than folks are here at home! We would get polite little “coughs” or subtle little hand signals if we forgot our masks. (At home, we haven’t had to wear a mask for a month or two so sometimes we’d forget until we just always stuck one in a pocket.) No controversy, no annoyed looks, no snarky comments – just polite reminders.
Two weeks after mandatory testing was stopped for vaccinated visitors we began to have an outbreak have to bring back mandatory testing for vaccinated people Comimg here or reducing to 50% will not do much
It appears the spread is among residences, not travelers/visitors. Question is, how many of the new cases are of Vaccinated people?
My wife is a ICU nurse here on the mainland. 90+% of new admitted Covid patients are NOT Vaccinated.
BILL R… AMEN!
Can you tell me if the food trucks on Kauai are still operating?
We used Auto Slasher and saved $20 per day on a car rental.
Thanks for all your help and advice.
Hi Gail.
Thanks. Yes, food trucks are still operating. We have noticed, and others have mentioned, however, that hours can be somewhat erratic. So you might go there thinking they’ll be open for lunch, and they may not be. On the other hand, there are a lot of food trucks.
Aloha.
GAIL V… Food trucks abound!!! However, just as everything on Kauai, they are suffering from lack of personnel but what we found was that they’d close in “clusters” – in other words, all the trucks in that location would close on the same day.