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103 thoughts on “With New $5 Abbott Test, Hawaii Travel Can Restart”

  2. Mychal

    1) Abbott is a large company that has been ramping up production capability for months now. 50 million kits per month is a huge number.
    2) According to website the test is around 98% accurate. Nothing is 100% including a vaccine.
    3) $5.00 per test is incredibly affordable even if it is marked up some for testing personnel
    4) The test does not require instrumentation. You just need health personnel that are trained in properly taking swab samples.
    5) Swabs are shorter and more comfortable than the typical PCR test.
    6) 15 minute response time allows you to create a test and wait system at the airport
    7) iPhone app for the verification makes it easy to monitor

    What’s not to like?

    Hawaii needs to get to the front of the line for this technology
    The best plan would be to require a test before travel (within 3 days) and upon arrival. This would greatly reduce inaccuracy erros.

    Fingers crossed.

  3. Bradley W.

    Tony Nash decided he would do the research on deaths last year in the U.S. He went directly to the CDC and WHO websites to gather this information. Like he suggested on his podcast, everyone should decide for themselves what these numbers mean. Here are the death numbers in the United States from last year for several categories:

    Accidental Deaths 170,000
    Lower Respiratory 160,000
    Strokes 146,000
    Alzheimer’s 121,000
    Diabetes 83,000
    Flu 55,000
    Suicides 145,000
    Smoking 480,000
    Obesity 300,000
    Drug related 70,000
    Alcohol related 88,000
    Drunk drivers 11,000
    Missing Children 460,000
    Abortions 650,000
    Covid19 190,000 approximately as of this date

    More facts about Covid19 in the U.S…

    There have been approximately 5,150,000 positive cases. Out of the approximately 190,000 that have died, this represents .03% and 97% have recovered.
    The average age of all Covid19 deaths is approximately 80 years old
    Out of 328,000,000 people divided by 5,150,000 cases means that .015% have had Covid19
    328,000,000 divided by 190,000 deaths equals .00057%
    5 out of every 10,000 have died from Covid19
    Approximately 45% of deaths have been from 5 states, mostly in assistive living facilities.

  4. Roger J

    Hello, just read your comments on these tests. They are indeed good news, however the article I read earlier today stated that the Government ordered 150 million today. That will take the first 3 months of production at 50 million a month starting in October.
    The article stated that they would be supplied to hospitals, clinics and doctors offices.
    I still think it is good news. Hawaii will need to grab the “bull by the horns,” and figure out the process once these are available. I still believe that they will not allow travel until early 2021. Get some retired Command Sargent Major types to organized this with the state. I am “jonesin” for Kihei….

    Aloha from Alaska
    Roger

    2. Stanley H

      150 million is not 3 months of production. The order for 150 million will fuel expansion to 100 or 200 million a month.

  5. JohnW

    Excellent news….put that in place and even if as someone alluded to here that it’s not perfect, no worries.
    If we wait for a 100% “perfect” solution it isn’t coming.
    This would be all they need to open up, combine it with continuing to take extra care of our Kapuna and move on.
    Let’s hope tourism is rebuilt in a thoughtful and careful way.
    Ideally the thoughtful pragmatic tourists will return and the type epitomized by the few on here throwing stones at Hawaii
    and swearing they’ll never come back will keep their promise.
    Restart tourism in way that attracts people that love Hawaii and understand any accommodations needed are for the good of all.
    Let’s rebuild with quality not quantity in mind.

  6. Matt D

    BOOM! Assuming Abbott’s test proves reliable over the next few months, this is the Mic Drop moment we’ve all been waiting for. (Note: Ige and Friends should still be replaced – i hope all Hawaiians remember this.)

    Aloha!!! ~Socal Matt

  7. Jared X

    A lack of tests has never been the state’s problem. Our problem is a lack of a competent, qualified, MOTIVATED state bureaucracy to manage, administer, and fund the testing. Other places–particularly other countries–have been doing this well from almost day 1. (See Vietnam, Germany, Singapore, S Korea, Canada, Greece, Australia, etc.)

    If you don’t have a drill or a screwdriver, having the best screw (COVID test) in the world won’t help you build anything. And Hawaii simply lacks the most basic of tools–human tools–for managing this pandemic. We should be calling on every single state leader who has been tasked with planning for, preparing for, and managing a pandemic like this to resign and allow other–more qualified–people to step in and do the job they are clearly incapable of doing.

  8. Rob L.

    This is good news for those who wish to visit relatives or who just want to spend time at their rental facility, maybe go down to the beach, and do little else. This is just a step, admittedly a welcome one, in the return of tourists to the islands. However, the State will still have a long way to go, probably months if not a year, before the economy will be restored to the point where small businesses, restaurants, malls, excursion operators and the like can return to solvency and exhibit the ohana spirit we all love. Until that happens, do not expect to see 30,000 tourists a day flooding to the islands.

    Thanks.

  9. Catrinka H

    Aloha,
    This is the most hopeful thing I’ve heard regarding re-starting our economy here in Hawai’i.
    Thank you for this and for all of your great updates.

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